Shravakachar of Vasunandini

Author(s): Signe Kirde
Publisher: Signe Kirde

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5.2 Catalogue of Vices
surā miṭṭho puno vi me dehi "This liquor is sweet, give me again [more of that]!" The sentence lacks the grammatical congruence between the noun sura and the adjective mittho. Variant readings do not appear in L, it could be a stylistic device of our author who might have intended to imitate the incoherent language of the drunkard. 180
5 TRANSLATION: ŚR (57-205)
73-74) Unwittingly [if someone has lost consciousness due to drinking liquor] his belongings are plundered by other people. When he somehow becomes again aware of the things around him, he is stumbling and runs here and there.
"Because of some villain who has stolen my property today the lord of the underworld is wrathful" [yells the drunkard]. "Where is he gone? I will cut his head alive with a knife!"
• jama kuddho Yama, the lord of the underworld is mentioned by Vasunandin as the embodiment of wrath. The author conveys to the mind of the reader the idea of the power and wrath of this deity. Prof. Balbir (p.c.) proposes the following translation of the phrase (74b): "Yama has been made angry by this villain who has taken my money today! [...] I will cut his his head alive with a sword!". This is spoken by a drunkard who has been deprived of his possessions by a thief and wants to take revenge. The idea of the post-mortem "punishment" is here associated with Yama. This is not specific Jain. It is outlined for instance in the Manu-smrti XII.1ff., the Märkandeya-purana, chapter X-XI, and the Siva-purana X.35ff 181
75-76) Yelling in this way after having entered his home he suddenly takes a club and furiously breaks the dishes.
Violently he attacks his own son and his own sister. Someone whose mind is intoxicated says words which should not be said. He does not possess
common sense.
⚫ sahasa The adverbial adjunct sahasa denotes violent and sudden actions. 182 In Varni 2003-2004, Vol. IV, p. 318, we find the entry
180I follow a suggestion of Prof. Balbir (p.c.). In Daigambari nouns and their attributes do not always correspond in the endings of the declensions. See Denecke 1922:26 for the irregularities in the nominal declensions in the Dig. manuscripts.
181 See also Bollée 2006:105 for passages which describe the servants of Yama and their mythology. Persian "Yima" and the various symbols attributed to him (as "god of light", "first mortal", "good shepherd") are dealt with in Hertel 1927:40ff.; See also Dawson 1931:5; Biesterfeld 1970:139; cf. my notes on the Geography of Death in Chapter III. 182 Pkt. sahasa is derived from sahas "powerful, mighty"; "strength, force" (MW; p. 1193). I owe this reference to Prof. Balbir (p.c.).
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