Shravakachar of Vasunandini

Author(s): Signe Kirde
Publisher: Signe Kirde

Page 94

5.6 Suffering of Animals and Plants
5 TRANSLATION: ŚR (57-205)
of injury of the skin of five-sensed beings: 1. "dismembering" (for instance in corporal punishment of crime, danda-niti); 2. "mutilation" (= "cutting of skin and flesh of the body with sharp instruments", i.e "branding and ear-piercing").260 These items are otherwise referred to as exemplary transgressions against the bhogôpabhoga- or anartha-danda-vows (Williams 1963:120ff.). In the commentary of Sr (M) Pkt. nikkhalana is translated into Hindi nāk chedana: "cutting of the nose" 261
o-tādana- "Beating" appears in the list of the five aticāras against the ahimsa-vrata. In some texts vadha is substituted for tādana. It is explained as "thrashing", "beating" with "rods, whips or withies" (willow twigs) and “merciless flogging". There are semantic intersections with malana (Skt. mardana) and yantra-pidana, which are explained as "pressing" or "crushing" (of seeds from sesame, mustard and castor).262
paulaņa "Burning" (Skt. prajvalana) comprises the brandmarking of cattle, as well as the injury of wild animals by burning down the open fields or woods. It occurs as item in the catalogue of the fifteen forbidden trades in pattern of the bhogôpabhoga-vrata. Burning, i.e. setting meadows alight or setting forests and woods on fire (davágnidāna), is regarded as a harmful act which involves violence against beings with five and less senses (Williams 1963:120).
• bamdhana-bhārârovana- According to some Jain authors human
actions caused by greed and negligence such as keeping cattle and human servants in captivity and over-loading of five-sensed beings (i.e. human animals and non-human animals) are considered as intentional harm. They are referred to as transgressions against the ahimsā-vrata and the anartha-danda-vrata (Williams 1963:66ff.). Pkt.
-bamdhana-."binding", occurs as the third member in the compound tādana-tasaņa-bamdhana- in Mül (1578a, 1577a). A similar term appears in this context as bhārârovana, "over-loading" of (non-humans or human) animals with heavy burdens (Sheth 1923:148). A synonym, Skt. ati-bhārâropana, denotes the "loading of an excessive weight of goods such as betel nuts on the back, the shoulders, or the head" of a
260 See Williams 1963:68. Pkt. lamchana can be regarded as a synonym. It is either explained as "branding", or "marking" or more precise as "docking"; "nose-piercing", and "cutting of ears and dewlaps" of lifestock (Sheth 1923:894; MW: p.900 / LANCH "to mark").
261 For examples outside Jainism see also the analytical list in Sutta-Nipāta (242), "Amagandha-sutta", vadha-cheda-bandhana: "sevil acts are ...) taking life, cutting, binding [...]" and in the Jātaka-māla XXIX.45: "striking, cutting, beating [etc.]" (vadhavikartana-tādana-). 262 See Williams 1963:67,120.