Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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Sec. IV)
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SOTRA
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taken for execution, he was chosen as king by the divine will manifested through the horse, released by the royal officials and citizens to find out their future king on the sudden death of the former heirless monarch.
A similar custom of choosing king on the death of a heir. less king is mentioned in the Buddhist works in which it is stated that a festal car (phussaratha) drawn by horses was let by the priest (purohita, be driven to find out the future king in the same manner till it stopped and chose a man endowed with auspicious marks on his body, who was destined to be the king. Abdication
In the BHS it is found that the whole issue of succession was inter-related with the event of renunciation of the world by the kings. It is found that King Siva of Hastinapura abdi. cated his throne in favour of his eldest son, prince Śivabhadra. In one case only, this problem of selecting a successor led to a strained relation between the father and the son.
The event of succession of Keśīkumāra, the nephew of king Udayana in place of Abhîci Kumāra, the rightful heir to the throne of Sindhu-Sauvīra appears to be an extra-ordinary one. This act of king Udāyana in choosing his nephew as his successor generated a feeling of life-long uninterrupted hostility in the heart of his son, Abhicīkumāra towards him. So the prince, being aggrieved by this kind of arrangement made by his father left Vitibhaya, the capital city of Sindhu-Sauvīra with all his belongings for ever and came to the court of king Kūņika, the lord of Campā (i. e. Magadha) where he lived, having attained wealth, prosperity, abundant enjoyments and honour.
w Phussaratha' on from the date of be driven being
1 The Darimukha Jataka (III, No. 378, p. 239) calls this ceremony Phussaratha' on the festal car ceremony. After the passing of seven days from the date of death of a heir less king the Purohita let a festal car be driven being followed by a traditional four-fold army with the beating of many hundred drums to search out the future king in the said manner. See Mahānaka Jataka (No. 534, VI. p. 39), also see Kithasaritsāgara, Vol. V, Ch. IXX, pp. 175-7, note
on Pañcadivyadhiväsa ; J.A.O.S., Vol. 33, pp. 158.66. i Bhs, 11, 9, 417. $ 16,13, 6, 492. Ib, 13, 6, 492,
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