Book Title: Study of Jainism Author(s): T G Kalghatgi Publisher: Prakrit Bharti AcademyPage 69
________________ 54 There is close resemblence in the life stories of Parsvanatha and Buddha in the symbolism and the image of the serpent. When the Buddha was about to get enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the greater serpent called Mucalinda living under the trunk of the tree came out and gave him protection from the fierce winds and the force of nature released by Mara. He gave shelter to the Buddha under the hood. Then the serpent king, 'let neither heat nor cold, nor gnats, flies nor wind come near the Blessed one'. Study of Jainism Zimmer says that the precise relationship between the Jaina and the Buddhist versions cannot be reconstructed. "Both may have originated from the simple circumstance that when the wealthy lay folk of the two denominations began employing craftsment to fashion images of their saviours. The principal models for the new work of art had to be supplied by the older Indian prototypes, chief among which were the yakṣa and the nagapatterns of the wise superhuman beings endowed with miraculous insight and power that had figured prominently in the household cult of India from time immemorial" 68 As we have seen earlier, in the Persian pantheon of the gods and the conflict between the good and evil, serpent stood for evil. We find the representation of the serpent as standing for evil in the form of Satan. In the persian art and legend also it is represented as Dahhak the great tyrant villain. In India serpent does not always stand for evil, but is a protecting force and as Adiseṣa. It is difficult to present a coherent picture of the teachings of Parsvanatha, although we find stray references about the doctrines taught by him. It appears that there is not much difference between the epistemological principles taught by Parsvanatha and Mahavira, the last two tirthankaras. In the Rayapaseniya sutta, Kesikumara a follower of Parsva is described as giving the same five divisions of knowledge as are found elsewhere in the Agamas.69 Regarding the metaphysical and ethical content of the vratas it appears that Parsva formulated four vratas as we said earlier : (i) abstenance from injury to living beings (sarva prāṇātikramaņaviramaņa), (ii) truth speaking (mṛsavāda viramaņa), (iii) not accepting what is not given (adattādā na viramaņa) and (iv) (sarva bahiṣṭhadāna) non-possession. The fifth vow, brahmacarya, was Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.orgPage Navigation
1 ... 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252