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10th annivesary pratishtha mahotsava
in this household. Vamadevi gave birth to a child on the 10th day of the dark half of the month Posh. (Now the first half of the month Magshirsha) During the pregnancy, the mother had seen a black cobra near her side (parshva) in bed. That is why He is known as Parshvanath.
Once young Parshva was standing in his palace and watching the people of the town go-by. He noticed that lots of people were going to the outskirts of the town. Parshva inquired about this and he was told that great tapas (a man who does penance) is doing some penance by lighting fires just outside the town. Pärshva also decided to go there just out of curiosity. There he saw a tapas named Kamath lighting a fire and offering pieces of logs in the fire. With His divine vision, Parshva saw that there was a snake in one of the logs. He asked Kamath to remove the log but Kamath could not see anything and accused Parshva of trying to break the penance. Parshva was the only person there who knew what was happening. When his requests were rejected, Parshva ordered one of his servants to disturb the fire and remove the log in question. Servant did as Parshva had said and everybody saw that there indeed was a snake in the log. The snake unfortunately did not survive and died. But before that Parshva recited Namokar Mantra and the snake died in peace.
This snake in his next birth as Dharnendra (one of the IndraGods with the name Dharan) Kamath was very angry but he could not do anything as he was proved wrong.
After few years Parshva left everything and went away in search of eternal happiness and became a monk. One day Parshvanath was standing in meditation in one park where a demon called Meghmäli arrived. This Meghmäli was no one but Kamath who had died and taken birth in the form of Meghmali. Meghmali wanted to take revenge because of what had happened in the past life.
Meghmali created all sorts of obstacles to break the meditation. He made the heavy rains to fall on Parshvanath with severest intensity. Parshvanath continued in his meditation. He was not moved or disturbed by this severe calamity. Water started rising and it came up to the knees of Parshvanath and it was still rising. At this juncture Dharnendra comes and creates a big lotus which lifts Parshvanath above the water. Dharnendra made a hood (snake hood) to cove Parshvanath's head and prevent him getting wet. Parshvanath was still in deep meditation. Meghmāli at last gave up his evil acts and apologised. Parshvanath forgave him.
This story of obstacles created by Meghmäli is quite famous. The one who saved Parshvanath was Dharnendra and Jains believe that Dharnendra can still come and save anyone who is in trouble. Parshvanath has two semi-gods in his attendance all the time. The male attendant god is called Parshva as well and the female attendance goddess is called Padmavati. The goddess Padmavati is also worshipped in many temples. Mantras and rituals have been specially formulated in worship of Parshvanath and his attendant deities and some separate Mantras and rituals for Padmavati are also widely found.
(Uvasaggaharam Stotra mentions both Parshvanath and his attendant God Parshva . As both have the same name, I will write Parshvanath when mentioning the 23rd Tirthamkara
Jain Education International 2010_03
and just Pärshava to denote His attendant god from this point onward.)
Meaning and comments on the interpretation First the whole stotra
Uvasaggaharam Pasam Pasam vandāmi kammaghana mukkam vishhar vishninnäsam, mangal-kallāvn āvāsam (1)
Visshar fullingamantam kanthe dharei jo sayā mannuo Tassa gaha rog mari duttha jara janti uvasamma Chitthau dure manto tujja panamo hi bahufalo hoi Nar tiryeshu va jivā pavanti na dukka dogachcham
Tuha sammata labdhe Chivtamani kappapayavabhie Pavanti avighenam, jivã ayaramanan thanam
Iha santhu mahāyash! bhattibher nibbren hiyaena Ta dev dijja bohi bhave bhave Pāsa Jainachanda
(2)
(3)
(5)
Now meaning of each verses and further interpretation :Uvasaggaharam Pasam Pasam vandami kammaghana mukkam Vishhar vishninnasam, mangal-kallan avasam (1)
(4)
The first verse worships Parshvanath. The poet bows down and praises Him by saying that I bow down (vandami) to Parshva (Pasam). Here the poet has really created a riddle by saying the word Pasam twice. The word Pasam has three meanings. Pasam could be something who is nearer to one self and it could mean the attendant god (yaksha) named Parshva. Also the word Pasam is used to denote the Tirthankara Parshvanath. One manuscript states that the word Pasam can also be seen as the derivation of Sanskrit word Pashya meaning 'to see'
That means the first part of the above verse - which is Uvasaggaharam Pasam Pasam vandami can be translated in three different ways.
I bow down to Parshvanath (Pasam) who has Parshva as His attendant God (Pasam) who is capable of can removing obstaces. Here this means when the word Pasam appears first time it is meant for the attendant God Parshva and when it appears second time it is meant for Tirthankar Parshvanath.
Second intepretation would be:
I bow down to the one who has got obstacle-remover Parshva (Pasam) near (Pasam) Him.
The miser for another hoards his bags of money; The bees laboriously pack, but others taste honey.
Third intepretation - I bow down to Parshvanath (Pasam) who is removing the obstacles and is seeing (Pashya = Pasam) everything (here there is no word suggesting 'everything).
This way there are three different interpretations of the first part of the first line. The first interpretation is the most favoured one and it also signifies the devotional aspect of the poem because the word Pasam is used fo Parshvanath, the Tirthankar. This way devotee recites/ mentions Parshvanath's name as well.
Ear Privatd73ersonal Lise Only
Second part of the first line is kammaghanamukkam. Here again, this phrase can be interpreted in two different ways.
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