________________
SUPARSHVA AND PARSHVA - SOME REFLECTIONS
२४७
He thought, "How foolish have I been all these years! I have lived on without realising for a moment the impermanence of all earthly things. What a shame! A man who allows himself to be attracted by the transient wordly joys is bound to love this impermanent world! In this way, wisdom at last dawned on him. He renounced the world and undertook rigorous penance. In due course of time, he became a kevalajnani and attained salvation'.
In addition to the above account, we get accounts of Suparshva's life in Lakshanagani's Supasanaha Chariya (circa V.S. 1199) with 8000 gathas in Prakrit? and in the works of Devasuri and Vibudhacharya which are not extant today, but are referred to in other works..
Coming to Parshvanatha, we find innumerable works on him in Sanskirt, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi. These works reveal his undying populalrity with his Jaina followers. A detailed account of Parshvanatha's life as found in Uttara Purana may be summarised thus : :
Parshvanatha was the son of King Vishwasena of Kashi and his queen Brahmila. In his sixteenth year, he went to play games in the forest on the outskirts of the city one day. He came across his maternal grandfather Mahipala doing penance there with five fires around him. Mahipala could not control his sorrow on losing his wife. And after renouncing the world, he came to this forest for doing penance. Parshvanatha did not do obeisance to him and thus angered the tapasvi. When Mahipala was about to hew a log to pieces with his axe to feed the dying fires around him Parshvanatha shouted to him, "O, tapasvi, do not hew it to pieces because there are living being inside it". But Mahipala did not heed his advice and hewed the log to pieces. The naga couple inside was cut into two, and before the nagas died they drew comfort from Parshvanatha's presence there. They were reborn in the nagaloka as Dharanendra and Padmavathi, ayaksha couple.
