Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 398

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tail. As he looked over his body gradually, the Cakrin saw the finger without the ring like a digit of the moon by day without moonlight. “What's this! Why is this finger lacking in beauty ?” Then the King saw the ring fallen on the ground. Wondering “Are other parts of the body devoid of beauty, if they have no ornaments ?” he began to take off other ornaments.
First, the King removed his jeweled diadem and saw his head without it looking like a ring whose jewels have fallen out. He took off his jeweled earrings and saw his poor ears, deprived of them, like the east and west quarters without the sun and moon. He removed the necklace, and saw his neck, deprived of it, without beauty like a river without water. He took off his pearl chain, and saw at once his breast without it like the sky with the stars gone. He removed his armlets, and saw his arms without them like śāl trees ¢17 with half their creepers untwined. He abandoned bracelets and saw his wrists without them like a temple whose top is without the āmalasāraka. “18 He took off other rings and saw his fingers without them like serpent-hoods whose jewels have been destroyed. He gave up his anklets and saw his feet, bereft of them, like a royal-elephant's tusks whose golden rings have fallen off. So the ornaments being gradually removed from his body, seeing himself without beauty like a tree whose leaves have perished, Bharata reflected : "Alas! beauty of the body must be gained by ornaments, etc., like that of a wall by paintings, etc. This body, polluted inside and out by impurities, should not be considered to have any beauty. This body actually
427 728. The sāl tree is ordinarily covered with a thick growth of creepers.
118729. Amalasāraka is apparently the same as āmala, which is the “large, Auted, circular block" at the base of the finial on a temple or stūpa. It occurs in the Samarānganasūtradhāra, 59. 33, 35, 56 and also in Kumārapālapratibodha, p. 144. For āmala, see Acharya, Indian Architecture, p. 179.