Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

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

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as the son, named Jivānanda, of the physician Suvidhi. At the same time in this city four other boys were born, like pieces of dharma joined to bodies. Among them, one was the son, named Mahidhara, of King Išānacandra by his wife Kanakavati. Another was the son of the minister Sunāsira and his wife Lakşmi, named Subuddhi, resembling Srinandana (Love). Another was the son, named Purnabhadra. of the trader Sāgaradatta and his wife Abhayavati. The fourth was borne by the wife, Śīlamati, of the merchant Dhana; he was named Guņākara and was like a heap of good conduct. Zealously cared for by nurses day and night, all grew up together like limbs in one body. They played together in sand-piles, and together they absorbed the entire collection of arts as trees absorb water. In the same city the soul of Srimati too was born as the son Keśava of the merchant Isvaradatta. Counting him they were six friends, inseparable always like the mind and the senses. Jivānanda learned the eight-branched "1 Ayurveda followed by his father and also the taste, efficacy, and effect of drugs. Like Airāvaņa among elephants, like the sun among the planets, he became foremost among physicians, wise and with unquestioned skill. They always amused themselves together like brothers, all staying sometimes at one's house, sometimes at another's.
One day when they were at the house of Jiyānanda, the son of the physician, a sādhu came to beg for alms. He was the son of King Pșthvipāla, named Guņākara, and had given up the kingdom like an impure thing, and had adopted the empire of tranquillity. Emaciated by
91 729. These are given in MW. s.v. as follows: removal of any substance which has entered the body; cure of diseases of the eye or ear, etc., by sharp instruments; cure of diseases affecting the whole body; treatment of mental diseases supposed to be produced by demoniacal influence; treatment of children; doctrine of antidotes; doctrine of elixirs; doctrine of aphrodisiacs.