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12. A CONTROVERSIAL DIALOGUE
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Further, if it had been possible to save one's own life by taking the life of another, the kings of old would never have died; and if the sāstric injunction sanctioning flesh-eating were to be applied universally, one would have to eat even the flesh of dogs and crows!
. परस्य जीवेम यदि स्वरक्षा पूर्वे क्षितीशाः कुत एव मम्रः ।
शास्त्रं तु सर्वत्र यदि प्रमाणं श्वकाकमांसेऽपि भवेत् प्रवृत्तिः ॥ Yasodhara then attacks the belief that the sacrifice of animals leads to heaven:
लोलेन्द्रियैर्लोकमनोऽनुकूलैः स्वाजीवनायागम एष सृष्टः। स्वर्गो यदि स्यात् पशुहिंसकानां सूनाकृतां तर्हि भवेत् स कामम् ॥ मत्रेण शस्त्रैर्गलपीउनाद्वा वेद्या बहिश्चापि वधः समानः ।
स्वों यदि स्यान्मखहिंसितानां स्वबान्धवैर्यज्ञविधिर्न किंतु॥ This Vedic lore was created by sensual persons, favourable to the inclina. tions of the populace, in order to make their own living; and it is the butchers who would mostly go to heaven if that was the destination of those who killed animals in sacrificial rites. Killing is the same whether it is done at the altar or outside, whether it is accompanied by Vedic formulas or brought about by strangulation or weapons. If the animals killed in sacrifices go to heaven, why is it that one's kinsfolk are not sacrificed?'
Yasodhara illustrates his point further by a story in which a goat, about to be sacrificed, is represented as saying to the priest:
नाहं स्वर्गफलोपभोगतृषितो नाभ्यर्थितस्त्वं मया संतुष्टस्तृणभक्षणेन सततं हन्तुं न युक्तं तव ।
स्वर्ग यान्ति यदि त्वया विनिहता यज्ञे ध्रवं प्राणिनी यज्ञं किं न करोषि मातृपितृभिः पुत्रैस्तथा बान्धवैः ॥ "I am not eager to enjoy the bliss of heaven nor have I asked thee for it. I am ever content with the eating of grass; it is not right for thee to kill me. Verily, if the animals slain by thee in sacrifices go to heaven, why dost thou not sacrifice thy parents, children and friends ?'
Yaíodhara's mother makes no further attempt to argue with her son, and falling at his feet, in spite of his remonstrances, entreats him to accept a compromise in the matter of sacrificing a cock at the altar of Candikā and partaking of its flesh. Yasodhara agrees most unwillingly. and the debate comes to an end.
The discussion between Yasodhara and his mother belongs to a long series of texts wherein Jaina writers have attacked various tenets and practices of the Brahmanical religion, especially those connected with the sacrifice of animals in Vedic rites. There is in fact a whole literature of such attacks interspersed in Jaina writings in Sanskrit and Prākrit, but there are few as systematic and comprehensive as that in our work, not to speak of the dramatic realism which characterizes the dialogue,
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