________________
14. JAINA CRITICISM OF VEDIC SACRIFICES
a goddess (by the Brahmanas) and all the gods are believed to reside in her body; yet they kill her in the Gosava sacrifice and eat the flesh; do they not kill those gods by killing the Cow ? 1 The Jainas had a tendency to believe that all sacrifices whose names began with the name of a living creature involved its slaughter in the accompanying ritual. Another example of erroneous statements made by Jaina writers about Vedic rites is found in Raviṣeņa's Padmacarita 11. 87-89:
आशुशुक्षणिमादाय पृष्ठे कूर्मस्य तर्पयेत् । हविष्यजुह्वकाख्याय स्वाहेत्युक्त्वा प्रयत्नतः ॥ यदा न प्राप्नुयात् कुमं तदा शुद्ध द्विजन्मनः । खलतेः पिङ्गलाभस्य विक्लवस्य शुचौ जले ॥ आस्यदघ्नेऽवतीर्णस्य मस्तके कूर्मसंनिभे । प्रज्वालय ज्वलनं दीप्तमाहुतिं निक्षिपेद् द्विजः ॥
385
These verses containing details, corresponding more or less to particulars found in Vedic texts, might very well deceive an unwary reader not familiar with the Vedic sacrificial system. Among the terms used juhvaka is a misreading for jumbaka, and viklava for viklidha. Ravişeņa means to say that oblations are offered in the fire on the back of a tortoise, but if one is not available, the offerings are made in a fire kindled on the head of a Brahmana with certain characteristics, immersed in the water up to the mouth. This is an atrocious misrepresentation of a Vedic rite which took place on the third day of the Aśvamedha towards the end of the sacrifice at the end of the purificatory bath (avabhṛtha). What really happened was that an oblation of clarified butter was made on the head of a man of hideous appearance, standing in the water, with the mantra To Jumbaka hail !' The mantra occurs in the Vajasaneyisamhita 25. 9, Jumbaka being a name of Varuna as explained, for instance, in the Taittiriya Brahmana III. 9. 15. Among the epithets applied to the man the most frequent are pingala tawny-eyed', khalati bald-headed', viklidha, and sukla 'white' or rather 'pale'. As regards viklidha, it is variously explained as dantura with protruding teeth' by Karka on the Katyayana Srauta Sūtra XX. 8. 16, Mahidhara on the Vajasaneyisamhitā 25. 9, and Harisvamin on the S'atapatha Brahmana XIII. 3. 6. 5; as svedanasilasarira and viklinnadeha perspiring' 'clammy' by Sāyaṇa on the Taittiriya Brahmana (op. cit.); and as 'leprous' by Varadattasuta Anartiya in his commentary on the S'ankhayana Srauta Sutra 16. 18. The latter text as well as the Baudhayana S'rauta Sutra 15. 37 uses some other epithets to make the man still more repulsive, and Sankhāyana
1 सुरही लोयस्सग्गे वक्खाणइ एस देवि पच्चक्खा । सव्वे देवा अंगे इमिए णिवसंति नियमेण ॥ पुणरवि गोसवजण्णे मर्स भक्खति सा विमारित्ता । तस्सेव वहेण फुडं ण मारिया होंति ते देवा ॥ 49
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
