Paumacariya 21
English (machine translation) 21
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21.1
Now hear, O Śreṇika, the narrative of the eighth Rāma;
I shall tell you all, just as it occurred, concerning the origin of his family and lineage.
21.2
In the dispensation of the Jina Śītala, there was a king named Sumukha
in the city of Kauśāmbī, and in that same place a weaver named Vīraka.
21.3
Abducting his wife, named Vanamālā, the ruler of men there
enjoyed abundant pleasures together with her, like Ananga with Rati.
21.4
Then one day, having given pure food to an ascetic,
the king was struck by lightning and was born, together with his wife, in Harivarṣa.
21.5
Grief-stricken by the separation from his beloved, [Vīraka] took renunciation
at the feet of the sage Poṭṭilaka, died, and was born as an eminent god.
21.6
Ascertaining through the range of clairvoyance the couple born in Harivarṣa,
the god quickly carried them away and brought them to the city of Campā.
21.7
Because he was born in Harivarṣa and carried away (hariūṇa) to be brought here,
he became famous throughout the three worlds as King Hari.
21.8
A son named Mahāgiri, endowed with beauty, was born to him;
and to him in turn a son was born named Himagiri.
21.9
Vasugiri and Indragiri were born, and King Ratnamālin;
also King Sambhūta, and next Bhūtadeva,
21.10
and King Mahīdhara—many such bulls among men
were born in the Harivaṁśa, and passed away after a long time.
21.11
In that very Hari lineage was born a king named Sumitra; / he ruled the city of Kusāgranagara, and his wife was Padmāvatī.
21.12
Then, sleeping peacefully in the last watch of the night, / the auspicious lady saw fourteen dreams during an auspicious planetary conjunction:
21.13
An elephant, a bull, a lion, the lustration, a garland, the moon, the sun, a flag, a pitcher, / a lotus pond, the ocean, a celestial palace, a heap of jewels, and a fire.
21.14
Awakening, the lotus-faced woman told the fourteen dreams to her beloved husband; / he too said to her: "A supreme Jina will become your son."
21.15
Hardly was this conversation taking place when, straightaway from the sky, / a shower of jewels fell, illuminating the ten directions.
21.16
Three and a half crores of jewels each and every day / did the yakṣa Dhanada rain down, and thus for fifteen months.
21.17
When her womb was thus purified by the goddesses residing in lotus cups, / the meritorious lord of supreme Jinas descended and in due course was born.
21.18
As soon as he was born there, taken by the gods to the summit of Mount Mandara, / he was bathed according to rule with the water of the milk-ocean by Indra and the rest.
21.19
Then, when he had received the lustration, his body adorned with ornaments suited to a child, / the foremost gods, Indra and others, praised him with hundreds of auspicious hymns.
21.20
Having thus praised him, the gods departed; the general of the army also placed the moon among Jinas / in the lap of his mother, and he too returned to his divine abode.
21.21
Because his mother, even while he was in the womb, was well-behaved in the kingdom, / the elders gave the Jina the name Munisuvrata.
21.22
He grew up in due course, and having enjoyed kingship for a very long time, / seeing an autumn cloud dissolving away, he was spiritually awakened.
21.23
The bull among Jinas, Munisuvrata, placing his son Suvrata on the throne, / surrounded by gods, took renunciation, the Blessed One, together with kings.
21.24
Under the observance of a two-day fast, in Rājagṛha, by King Vṛṣabhadatta / breaking of the fast with supreme food was given to the lord of supreme Jinas.
21.25
And Vṛṣabhadatta attained the five wonders by the power of the Jina; / with his feet bowed to by gods and asuras, the Tīrthaṅkara wandered over the earth.
21.26
Beneath a campaka tree, thus by the destruction of the destructive karmas, / omniscience arose for the Blessed One as he was meditating.
21.27
Then Suvrata also, having handed over the kingdom there to his son Dakṣa, / took renunciation, practiced asceticism, and at the time of death attained perfection.
21.28
Having established the congregation, Lord Munisuvrata too, accompanied by the community of monks, / on top of Mount Sammeta attained liberation, release from suffering.
21.29
The first son of Dakṣa was born by the name of Ilāvardhana; / to him also a son was born, Prince Śrīvardhana.
21.30
His son was Śrīvatsa; then was born the bull among kings, Saṁjayanta, / and Kuṇima and Mahāratha—many kings in the Hari lineage.
21.31
Passing away in time, some among them attained perfection through asceticism, / while others, through their own practice, were born in the world of gods.
21.32
Thus, when a great time had passed and many kings had gone by, / in Mithilā was born Vāsavaketu in the Hari lineage.
21.33
His wife was of lovely form, named Ilā, superior in virtues in the world; / in her womb a son was born by the name of Janaka.
21.34
Indeed, the birth of Janaka has been told by me in brief, O Śreṇika! / Now hear of the lineage in which King Daśaratha was born.
21.35
Units of time pass away; zealously striving, śramaṇas perform penance; / attached to sense objects, [the worldly] take delight; and those of poor merit wither away.
21.36
Living beings experience sorrows and joys in the world of living beings; / and for them misfortunes and great festivities keep revolving.
21.37
Sages practice meditation; fools and intoxicated people full of passion revile it; / the wise rejoice, while those attached to wine and flesh fall into delusion.
21.38
Those deluded by sense objects sing, and those afflicted with disease weep; / the fortunate merely laugh, seeing people suffering.
21.39
Quarrelsome people dispute; some strut about and run; / and driven by greed, overcome with craving, some march to war.
21.40
In such manifold ways the declining age diminishes through days and seasons; / like a variegated painted canvas, the period of avasarpiṇī wastes away.
21.41
Then, at the present time within the interval of the twentieth Jina, / there arose a king named Vijaya, the lord of the city of Sāketa.
21.42
To his chief queen, Himacūlā, sons were born: / the first was Vajrabāhu, and the second was named Purandara.
21.43
At that time, in Nāgapura, King Bahuvāhana lived; / Cūḍāmaṇi was his wife, and they had a charming daughter.
21.44
Then Bahuvāhana gave that maiden to Vijaya's first son; / Vajrabāhu, having gone there, married her with supreme affection.
21.45
When the wedding was concluded, her brother Udayasundara / set out to escort that maiden to her father-in-law's house together with him.
21.46
Then, in the springtime, as he was passing by, an eminent sage absorbed in meditation / on the summit of Mount Vasantagiri was seen by Vajrabāhu.
21.47
The nearer the noble-armed Vajrabāhu approached that mountain, / the more his delight increased on account of the multitude of excellent flowering trees:
21.48
Blazing with red aśokas, *hila* trees, excellent pomegranates, and kiṁśukas, / loud with the calls of cuckoos, resounding with the buzzing songs of bees,
21.49
Rich with excellent bakula, tilaka, campaka, aśoka, punnāga, and nāga trees, / its regions adorned with pāṭalā, mango, arjuna, and kunda creepers,
21.50
The expanse of directions intensely perfumed with fragrant pollen and nectar of many flowers, / its grove of trees made to dance as they swayed in the southern breeze.
21.51
Having seen that bull among sages, Vajrabāhu thought in his mind: / "Fortunate and fulfilled is he who performs such immense penance!
21.52
He feels the same toward enemy and friend; gold and grass are alike to him; he is free from attachment; / equal in gain and non-gain, having an even mind in sorrow and in joy.
21.53
By him the entire fruit of human birth has indeed been attained— / he who meditates on the highest truth with a single-pointed mind, free from delusion.
21.54
Alas! Wretched and sinful, I am bound by the snares of evil karma, / exceedingly hard and cruel, like a sandalwood tree bound by serpents!"
21.55
As he kept his eyes fixed upon that bull among sages, Udayasundara spoke these words: / "Do you desire śramaṇa ordination, Prince, that you gaze so intently?"
21.56
Then Vajrabāhu said: "It is indeed just as you have spoken!" / And Udaya said to him in turn: "I shall become your companion!"
21.57
Adorned with wedding ornaments, he dismounted from his excellent elephant, / ascended the great mountain, and reverently bowed to the sage.
21.58
Then, having bowed to the sage, who was seated upon a pleasant seat, free from arrogance and passion, / he inquired into the state of saṁsāra, and the bondage and liberation of the soul.
21.59
Then the bull of sages spoke of how the soul, bound by the eight karmas, / wanders through the long cycle of saṁsāra, experiencing sufferings.
21.60
"By the subsidence of karmas one rarely attains the essence of human birth; / even so, deceived by relatives and deluded by sensual objects, one does not perform dharma.
21.61
Twofold is the dharma of the supreme Jina: with worldly life and without worldly life. / That with worldly life is the householder's dharma; that without worldly life is the great sage's dharma.
21.62
Having practiced the lay doctrine, resolute at the time of death, / one who has died is reborn as a supreme god in Saudharma and the other [heavens].
21.63
From divinity to humanity, and from humanity again to divinity: / going thus, in the seventh birth he attains perfection; of this there is no doubt.
21.64
And then, having taken the initiation ordained by the supreme Jina with supreme faith / and destroyed the dirt of karma, his afflictions shaken off, he attains perfection."
21.65
Having thus heard what was ordained by the great sage, the noble prince, free from delusion, / made his heart firmer, his enthusiasm resolved upon renunciation.
21.66
"It is better to endure suffering in a single birth in the ascetic dharma; / I shall cut down the forest of the eight karmas with the blows of the axe of austerity."
21.67
Seeing Vajrabāhu dispassionate beside the sage, / the excellent young women wailed together with the new bride.
21.68
Then Udayasundara addressed him with a choked throat: / "O highly renowned one! It was said in jest—do not act in this manner!"
21.69
Vajrabāhu replied to him: "If medicine is drunk even in jest / when a fierce fever has arisen, does it not remove the pain in one's body?"
21.70
Then Vajrabāhu, bowing devotedly to the bull among sages, said: / "By your favor, I wish to renounce today."
21.71
Knowing his intention, the mendicant, an ocean of virtues, said: / "May there be no obstacle to your dharma; may you attain extensive austerity and self-restraint."
21.72
Filled with spiritual urgency, Vajrabāhu renounced in the presence of the great sage, / together with twenty-six princes led by Sundara.
21.73
Out of affection for her brother and through the sorrow of separation from her husband, / the charming bride also renounced there in the presence of the sage.
21.74
Hearing that Vajrabāhu had renounced, King Vijaya said: / "In his very youth, how did my son turn away from pleasures?
21.75
Yet I, powerless, subject to the senses, seized by old age, / my pride and enthusiasm gone—to whose refuge shall I go?
21.76
With loose and trembling limbs, with hair resembling kāśa flowers, / my set of teeth fallen out, even so I do not attain dispassion!"
21.77
Having thus given the royal splendour to Purandara, / King Vijaya, of renowned fame, renounced beside Nirvāṇamoha.
21.78
Meanwhile, to Purandara, born from the womb of Queen Pṛthvī, / was born Kīrtidhara, whose fame was celebrated among the people.
21.79
There was a king in the city of Kuśasthala, and his daughter was named Sahadevī; / that fair-bodied lady was wedded in splendor by Kīrtidhara.
21.80
Purandara, freed from worldly attachment, renounced beside Kṣemaṅkara; / and Kīrtidhara enjoyed the kingdom handed down through succession.
21.81
Then once upon a time, as Kīrtidhara was seated comfortably on his seat, / he saw the orb of the sun in the vault of the sky seized by Rāhu.
21.82
Reflecting attentively, [he thought]: "The sun, which deprives the host of planets of their luster, / is unable to ward off the power of Rāhu.
21.83
So a person bound by dense karma, when death has arisen, / is unable to avert it, and inevitably dies helplessly.
21.84
Therefore, abandoning this impermanent human birth, an association with essenceless pleasures, / and royal fortune, I shall embrace the initiation of the supreme Jina."
21.85
Hearing these words, the ministers and kinsmen, with dejected faces, / said: "O sovereign of kings! Do not undertake such an act!
21.86
O lord! Without you, this poor earth will surely perish; / and with the destruction of the earth, dharma is ever destroyed.
21.87
When dharma is destroyed, O king, what indeed is not lost for everyone? / Therefore, rule the kingdom and protect the earth with diligence!"
21.88
Addressed thus by the ministers, the steadfast king took a vow: / "Having heard that a son is born, I shall then renounce."
21.89
Thus, as he was enjoying the supreme royal splendor, after a long time, / a son named Sukauśala was conceived in the womb of Sahadevī.
21.90
For a few days the child was hidden by the clever ministers; / but the son was indeed disclosed to the king by a single man.
21.91
Hearing that a son was born, the king gave him all the ornaments, including the crown, / and gave Ghoṣapura with a hundred villages [to the informant].
21.92
Then, having installed his son, who was just one fortnight old, upon his own throne, / Kīrtidhara renounced, having abandoned possessions and worldly undertakings.
21.93
He performs fierce austerity in the hot season; in the rainy season he stays in a sheltered place; / in the winter months, abiding in the penance grove, he cultivates praiseworthy and pure meditation.
21.94
Thus ends the twenty-first chapter in the Paümacariya, describing the greatness of Suvrata, Vajrabāhu, and Kīrtidhara.
Linked texts (1)
- Paümacariya — Vimalasūri, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit