Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c13.264

c13.264

In the bottom panel, an incident from the life of Āryasamita is represented. It is related that, in the Ābhīra country, on an island between the Kanhā and the Beṇṇā rivers, five hundred hermits lived; among them there was a hermit who could walk on water. People were impressed at the supernatural attainment of this Brahmin hermit, and looked down on the Jains. The Jains, to gain their lost influence, invited Āryasamita who explained that walking on water was due to an ointment which the hermit applied to his feet. Hearing this, the Jain laymen invited the Brahmin hermit for dinner, and, as is customary with the Hindus, washed his feet before dinner. After this, he went along with the Jains to the river and tried to walk on the water, which he was unable to do as the ointment which gave him power to walk on the water was previously washed. In the meantime, Āryasamita came over there, threw some magical powder in the river which made its banks meet, thus enabling the Sūri to go to the opposite bank. This feat impressed the hermits who accepted Jainism.