Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v2.c8.s22.4

v2.c8.s22.4

¹ The main incidents of the *Pūrṇa Avadāna* are as follows: Pūrṇa, whose mother was a slave-girl, was the youngest and favourite son of a rich merchant of Sūrpāraka. After the father’s death he and his eldest brother Bhavila were deprived of their property by the other two brothers, but by the judicious marketing of some sandal-wood Pūrṇa restored their fortune and became eventually the chief merchant of the country. He made six successful ocean voyages, and was then inclined to rest content; but some merchants from Śrāvastī persuaded him to embark a seventh time. On the way he heard them reciting verses in praise of the Buddha, and was filled with a desire to embrace the faith. When the voyage was over he obtained the permission of his brother Bhavila to abandon the worldly life, and received instruction from the Buddha at Śrāvastī. To show that he had now no care for the body he chose to live in the land of the Śroṇapārāntakas, a notoriously fierce and dangerous people, and converted many of them. Meanwhile Bhavila had gone to sea and arrived at a land where was a forest of *Gośīrsha* sandal-wood; his men proceeded to cut down the trees, whereupon the owner, the *Yakṣa* Maheśvara, raised a hurricane of the kind no ship can withstand. Bhavila was helpless, but his companions called to Pūrṇa for help. Pūrṇa, by his supernatural power, appeared on the ship, the storm ceased, and the *Yakṣa* had to yield. Upon his return to Sūrpāraka Pūrṇa built a sandal-wood *vihāra*, and with the co-operation of his brothers and the king prepared a reception for the Buddha. The rest of the *Avadāna* relates the miracles associated with the Buddha’s journey from Śrāvastī to Sūrpāraka. (From *Divyāvadāna*, ed. Cowell and Neil, Cambridge, 1886.)