Prakrit Proper Names (Agamic Index I) v1.c5.s1.223

v1.c5.s1.223

Āsāḍhabhūi (Asāḍhabhūti) A disciple of Dhammarui (2) Once he went to the house of Viśvakarman a royal actor to beg alms He received one sweet ball from there While coming out from the house he thought that the preceptor would take the ball and he would get nothing Hence he changed his form and went to the actor again Thinking that the teacher would take the second ball too he changed his form again and went to the actor's house third time Viśvakarman seeing him coming in different forms told his two beautiful daughters that if the man was fascinated he would be very useful to them The daughters succeeded in fascinating him Asāḍhabhūi abandoned asceticism married the girls and put on the dress of an actor He became the leader of actors on achieving proficiency in the art of acting He used to earn a lot of wealth by propitiating kings He disliked wine and hence his wives also gave it up Once a king ordered that only actors without any woman should perform a play at the court The two wives of A aḍh bhui thought that their husband would not be at home that night and therefore they could take wine They did accordingly and slept upstairs quite naked The king postponed the performance owing to some reasons Asadhabhui returned from the court saw the plight of the drunken wives lost all attachment for the world and decided to renounce it When Viśvakarman came to know about this he reproached his daughters and sent them to conciliate him They went to Asāḍhabhūi and requested him either not to renounce the world or to arrange for their maintenance Asa dhabhu along with five hundred princes staged a drama before king Simha ratha of Rāyagiha He played the part of Cakkavatt Bharaha (1) and the princes that of his tributary kings Actual scenes of fourteen jewels mirror house etc were shown At last in the mirror house Asāḍhabhūi together with the five hundred princes renounced the world and entered the state of asceticism after giving all the ornaments to his wives as the means of their support