These stories are part of folklore or legend and are not from the Puranas. Mythological stories and legends are slightly different. Puranic stories are mythological, which means they speak of sanatana satya or eternal or timeless truth. In folklore, the stories are partly historical. There may have been such a king in history, but the stories are more practical, not eternal; they’re only for that time. These stories appear in the Kathasaritasagar (ocean of stories).
Vikramaditya is believed to have lived in Ujjain 1000 years before the start of the Islamic period. These stories were probably made up like the Panchatantra to teach princes how to become good kings (‘raj dharma’), somewhat like case studies in management courses today. The uniqueness of these stories is that there’s a puzzle in each story. Different scenarios and perspectives are presented and a king is asked what he would do. The problems presented do not have clear-cut answers about who is right and who is wrong—there is always a dilemma. Since he was a king, Vikramaditya had to take a call, a decision. This kind of situation could make you anxious because you could not know whether the effect of the decision would be positive or negative. In Vedic times, the person who took decisions was called yajman or king. He would make what is known in English as the Judgement of Solomon. This is the answer Vikramaditya would give Vetal.
18
Jainism
When did Jainism originate?
Jain and even Hindu scriptures claim that these religions have been around forever. They are called sanatana (timeless, eternal) dharma. Once in a while a gyani (learned one) picks up some of that eternal knowledge like one would a fruit from a tree and takes it to the people. If you look at sanatana dharma as a large tree, its branches would be Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The concept common to all of them is karma.
It’s difficult to say when Jainism first originated. The Indus Valley seals contain images of bull (rishabh) and elephant which are important Jain symbols. One can surmise that perhaps they had knowledge of Jainism at that time, although there’s no proof because we cannot decipher the language. Historians believe that Mahavira, the Jain Tirthankara, was born around the same time Buddha was born, that is, around 300 BCE. But Mahavira is the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, so if each one came 100 years before the other, Jainism goes back that many years. So Rishabanath, the first Tirthankara, may have been there 8000–10,000 years before.
If you push further and say Mahavira was the twenty-fourth of this yuga—and the previous yuga too had other Tirthankaras and so on and so forth—then one can never know the origin of the religion. According to historical evidence, Parshvanath and Mahavira lived about 2500–3000 years ago near Magadha, i.e., modern Bihar.
In which parts of India was Jainism prevalent?
Jainism was prevalent all over India and is so even today. But today the number of followers is not as many as it used to be. In the north, there were followers in Bihar, Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. All the ancient composers of Tamil epics like Silappatikaram were said to be Jains. Odisha had a Jain king, as did Karnataka. The rulers of the Hoysala dynasty followed Jainism. So Jainism was widespread in south India as well. Today it is mainly seen in Gujarat in the north and Karnataka in the south.
Is Jainism connected with Buddhism?
They are deeply related. They are both of the Shraman parampara. The Vedas described yagna as full of karmakand (rituals). Brahmins would constantly do yagna, but without thought; there was no knowledge. The shramans felt that this was not the right approach towards the Vedas. They felt there should be contemplation to discover the secret of the Vedas. There was a divide. On one side were the Brahmins who did yagna and on the other the shramans who sat in one place and meditated and were interested in the artha (hidden meaning), not the shabda (word) or kriya (act).
Buddhism’s focus was to achieve freedom from suffering through withdrawal of desire. Jainism’s focus was liberation of the soul (mukti) from the web of the material world through knowledge (kaivalya gyan), understanding (darshan) and philosophy. Ahimsa and Anekant-vaad (many-sidedness) were their pillars. For modern times, if there is one thought that should be emphasized, that should be learnt from Jainism, it is Anekant-vaad or diverse thought. Each person has a point of view and no one knows the supreme truth. Instead of argument, there should be conversation. People should listen to each other and understand the different points of view in the world, just as we talk of mimamsa or inquiry for self-knowledge where each scholar has a different idea—some will say atma is immortal while others, like the Buddhists, will say there’s no atma. A Jain monk will say all are right. As people are different from each other, there cannot be one absolute truth; there is only relative truth. Anekant-vaad leads to peace. There is violence in trying to enforce one’s thought on others. These days you see people arguing on TV. We’ve lost Anekant-vaad in which we took people along with us, which is the essence of Indian philosophy.
Does Jainism believe in atma?
Atma is an important concept, but it is different from that in Hindu philosophy. Jains believe that there is jeeva (soul) and ajeeva (matter). Matter is located in space and time. When the two come together, different kinds of living beings are created. Jeeva (atma) is pure; it gets polluted by matter. Matter has hunger and does karma by which there is action and reaction. All this traps the atma in the material world. Just as a balloon is dragged down by a stone tied to its base, the atma is weighed down by karma. If you engage in ahimsa, Anekant-vaad and other meditative practices, slowly the weight of karma is released and the soul will achieve Siddha-loka, that is, liberation. In every yuga, twenty-four people achieve this and they are called the Tirthankaras.
The word ‘Tirthankara’ is interesting. ‘Tirth’ means ford, the shallow part between two rivers across which you can walk without having to swim. The two banks of the river are metaphors for the material and the spiritual worlds. A Tirthankara is one who takes you to the other side—a guru. Jains believe him to be bhagavan. Bhagavan is one who has reached the other side and shows others the way to get there. His atma is completely pure—he has gained freedom from all material things. The statues of all the Tirthankaras look alike (for example, the ones at the Gwalior Fort). They are so pure that they have no identity. They can be identified by different symbols—Mahavira by the lion, Parshvanath by the serpent, Rishabhanath, the first Tirthankara, by the bull, and so on.
How is it different from Hinduism?
For Hindus, bhagavan is god while for Jains bhagavan is guru. In Hinduism, the soul is liberated through bhakti or devotion. In the Shraman parampara, you have to do it yourself; no one else can liberate you. Gurus can help but you have to practise ahimsa, Anekant-vaad, etc., and only your work can save you. This is the fundamental difference.
Are there many stories in Jainism as well?
Just like Hinduism has the Puranas, there are Agam Puranas in Jainism. These have been composed in Ardh Magadhi and Prakrit languages, not Sanskrit. Here the most important concept is that of mahapurusha or salakhapurusha. In every yuga there are sixty-three great heroes. These include the twenty-four Tirthankaras at the highest level. They are sant, mahatma, bhagavan, guru or one who has attained Siddha-loka. Next are the twelve Chakravartis or emperors, rulers of the world. The chakra signifies the horizon and suggests he is the king of everything you see. Then there are twenty-seven heroes—nine Vasudevas, their nine elder brothers called Baldevas and nine enemies, Prati Vasudevas.
The stories of the Tirthankaras are about their mothers dreaming that a great event is about to occur before the birth of the children. Rishabhanath, the first Tirthankara, established civilization. He taught people agriculture and trade. The story goes that once Indra deva visits him and is impressed by Rishabhanath’s favourite apsara, the beautiful Nilanjana. He commends Rishabhanath for establishing an empire, making it a karma bhoomi (land of action) and changing the lives of people. While dancing, Nilanjana suddenly drops dead. Indra deva resurrects her atma. The king is c
onfused. How is this possible? What is the reality? The body lying dead on the floor or the one dancing? Indra asks him which one he thinks is real. The king realizes that everything is maya, nothing is permanent and everything is destructible. He decides to renounce everything—his empire, property and relationships—and sets out in search of the truth. He becomes a shraman, gradually acquires knowledge of everything (kaivalya gyan) and becomes a Tirthankara. Such are the stories of the twenty-four Tirthankaras.
The stories of the Chakravartis are about large kingdoms. Rishabhanath’s son, Bharata, was India’s first Chakravarti. Some trace the origin of our country’s name to this. Bharata had many brothers and he expected all of them to bow to him when he became king. One of the brothers, Bahubali, says, ‘While I respect you as an older brother, I will not bow to you. I have my own kingdom and I am not your serf.’ Bharat says, ‘I am the emperor and everyone is below me.’ Bahubali disagrees. The brothers go to war. People tell them that their father advocated ahimsa. ‘Why do you want your armies to fight? Sort it out among yourselves.’ But the brothers duel. Bahubali is much stronger but at one point he cannot bring himself to attack his older brother. He decides to become a shraman. He renounces everything and goes away and becomes a vairagi. In the Jain vihara, monastery, he finds that his younger brothers who too had given up everything are now senior monks. He realizes that here too he has to be below others, his younger brothers. He is disturbed. His ego is upset. Till you keep comparing, you are trapped in the material world, the world of maya. You’re caught in the binaries of big and small, paap and punya (sin and righteousness), shubh and ashubh (auspicious and inauspicious) and so on. Once you have kaivalya gyan, all these disappear.
Bahubali is not a complete Tirthankara, but he’s almost there. You’ll see large images of Bahubali (like at Gomateshwara) where he stands straight but with creepers around his legs to show he is not fully liberated (mukti). He is one step below achieving the Tirthankara status. His ego still keeps him tied down.
Are the Vasudevas associated with Krishna?
Yes, but this is a Jain Krishna. Hindus have one Vasudeva. Jains have nine, of whom one is Krishna. His enemy is a Prati Vasudeva named Jarasandha who is more important in Jain stories. Jarasandha’s son-in-law is Kamsa, whom Krishna kills. So Jarasandha attacks Mathura. The important thing is that the Vasudevas are violent. So in Jain stories Baldevas are given more importance as they are non-violent. Krishna is associated with violence, and since there is no ahimsa-vaad here, it is believed he will become a Tirthankara only later in the future.
Another Vasudeva is Lakshmana. Jains also have the Ramayana. Rama is called Padmanabha because he is as beautiful as the lotus flower. Rama is a Baldeva because he is non-violent. Lakshmana is violent and his enemy is Ravana. In the Jain Ramayana, Lakshmana kills Ravana, not Rama. After many yugas, after he has washed off all his sins, Ravana too will become a Tirthankara.
There is this concept in sanatana that nobody is 100 per cent bad. There can be avidya (ignorance) but there will definitely be redemption in a later life when you’ll get knowledge and wisdom. You can still fall back into avidya as this is a wheel, but you’ll gain knowledge for sure.
I have some Jain friends who don’t eat root vegetables. They don’t even eat samosas. Why such extreme food habits?
Ahimsa is very important to Jains. They believe that when root vegetables like radish and potato are pulled out of the earth, many living beings are killed in the process. So they avoid it. Jain samosas use peas instead. In India, there is the philosophy of Anekant-vaad—‘You can eat potato samosa, but we’ll only eat pea samosa.’
Author’s Note
This is a collection of easy-going conversations about Indian mythology, based on the eponymous television show
What is discussed here is not meant to be factually ‘accurate’—you may refer to your guru for clarity
This is not an academic work and does not claim to be authoritative
Contained here are simplified versions of mythological tales, taken from various versions found in different scriptures and in folklore
The attempt is to retain the essence embedded in the tales, and to provoke readers to dig deeper into the philosophy
I offer here a subjective truth, my truth, which is one among many truths, because:
Within infinite myths lies an eternal truth
Who sees it all?
Varuna has but a thousand eyes
Indra, a hundred
You and I, only two
Epic
From stories you never heard to questions you never
knew whom to ask, Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik on
EPIC Channel has it all! Watch all the episodes to
explore the fascinating world of Indian mythology.
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Copyright © Devdutt Pattanaik 2018
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ISBN: 978-0-143-44279-0
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