Journey into Jain Aagam: The Fruit Of Sacrifice

Published: 14.11.2017

King Udaai was the ruler of the city of Sindhu Sauveer. Its capital was Veetbhay Nagar. Prabhavati, the daughter of Chetak was his queen. The queen belonged to the Shraman tradition. After her demise, she was reborn as a goddess and preached Jainism to King Udaai. This led him to become a devoted Jain Shravak.

King Udaai's greatest wish was that Lord Mahavir should visit his city and if that desire was fulfilled, he resolved to spend his entire life in practicing monkhood. One day, his heartiest desire was fulfilled when Lord Mahavir visited his city. The King listened to the preaching of Him with deep concentration and after a few days, he was ready to accept monkhood.

Prince Abhichi was supposed to succeed Udaai as the king. But Udaai thought, "Political power is just like hell and it will not be proper on my part to send my son to the same hell." So he declared Keshi, the son of his sister as his successor. Prince Abhichi was very disappointed by this announcement. His friends advised him to assert his right to throne with the help of the army and the public. He replied, "Whatever my father has decided is final. I do not wish to revolt against him, but at the same time I do not want to stay as a subordinate to Keshi either, so I bid adieu to all of you." Saying so, he, along with his family, crossed the boundary of Veetabhay Nagar and settled in Champapuri.

On the other hand, Udaai, who had become a Jain monk, engrossed himself in meditation and the study of Aagams. He experienced immense peace and tranquility from his meditations. One day, he requested the Lord to grant him the permission to visit Sindhu Sauveer and share his spiritual achievements with the people of his land. After covering a long distance, he reached Mrigvan garden, situated in the outskirts of Veetabhay Nagar.

Udaai as a Jain monk preaching the crowd

News of the arrival of a Jain monk soon reached the city. People of all castes and creed went to the garden to pay their respect and listen to the preaching of the monk. When Keshi heard this news, his mind was replete with doubts. He thought, "Udaai has come here to take back his kingdom. The attraction of power and kingdom have made him forget his religious duties. Let Udaai not stay in the garden, nobody should offer him shelter and if anybody disobeys this order, he shall loose his property and shall also be expelled from the country." When Udaai heard about this announcement, he immediately left the garden. He wandered in the city in search of food and shelter but could not succeed. The devotees were helpless and could not do anything either.

The monk reached the colony of the potters in the afternoon. He asked one of the potter's wife for shelter who replied, "I will have to seek my husband's permission. Munivar, please wait here while I am away." She immediately went to the place where her

Udaai eating the poisoned food offered by Keshi though he knew that poisoned food has been given

husband was working and narrated to him the whole story and waited to seek his permission. The potter was afraid to offer shelter because of the royal announcement but had to bow before his wife's firm decision. The monk stayed at the potter's house that night. When Keshi came to know about this, he was enraged and decided to kill Udaai by offering him poisoned food. Although, Udaai knew that the food was poisoned, he ate it with great equanimity and attained omniscience.

When goddess Prabhavati came to know about this incident, she was extremely annoyed and set fire to the whole city. The fire spread all over the city but it did not even touch the potter's house where Udaai had stayed overnight.

The whole city was burning except the potter's house

Sources


Jain Stories

Title: Journey into Jain Aagam
Author: Sadhvi Vishrut Vibha
Publisher: Jain Vishwa Bharati
Edition: 2001

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Page glossary
Some texts contain  footnotes  and  glossary  entries. To distinguish between them, the links have different colors.
  1. Aagams
  2. Champapuri
  3. Concentration
  4. Equanimity
  5. Jainism
  6. Mahavir
  7. Meditation
  8. Shraman
  9. Shravak
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