The Origin of the Vanara Dynasty

Having told King Shrenika of the Rakshasa and Vidyadhara lines, Gautama turns to the Vanara line. In Meghapura, on the southern row of Vijayardha mountain, ruled the Vidyadhara king Atindra with Queen Shrimati; their learned son Shrikantha refused to give his beautiful younger sister Devi to Padmottara, son of King Pushpottara of Ratnapura, choosing instead Kirtidhavala, lord of Lanka, which enraged Pushpottara.

Returning by vimana (aerial car) from worshipping at the Jina temples of Mount Sumeru, Shrikantha heard Pushpottara's daughter Padmabha singing a devotional song and saw her playing the vina beside her teacher; the two fell in love and he carried her off through the sky. Pushpottara pursued him with a Vidyadhara army on illusory horses, elephants, lions and great vimanas, and Shrikantha fled to his brother-in-law Kirtidhavala in Lanka, who embraced him and took the defence upon himself.

Kirtidhavala's envoy argued that Shrikantha was of an equal and pure lineage, rich, courteous and handsome, and that daughters belong to another's house in any case, while Padmabha's friend brought her plea that Shrikantha was blameless and that a high-born girl takes only one husband. Seeing that his daughter had chosen him herself, Pushpottara gave up the war and went home, and the couple were married on the first day of the bright half of Margashirsha.

Because Shrikantha had many enemies on Vijayardha, Kirtidhavala begged him to stay and choose an island in the ocean. His minister Ananda listed Sandhyakara, Subela, Kanchana, Haripura, Hamsadvipa, Ratnadvipa, Toyavali, Kshema and others, and praised the famous Vanaradvipa (Monkey Island), three hundred yojanas to the north amid the sea, where grain grows unsown and Mount Kishku, with slabs of gems and gold, rises among fields of sugarcane.

Kirtidhavala gave Vanaradvipa to Shrikantha, who moved there with his household on the first day of Chaitra, to an island rich in dates, sandal, pomegranate, cardamom, clove, almond, walnut, coconut and every kind of fruit. Amazed at the many monkeys whose hands, feet and play were so like those of humans, he had them brought, fed them sweet food, taught them to dance and appointed keepers to protect them.

Taking the monkeys with him, he climbed Mount Kishku and on its level summit founded the city of Kishkupura, fourteen yojanas long and fourteen wide with a circuit of a little over forty-two, ringed with walls of gems and jewelled gates, where he lived happily with Queen Padmabha.

During the Ashtahnika festival he saw the gods flying to Nandishvara Dvipa and set out after them with his queen, but his vimana stalled at Manushottara mountain, beyond which humans cannot pass. Grieving that he could not worship the eternal Jina temples there, and resolving to earn that sight in a future birth, he crowned his son Vajrakantha and became a muni (Jain monk).

An elder told Vajrakantha his father's past life as heard from munis: two loving merchant brothers were set apart by their wives; the rich elder became a lay devotee, rescued his poor, vice-ridden younger brother with wealth and vows, then became a muni and was reborn as an Indra, while the younger died in peace, became a god, and then Shrikantha. When that Indra, out of old affection, passed in splendour toward Nandishvara, Shrikantha recalled his past birth and turned to renunciation.

Hearing this, Vajrakantha too handed the throne to Indrayudhaprabha and became a muni. In that line King Raviprabha's son Amaraprabha married Gunavati, who trembled with fear at the monkeys painted on the palace walls; when the angry king asked who had painted them, the elders explained that his ancestor Shrikantha had loved, fed and painted the monkeys, and later kings kept painting them at auspicious ceremonies.

Pleased, Amaraprabha ordered that the monkey image never be put where feet might touch it, but be borne on his crown, banners, palace pinnacles and royal umbrellas; under this emblem he conquered both rows of Vijayardha without taking anyone's wealth and ruled long from Kishkupura as overlord of all Vidyadharas. He lived in the time of the Tirthankara Vasupujya, and from him the Vidyadharas bearing the monkey sign came to be called Vanaravanshi (of the Vanara dynasty).

The line passed from Amaraprabha's son Kapiketu (whose queen was Shriprabha) to Vikramasampanna, Pratibala, Gagananda, Khecharananda and Girinanda, and on through many kings who renounced their thrones for heaven or moksha (liberation). In the time of Munisuvratanatha the Vanara king Mahodadhi, whose chief queen Vidyutprakasha stood first among hundreds and who had 108 sons, was bound in friendship to Vidyutkesha, king of Lanka, as if they were one mind in two bodies.

While Vidyutkesha sported in Lanka's Pramada garden, a monkey clawed the breasts of his queen Shrichandra and he shot it with an arrow. The wounded monkey fell at the feet of a sky-roaming muni, who recited the Namokara mantra to it, and it was reborn as an Udadhikumara god; seeing the king's men killing other monkeys, the god conjured a terrifying army of monkeys bearing mountains and trees that surrounded the king.

Recognising divine power, Vidyutkesha begged for mercy and went with the god to the muni, who, though holding four kinds of knowledge, would not preach while his own teacher was near and led them to his guru. The guru taught that compassion for living beings is the root of dharma, set out the lay devotee's vows and the monk's path of five great vows, three guptis (restraints) and five samitis (careful practices), and described the torments of animal births and the hells.

He then revealed their past lives: Vidyutkesha had been Suyashodatta, minister to the king of Shravasti, who became a muni; when a hunter near Kashi insulted him as a bad omen, his angry thought of killing the man with one blow destroyed the merit that would have taken him to the eighth heaven, so he became a Jyotishka (stellar) god and then Vidyutkesha. The hunter, after long wandering, was the very monkey he had shot, so the guru urged them to give up enmity and take refuge in Munisuvratanatha.

Vidyutkesha gave the kingdom to his son Sukesha, became a muni and was reborn as a high god. Hearing this, Mahodadhi set aside the pleas of his crown prince, ministers and weeping queens that he stay to protect young Sukesha's realm, crowned his son Pratichandra, took Digambara initiation and attained Siddhahood (liberation); Pratichandra in turn crowned his son Kishkindha, made his younger son Andhraka crown prince, and also attained Siddhahood.

At the swayamvara (bride's choice) of Shrimala, daughter of King Vidyamandira and Queen Vegavati of Adityapura, the maid Sumangala presented Martandakundala, Vidyasamudghata of Ratnapura, Khecharabhanu of Vajrapanjara, Chandranana of Chandrapura, Purandara, Mahabala and many more, but Shrimala garlanded Kishkindha. Vijayasimha, son of the mighty Ashanivega of Rathanupura, mocked the brothers as red-faced monkeys with no place among Vidyadharas, and a great battle broke out in which Sukesha of Lanka came to aid his friends.

Kishkindha carried off the bride while Andhraka beheaded Vijayasimha with his sword. Maddened by grief, Ashanivega besieged Kishkupura and slew Andhraka in battle, while Kishkindha, struck senseless by the rock he had hurled at Ashanivega's son Vidyudvahana and which was flung back at him, was carried home by Sukesha and lamented that his right arm had been cut off.

Sukesha counselled that grief is a great demon and urged retreat to Patala Lanka, the hidden refuge praised by their ancestors; Kishkindha was consoled only on seeing Queen Shrimala. Ashanivega restrained Vidyudvahana from pursuing them, saying Andhraka's death had avenged Vijayasimha; later, seeing clouds dissolve in the sky, he renounced the world, gave the kingdom to his son Sahasrara and became a muni together with Vidyudvahana, while Nirghata, the Vidyadhara he had placed in Lanka, held it under Sahasrara and, finding the Rakshasas in hiding, lived there without fear.

Returning from a pilgrimage to Sumeru with Shrimala, Kishkindha was charmed by the Karnatata forest on the southern shore, a land like the Devakuru paradise where no land-dwellers came, and since deep Patala Lanka saddened him he founded the heavenly city of Kishkindhapura on its mountain. A devout king of right faith, he had two sons, Suryaraja and Riksharaja, and a daughter, Suryakamala, who married Mrigaridamana, son of King Meru of Meghapura; on the way home the groom founded the city of Karnakundala on Mount Karna.

In Patala Lanka, Sukesha and Queen Indrani had three sons, Mali, Sumali and Malyavan, who mastered all the vidyas (magical sciences) in their youth. Pressed to explain why they must not go toward the southern sea, Sukesha revealed that Lanka had belonged to their family since the time of Ajitanatha, the second Tirthankara, but was lost to Ashanivega, who had installed the cruel and powerful Nirghata there; Mali wept in anger, reproached his father for hiding this, and vowed to win Lanka back.

Marching with the whole Rakshasa army toward Trikutachala, beneath which Lanka lies, the brothers routed Nirghata's Daitya kinsmen, many of whom died, fell at their feet or fled. Seeking out Nirghata himself rather than slaughter common soldiers, Mali brought him down from his chariot with arrows and killed him with a sword; Nirghata's clan fled to Vijayardha, and the three brothers entered Lanka and brought their parents and family there.

Mali married Chandravati, daughter of King Megha and Queen Bhogavati of Hemapura; Sumali married Pritisanjnaka, daughter of King Pritikanta and Queen Pritimati of Pritikuta; and Malyavan married Kanakavali, daughter of King Kanaka and Queen Kanakashri of Kanakakanta, each becoming chief queen among more than a thousand. Mali brought both rows of Vijayardha under his command, and in time Sukesha crowned Mali and Kishkindha crowned Suryaraja, and the two old friends became munis and attained Siddhahood.