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Padma Puranaपद्मपुराण · Jain Ramayana
हिन्दी

Parva 67

Ravana Arranges Worship in the Shantinatha Temple to Master the Bahurupini Vidya

Torn between his captive kin and his warrior pride, Ravana resolves to master the Bahurupini vidya and orders worship in the Shantinatha temple.

Part of The War of Lanka

Summary

After the envoy's report Ravana broods: defeating the enemy would endanger his brother and sons, while snatching them back by force would shame his valour. He decides to master the Bahurupini vidya, has the temple of Shantinatha adorned and entrusts the worship to Mandodari. Gautama describes how, in the age of the twentieth Tirthankara Munisuvrata, Jina temples filled the land, and how the Shantinatha shrine stood at the heart of Ravana's palace.

What happens

5 points

  1. Having heard the envoy and consulted his ministers, Ravana sits with his hand on his cheek, eyes downcast, and reasons that if he conquers the enemy in battle his brother and sons will come to harm, while carrying them off from the enemy camp by force would look like a lapse of valour unworthy of a Kshatriya.

  2. He resolves to master the Bahurupini vidya (the science of assuming many forms) and orders his servants to adorn the temple of Shri Shantinatha with festoons and arches and to hold special worship in the shrine, entrusting the arrangement of the worship to Mandodari.

  3. Gautama tells Shrenika that this was the age of the twentieth Tirthankara Munisuvrata, when Jina temples stood all over Bharata Kshetra, visited by the fourfold sangha (monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen), and kings, merchants and common folk alike were Jains who built temples protected by gods devoted to the Jina's teaching.

  4. On every mountain and in every village, city, forest and house there were Jina temples, resounding with songs and music, fragrant with incense and garlands, hung with bells, chimes and banners, holding golden images of five colours beneath lofty spires, visited at all three times of day and graced by the presence of sadhus.

  5. At the centre of Ravana's palace stands the chaityalaya (shrine) of Shri Shantinatha, revered by all beings. The chapter teaches that worship, study, japa and samayika (meditation in equanimity) in such a shrine bring peace, that the sight of the Jina destroys the sins of many births, and that Jina dharma grants heaven and liberation just as sunlight shows all things to those with eyes.