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Padma Puranaपद्मपुराण · Jain Ramayana
हिन्दी

Parva 69

Ravana Commands the People to Keep Vows during the Ashtahnika Festival

Before beginning his sadhana in the Shantinatha temple, Ravana has Mandodari proclaim that all Lanka must keep vows, worship and shun all strife.

Part of The War of Lanka

Summary

Ravana enters the Shantinatha temple at the heart of his palace, bathes and worships the Lord, and stands in kayotsarga with a crystal rosary to master the vidya. Before going in, he commands Mandodari to have the minister and the city chief proclaim that all citizens must give up trade, worship the Jina, give to the poor and shun all anger, on pain of punishment. Mandodari passes on the order to the minister and the city chief Yamadanda, and all Lanka turns to restraint, austerity and worship.

What happens

5 points

  1. The temple of Shri Shantinatha, cause of peace, lofty as a peak of Kailasa, shines like Mount Sumeru in the middle of Ravana's palace. Desiring to master the vidya, Ravana bathes the Lord with wondrous substances amid music and pure mantras, then worships him with lovely offerings, fragrant incense, jewelled lamps and the eight substances.

  2. Clad in white, wearing a crown topped by a radiant crest-jewel, Ravana bows to Shantinatha with the eight-limbed prostration in mind, speech and body, and then stands before the Lord on purified ground in kayotsarga (the standing meditation posture), holding a rosary of crystal beads.

  3. Before entering, he had ordered Mandodari to summon the minister and the kotwal (city chief) and proclaim that all citizens should devote themselves to dharma under vows: give up all trade, worship the Jina images, give the poor whatever they wish, abandon pride, and keep faith and restraint until his vow is fulfilled.

  4. Whoever is troubled by another should bear it, the strong should not boast of their strength, and anyone who shows anger in these days will surely be punished; even someone as venerable as his own father, Ravana declared, would be put to death if he quarrelled now, and no one was to commit any sinful act.

  5. Mandodari summons the minister and Yamadanda the kotwal and conveys her husband's command; they promise to do as she orders, and all the people of Lanka, putting aside every task, devote themselves with pure hearts to Jina worship, restraint, austerity and renunciation. The chapter teaches that austerity sheds karma, that auspicious feelings bring worldly happiness, and that pure feeling without desire for reward leads to liberation.