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Padma Puranaपद्मपुराण · Jain Ramayana
हिन्दी

Parva 86

Bharata and Kaikeyi Take Diksha

Moved by the Kevali's account of his past lives, Bharata becomes a Digambara muni with more than a thousand kings, and Kaikeyi becomes an aryika with three hundred queens.

Part of Victory and the Return to Ayodhya

Summary

Having heard of his own and the elephant's many births, Bharata begs Deshabhushana for the Digambara diksha, pulls out his hair with his own hands and takes the great vows as the gods shower flowers. More than a thousand kings follow him, while weaker souls take the householder's vows. Kaikeyi faints and wails for her son until Rama, Lakshmana and the other queens console her; then, seeing the misery of worldly life, she becomes an aryika under Prithvimati with three hundred queens, and the earth shines with orders of monks and nuns like a lake full of lotuses.

What happens

5 points

  1. The Kevali's account of the many births of Bharata and the elephant astonishes Rama, Lakshmana and everyone present. Bharata rises, bows at the guru's feet with joined hands and says he is weary of wandering through endless births and countless wombs, and begs for the Digambara diksha that leads to liberation.

  2. At the Kevali's word Bharata gives up every possession, plucks out the hair of his head with his own hands in keshalocha (pulling out the hair, a monk's rite) and takes the great vows, becoming a Digambara muni, while gods in the sky cry out in praise and rain flowers of the wish-fulfilling trees. Out of love for him more than a thousand kings leave their royal splendour and take the Jina's diksha, and those without the strength for it take the anuvratas and become lay followers.

  3. Hearing of her son's renunciation, Kaikeyi weeps, faints and lies as if lifeless until she is revived with sandal water; then she cries like a cow without its calf, asking her humble, virtuous son why he is leaving her in a sea of grief. Rama and Lakshmana comfort her with sweet words, asking whether they are not her sons too and her obedient servants, and Kaushalya, Sumitra and Suprabha console her as well.

  4. Her grief gives way to awakening: Kaikeyi repents her ignorance and resolves never again to be born in a woman's body, which she calls a storehouse of suffering. Putting on a single white sari and giving up every possession and worldly undertaking, she becomes an aryika (nun) with right faith under the aryika Prithvimati, and three hundred queens take the same vows with her.

  5. On hearing Deshabhushana many become munis and aryikas, and the earth, filled with their orders, looks like a lake full of lotuses; many men and women take vows of austerity, restraint and renunciation as lay followers and will, after a few births, see the three worlds by the light of Kevala Jnana. The chapter teaches that one should live in the household yet stay apart from it, like a lotus in water or gold in mud, for austerity and restraint with right faith are the true ornaments of human life.