Question

Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow.

The world beyond the palace Just as the Buddha’s teachings were compiled by his followers, the teachings of Mahavira were also recorded by his disciples. These were often in the form of stories, which could appeal to ordinary people. Here is one example, from a Prakrit text known as the Uttaradhyayana Sutta, describing how a queen named Kamalavati tried to persuade her husband to renounce the world: If the whole world and all its treasures were yours, you would not be satisfied, nor would all this be able to save you. When you die, O king and leave all things behind, dhamma alone, and nothing else, will save you. As a bird dislikes the cage, so do I dislike (the world). I shall live as a nun without offspring, without desire, without the love of gain, and without hatred …Those who have enjoyed pleasures and renounced them, move about like the wind, and go wherever they please, unchecked like birds in their flight … Leave your large kingdom … abandon what pleases the senses, be without attachment and property, then practise severe penance, being firm of energy….

1. Identify the person who persuaded the king to renounce the world.
2. “Oh king, dhamma alone and nothing else will save you”- What does the word “dhamma” signifies and whose teachings was followed by the disciple.
3. Under which context the following statement “unchecked like birds in their flight…….” was told by the disciple of Mahavira?

Answer 1

1. The queen Kamalavati persuaded the king to renounce the world.
2. Dhamma refers to “the truth”, that can save one, nothing else. The disciple was following the preaching’s of Mahavira.
3. One who has left the worldly pleasures, will flow like a wind and fly like a bird without any worries. He wanted people to Detach from everything, let go of what gives pleasures and creates desire.