Yashas-tilaka (IAST: Yaśas-tilaka) is a 10th-century champu (prose and verse) Sanskrit text that promotes the Jaina doctrine using the story of king Yashodhara. It was written by the Jaina writer Somadeva, in the Vemulavada Chalukya kingdom of India. The text provides information about the literary and socio-political aspects of the contemporary period, as well as Jaina and non-Jaina philosophical and religious doctrines.
Alternative titles for the text include Yashas-tilaka-champu (Yaśastilakacampū) and Yasho-dhara-maharaja-charita (Yaśodharamahārājacarita, "the story of king Yashodhara").
Authorship and date
Somadeva, the author of Yashas-tilaka, lived in the Vemulavada Chalukya kingdom, within the Rashtrakuta empire. The colophon of the text mentions that he wrote it in 959 CE, in a town called Gangadhara near the Chalukya capital Lembula-pataka (Vemulavada).
The text states that its manuscript was created by a well-known calligrapher named Rachchhuka (IAST: Racchuka), who was known as Lekhaka-shikha-mani ("top jewel among scribes"). The text also states that women employed Rachchhuka to write love letters. The original manuscript inscribed by Rachchhuka is now lost.
Sources and similar texts
The story of Yasho-dhara is much older than Somadeva, and appears in the Prakrit-language text Samarā-ichchakahā, written by the earlier Jaina writer Haribhadra, whose date is not certain. The core story of Haribhadra's version is similar to that of Somadeva, and the names Abhaya-ruchi and Abhaya-mati appear in both the texts. The texts diverge in minor ways, for example, Haribhadra does not describe the episode of Mara-datta, and the names of other principal characters are different. Unlike Somadeva, Haribhadra does not criticize other faiths.
Jaina writer Uddyotana-suri, in his Kuvalaya-mala (779 CE), mentions another text called Yasho-dhara-charita ("the story of Yasho-dhara"), written by Prabhanjana. Vasava-sena, a later writer refers to two earlier texts narrating Yasho-dhara's story, written by Prabhanjana and Harishena. The identity of Harishena is uncertain, but he may be same as the author of the Sanskrit-language Katha-kosha (931 CE).
Several later works also contain the story of Yasho-dhara. These include Pushpa-danta's Apabhramsha Jasahara-chariu (10th century), Vadi-raja's Sanskrit-language Yasho-dhara-charita (1025 CE), Vasava-sena's Sanskrit-language Yasho-dhara-charita (before 1308 CE), a poem by Vatsa-raja (before 1308 CE), Gandharva's revision of Jasahara-chariu (1308 CE), and a prose Sanskrit-language version by Kshama-kalyana (18th century). Poems dealing with the subject also appear in Old Gujarati, Old Hindi, Tamil, and Kannada languages.
The motif of a high-ranking woman with a low-born paramour, who murders her husband, is a prominent theme in Yashas-tilaka. This motif occurs in several other Indian texts. Besides, the Yashas-tilaka includes verses from other texts; for example, to illustrate the Buddhist doctrine, Somadeva cites some verses from Dharmakirti's Pramana-varttika (c. 600 CE).
Critical edition
During 1901–1903, Nirnaya Sagar press published the Sanskrit text of Yashas-tilaka with the commentary of Shruta-sagara, in two volumes. However, it contains many defects.
In 1944, V. Raghavan of Madras University published a paper titled Gleanings from Somadeva-suri's Yaśastilaka Campū, published in the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute Journal. Raghavan's paper mentions an unpublished commentary of Shri-deva on Yashas-tilaka: this commentary exists in form of a 34-leaf manuscript at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI).
In 1949, K.K. Handiqui wrote a study on the text, using four manuscripts, including an incomplete one. He mainly relied on a manuscript from BORI: this copy contains several marginal notes which are helpful in studying the text. In 1968, he wrote a second edition with supplementary notes about the relationship between the Chalukyas of Vemulavada and Somadeva, the locality where Somadeva composed his works, and Chalukya temples.
Synopsis
The Yashas-tilaka is a religious romance, and deals with tragic incidents of domestic life. It provides information about the literary and socio-political aspects of the contemporary period, as well as Jaina and non-Jaina philosophical and religious doctrines. The text is divided into eight parts (ashvasas).
Book 1
Mara-datta, the ruler of the Rajapura city in the Yaudheya country, is a reckless man addicted to wine and women. A tantric teacher advises him to perform a ritual sacrifice to obtain a magical sword. The sacrifice would involve killing of several animals and humans at the Maha-bhairava temple dedicated to the goddess Chandamari. Accordingly, Mara-datta invites people to the temple on the pretext of celebrating the Mahanavami festival.
Meanwhile, the Jaina monk Sudatta, along with his disciples, is on his way to Rajapura. With his supernatural abilities, he learns of the impending slaughter at the temple, and encamps at a hill near the city. He sends several disciples to seek alms from the neighbouring areas. To Rajapura, he sends two young disciples: a boy named Abhaya-ruchi and his sister, a girl named Abhaya-mati. Kusuma-vati, the mother of these disciples, is a sister of Mara-datta. She was also the chief queen of Yasho-mati, who was a son of the king Yasho-dhara.
Abhaya-ruchi and Abhaya-mati arrive at the temple, just before Mara-datta is about to begin the sacrifice. Mara-datta does not recognize them, but the mere sight of the two children makes his cruel thoughts go away. Encouraged by a bard, he lays down his sword, and asks them who they are. Abhaya-ruchi intend to convert the king to Jainism, but proceed gradually, beginning with conventional pangyerics to praise the king.
Book 2
Abhaya-ruchi narrates their previous births, stating that Abhaya-mati was once Chandra-mati, a consort of king Yashorgha of Ujjayini. Abhaya-ruchi was Yasho-dhara, the son of Chandra-mati and Yashorgha, in his previous birth. One day, king Yashorgha saw a grey hair on his head, and decided to retire as a Jaina monk. He issued orders for prince Yasho-dhara's marriage and coronation as the new king. In a grand ceremony in a newly built city, his son Yasho-dhara was crowned and married to Amrta-mati.
Book 3
Abhaya-ruchi continues his narration of Yasho-dhara's life, describing court affairs and other political matters. Yasho-dhara's interaction with a spy named Shankha-naka is described in detail: the spy describes the misdeeds of a minister named Pamarodara, and blames the king for raising such a low-born person to a high rank. Pamarodara is described as a supporter of the Charvaka philosophy, who disregards the caste rules and employs outcaste Chandalas. The spy encourages the king to remove the minister, but the text does not mention whether the king took any action against the minister.
A description of the king's activities continues: military reviews, meeting with envoys, actions of the court jester, discussion on Arthashastra, dance performances, philosophical discussions, training and inspection of elephants, and a lecture on health and dietetics.
King Yasho-dhara then narrates how he engages in amorous sports in a garden named Madana-mada-vinoda ("the frenzied gaiety of love"), and how he plays water-sports with his mistresses at a place called Yantra-dhara-grha ("hall of the mechanical showers"). He describes the hall for water sports, which contains various mechanical water-ejecting devices, in form of clouds, animals and people. For example, a woman-shaped mechanical device discharges streams of liquid sandal when the various parts of the woman's body are pressed.
Next, the text describes some other events from Yasho-dhara's life, including his victory in a war against king Achala of Panchala; seasonal celebrations (such as the festival of the god of love, Mahanavami, and the festival of light); and his archery skills.
Book 4
Yasho-dhara describes an episode from his married life, which is the main theme of the story:
One night, the queen got out of their bed, dressed to appear like a maid, and left the bedroom. Unknown to her, the king was awake, and started following her. The queen entered the hut of an ugly and crippled elephant driver named Ashta-vanka. The elephant driver beat her up for coming late, but she profusely apologized and confessed her love for him, stating that even while sleeping with the king, she only thought of him. Yasho-dhara wanted to kill both of them, but restrained himself, thinking of the scandal that would follow and the grief it would cause to his son, prince Yasho-mati.
Yasho-dhara then returned to the palace, and pretended to sleep. After some time, the queen returned, and lay down on the bed as if nothing had happened. The king was initially puzzled why Amrta-mati fell for an ugly cripple, but then remembered that the elephant driver was an expert singer whose melodious songs captivated women. He felt disgust for women and worldly pleasures, and decided to renounce the world after appointing his son to the throne.
The next day, at the court, a bard recited some verses about worldly delusions and the futility of trying to control women. It appeared to the king that the bard knew about the events of the last night. Yasho-dhara's mother Chandra-mati noticed a change in the king's demeanour, and guessed that it had something to do with his married life. A maidservant had earlier told the queen-mother that the queen was affectionate towards an elephant driver. The queen-mother asked Yasho-dhara why he was upset, but the king made up a story about having seen a dream in which he renounced the world. She asked him not to believe in such fantastic dreams, and narrated stories about others' dreams to prove her point.
The queen-mother advised the king to perform a ritual sacrifice of animals to ward off evil omens. The king was influenced by the non-violent Jaina faith, and expressed revulsion at the idea. The queen-mother criticized the courtiers for allowing the Jaina Digambaras to influence her son, and exhorted the king to worship the traditional gods - Shiva, Vishnu, or Surya. The two then engaged in a controversial debate comparing Brahmana and Jaina faiths. The king cited various texts to prove the antiquity and the prestige of the Jaina faith.
Finally, the queen mother proposed a compromise: the king would only sacrifice a cock made out of flour. When the queen Amrta-mati learned about the events at the court, she realized that the king must have caught her cheating on him the previous night. She then made a plan to kill the king, before he could kill her. She sent the minister Gavishthira to the king, stating that she was willing to sacrifice herself to ensure the king's safety if he chose to conduct the sacrifice, or to accompany the king to the forest if he chose to renounce the world. She also invited the king and the queen mother to a banquet.
The king was disgusted at the queen's hypocrisy, but accepted the invitation. After ritually sacrificing the cock made of flour, he and the queen mother dined at the queen's banquet, where she poisoned them to death.
Book 5
Abhaya-ruchi then narrates the king's subsequent births:
Yasho-dhara was born as a peacock, and a hunter presented him to the new king Yasho-mati, his son in the previous birth. Meanwhile, the queen-mother Chandra-mati was reborn as a dog, and was also presented to the king as a fine hunting dog. After arriving at the capital Ujjayini, the peacock remembered his previous birth. One day, it saw Amrta-mati dallying with the elephant driver, and attacked them. The maid-servants threw various things at the bird to make it go away, and the dog chased and killed it. Meanwhile, when the king saw the dog attacking the peacock, he hit the dog with a board, killing it.