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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
PART B Dhammika praises the Buddha on account of his wisdom which has been acknowledged also by the demi-gods and such divine beings as Erāvaṇa and Kuvera (V. 379):
The author of the SnA. totally misunderstood the stanza. He takes the nāgarāja Erāvaṇa as Indra’s elephant of which he gives a fanciful description. The reading of the stanza leaves no doubt that the Nāga king of the legend is meant by Erāvaṇa: “The Nāga king Erāvaṇa came to thee when he heard that a Jina has come into existence[1]. He also came in order to have consulation[2] with thee and when he had heard (thee) he was pleased, (saying) ‘well’”. Airāvaṇa occurs somewhat often in Buddhist Sanskrit texts: Mvp. 168, 45; Mahām. p. 247; in the serpent charm (Bower MS. p. 224; Mahām. p. 221):
It is scarcely to be doubted that Erāpatha here is only the corresponding form of Elāvata or perhaps Elāvana of the eastern language.
But the matter does not rest only with this transformation of Elavata. Later, the
unintelligible name, was changed into *Elapatta ‘leaf of cardamom’, and *Elapatta with
the shortening of the final syllable of the first member of the compound. Both the forms
have then been sanskritised: the name reads Elāpatra in the Brahmanical[5], Elapatra in the
Buddhist Sanskrit texts[6]. To explain the name, a story has then been invented by the
Buddhists. The Nāga is said to have been a monk in the former birth who committed the sin
of plucking away leaves from cardamom plants (elā) standing in his way[7]. *Elapatta has then
been taken over into the western language as Erapatta with change of l to r. Erapatto has
probably to be read in the label of the relief where Erapato is written. If the DhA. writes Erakapatta instead of it, this is simply an attempt to elucidate the name. As the word era
does not exist, so eraka was substituted in its place, which designates a form of read, in any
case a plant growing near water. (When the Vṛishṇyandhakas in Prabhāsa on the seashore
get into a quarrel they strike each other with erakās, changed into clubs; Mbh. 16, 3, 36 ff.)
According the name is thus interpreted in a new story: The Nāga in a former birth,
as a young monk sailing on a boat on the Gaṅgā, grasped a bush of Erakās growing
on the bank and did not let it loose even when the boat went on, so that a leaf was plucked (daharabhikkhu hutvā gaṅgāya nāvaṁ abhiruyha gachchhanto ekasmiṁ erakagumbe erakapattaṁ[8]
[1]or â(that thou art) the Jina’. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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