Summary
Introduction
"Kshatra Chudamani (क्षत्र चूड़ामणि) - Jeevandhar Swami Charitra" is one of the greatest Neeti-shastras of Jain Literature available to us today; written by Acharya Vadibhsinh Suri.
This scripture portrays the biography of an eminent King - "Jeevandhar Swami", where his various illustrious life events leave imprints for us to learn life lessons, ethics, morals, purity and numerous fundamentals of Jainism.
Acharyadev has beautifully carved this life-story of Jeevandhar Swami to serve us with the remarkable learnings from it in the form of Neetis. Truly, this extraction of learnings from the story is unmatchable and a treasure for us!
Everyone of us must have heard about Chanakya Neeti, right? It is a Neeti Shastra (455 Shlokas) that talks mostly about politics and general life-lessons. Well, Kshatra-Chudamani (747 Shlokas) is also a Neeti Shastra, but it isn't about Politics or other day-today shallow life lessons. Jainism has always been about how to achieve Salvation and become God; and that exact thing is explained in this Shastra.
The Question is - Why haven't we read (or even heard) Kshatra Chudamani yet?
Who is Jeevandhar Swami?
Jeevandhar Swami was the last (24th) Kamdev of the current Avasarpini cycle.
Like there are 24 Tirthankars in each Kaal-chakra's half-cycle; similarly along with these there are other great personalities who take birth like Charavartis, Balbhadra, Narayan, Pratinarayan, Kamdev etc.
Kamdevs, precisely, are the most personable, attractive and good-looking personalities in the whole Era; and Jeevandhar Swami was the 12th of them during the shasan kaal of 24th Tirthankar Bhagwaan Mahavir.
Jeevandhar Swami attained liberation after renouncing the worldly materialism from Siddhvarkoot Siddhkshetra.
About the Scripture
This scripture is estimated to have been written in the 10th century. It has a total of 11 Chapters (Lamb/Adhikaar) written in Sanskrit Language.
It is a work of verse-literature that has 747 Shlokas; out of which 554 Shlokas are written to explain Neetis (Moral values), while only 193 Shlokas describe the life story of Jeevandhar Swami.
This clearly tells us that Acharyadev must have written this scripture to explain Neetis (morals); while the story of Jeevandhar Swami is taken as an illustrious medium for it.
Thus, Kshatra Chudamani is a Neeti-shastra along with being a Prathamnuyog granth.
What makes this Scripture so special?
1. Perfect for beginners Anyone who has basic knowledge of Hindi language can read and understand this easily. Also, there is no specific prerequisite of knowledge of in-depth Jainism concepts; which makes it just perfect for beginners. Moreover, it has 3 types of explanation for each Shloka:
- Anyavarth - Explains the Shloka translation word-to-word from Sanskrit to Hindi.
- Saralarth - Explains the crux of the Shloka's Anyavarth in even more simpler language.
- Vishesharth - Describes and elaborates the Sararth to lead us towards understanding the clear message and idea of the particular Shloka with an essence of Jainism fundamentals.
2. Beautiful Storyline The life-story would definitely make one dive in the character of Jeevandhar Swami; leading one to revere the greatness of Jeevandhar Swami and fill your heart with "Vairagya" at multiple places in the plot - which is truly one of the purest feelings you might experience. Apart from Vairagya - which is the end goal of reading or writing any Jain Scripture; the story also involves a lot of ups and downs, exciting events, suspenseful moments and how Jeevandhar Swami deals with them.
Because of such a beautiful portrayal, it is almost impossible for our mind waver elsewhere during its Swadhyay and in fact it will make you binge-read this Shastra.
3. Real life lessons Well, Jainism being the truest Art of Living; all the Jain Scriptures teach us how our life should be in different ways. Kshatra Chudamani - being a Neeti-shastra has a lot of lessons beautifully derived from life-events of Jeevandhar Swami.
The Morals taught in the Shastra can be implemented in our day-to-day life and we can relate to these a lot.
Conclusion
Cannot stress on how much you are missing out if you haven't yet read Kshatra Chudamani.
Doing Swadhyay is the best way towards the path of liberation.
Ending this small brief with an honest wishing that this Shastra becomes the nimitt of our "Samyaktva" and we make all of our efforts to imbibe few of the numerous great qualities of Jeevandhar Swami in our life; and one day achieve the state of Siddha like Bhagwaan Jeevandhar Swami soonest!