Lay Followers
Jivandhar and the Eight Garlands
Jivandhar and the Eight Garlands is a Jain story from the Lay Followers collection about patience, compassion, karma, renunciation and gratitude. King Satyandhar trusts his minister too far, and his son is born that same night among the ashes of a cremation ground and carried home by a grieving merchant. Raised as a merchant's son and sworn by his teacher to wait one year before taking revenge, Jivandhar wins brides, friends and a grateful god, and comes at last to his father's throne. A long read of the Digambar story told by Acharya Gunabhadra and Vadibhasimha.
| Teaches | Patience, Compassion, Karma, Renunciation, Gratitude |
|---|---|
| Collection | Lay Followers |
| Tellings | The full story (19 min) |
| Who it suits | For grown-ups |
| Tradition | Digambar telling |
| Thought to keep | Life is held only for a while; what we do while we hold it travels further than we can see. |
Read the opening of Jivandhar and the Eight Garlands
The opening of the story
In the land of Hemangad stood the city of Rajapuri, and in Rajapuri ruled King Satyandhar. He was not a cruel king or a foolish one, but he was a king in love. His queen, Vijaya, filled his days so completely that the work of ruling began to feel like an interruption. So he did what his wiser ministers begged him not to do. He gave the seal and the army and the daily business of the kingdom to his minister Kashtangar, a capable man with a quiet face, and he went back to the queen's gardens.
One morning Vijaya woke troubled. "I dreamed of the great ashoka tree in our courtyard," she told the king. "It fell, all its blossoms with it. Then from its root a young shoot rose, and on the shoot hung eight garlands." The king was silent for a long while. "The tree is your husband," he said at last, gently. "The shoot is a son who will come to you. The garlands I cannot read, but they are bright, and they belong to him."
Read the whole story of Jivandhar and the Eight Garlands See plans
What Jivandhar and the Eight Garlands teaches
Values Patience Compassion Karma Renunciation Gratitude
To carry into the day
Life is held only for a while; what we do while we hold it travels further than we can see.
To talk about together
Jivandhar kept his promise to wait a year even when soldiers came to seize him. When is patience wiser than a fight we could win, and how do we tell the difference?
Sources
Retold for JainStory from the traditional story and checked against 2 published sources:
- Jain eLibrary (19 pages)
- Wikipedia