Court of Magadh
Shalibhadra and Dhanna
Shalibhadra and Dhanna is a Jain story from the Court of Magadh collection about generosity, wealth and freedom, renunciation, family and the pace of change. A poor shepherd boy gives away the only bowl of kheer he has ever been given, and is born again into a house so rich that the gods send it boxes every morning. Then King Shrenik comes to call, and Shalibhadra hears for the first time that he has a master. A long read on wealth, family and how fast a person can change, told the way Acharya Hemachandra and Dharmakumar told it.
| Teaches | Generosity, Wealth and freedom, Renunciation, Family, The pace of change |
|---|---|
| Collection | Court of Magadh |
| Tellings | The full story (20 min) |
| Who it suits | For grown-ups |
| Tradition | Shvetambar telling |
| Thought to keep | Whatever we hold, someone else can command; only what we have let go of is truly ours. |
Read the opening of Shalibhadra and Dhanna
The opening of the story
On the edge of Rajgruhi, the great city of Magadh, there was a village called Shaligram, where rice grew in every field that could hold water. A young widow named Dhanya came there one year with nothing but her son. Her family had died, her husband was gone, and the house she had grown up in belonged to other people now. She scrubbed floors and pounded grain in richer homes, and when her boy Sangam was old enough, he was given the village calves to herd.
One day a festival came to Shaligram. From every doorway came the smell of rice simmering in sweet milk, and every child in the village had a bowl of kheer in front of them. Sangam came home with the calves and stood in the doorway of their one small room. "Mother," he said, "everyone is eating kheer today. Will you make some for me?"
Read the whole story of Shalibhadra and Dhanna See plans
What Shalibhadra and Dhanna teaches
Values Generosity Wealth and freedom Renunciation Family The pace of change
To carry into the day
Whatever we hold, someone else can command; only what we have let go of is truly ours.
To talk about together
Shalibhadra wanted to go slowly and Dhanna could not wait a single day. When you have to make a big change, which of them are you more like, and which way is wiser?
Sources
Retold for JainStory from the traditional story and checked against 5 published sources:
- Wisdom Library (2 pages)
- archive.org (2 pages)
- Jain eLibrary (2 pages)
- JainWorld
- Jainpedia