Parables of Wisdom
Yashodhara and the Flour Rooster
Yashodhara and the Flour Rooster is a Jain story from the Parables of Wisdom collection about ahimsa, intention, karma and rebirth, betrayal and compassion. A proud king fills a goddess's courtyard with creatures for slaughter and waits for one last pair: two child novices. Facing his sword, the boy tells him how, in a past life, he refused to kill a living bird and offered one made of flour instead, and where that single act of the mind led him and his mother. A long read on bhava himsa, the violence that lives in intention, told the way the Digambar poets told it.
| Teaches | Ahimsa, Intention, Karma and rebirth, Betrayal, Compassion |
|---|---|
| Collection | Parables of Wisdom |
| Tellings | The full story (19 min) |
| Who it suits | For grown-ups |
| Tradition | Digambar telling |
| Thought to keep | A knife that falls on flour falls on nothing; a mind that falls on a living throat has already struck. |
Read the opening of Yashodhara and the Flour Rooster
The opening of the story
In the land of Yaudheya, in the city of Rajapur, there ruled a king named Maridatta. He was young, proud and restless. He loved his gardens, his hunting parties and his dancers, and he had begun to believe that a king like him was not so very different from a god. So when a wandering ascetic named Bhairavanand came to the city, speaking of secret powers, the king sent for him at once.
"Can you teach me to fly through the sky?" Maridatta asked. Bhairavanand looked at him for a long moment. "It can be done," he said. "But the goddess Chandamari must be pleased first. Bring to her temple a pair of every kind of living creature, a male and a female, and offer them all. And the last pair must be human." The king did not hesitate. His officers went out with ropes and cages, and within days the courtyard of the goddess was full.
Read the whole story of Yashodhara and the Flour Rooster See plans
What Yashodhara and the Flour Rooster teaches
Values Ahimsa Intention Karma and rebirth Betrayal Compassion
To carry into the day
A knife that falls on flour falls on nothing; a mind that falls on a living throat has already struck.
To talk about together
Yashodhara refused to kill and still carried the weight of the flour rooster. Where in your own life might harm live in the intention, even when the hands do nothing?
Sources
Retold for JainStory from the traditional story and checked against 3 published sources:
- Jainpedia
- Jain eLibrary (17 pages)
- shastriyakannada.org