Anjushri (अञ्जुश्री)

दसमस्स उक्खेवो ।

The introduction of the tenth chapter — understand it as the same as the first chapter's opening.

As with each preceding chapter, this single line marks the formal commencement of the final teaching of the Dukha Vipaak Sutra. By now the reader has encountered nine souls across nine chapters — each with a past life steeped in specific violence or moral corruption, each suffering the precise karmic consequence in their current existence, each destined for eventual liberation. This tenth sutra, pointing back to the first as its structural mirror, also carries a deeper resonance: we have come full circle. The first chapter opened the Dukha Vipaak; the tenth closes it. What began with Mrigaputra now ends with Anjushri. The suffering is different in form, but identical in cause: lives lived without dharma, without restraint, in pursuit of sensory gratification at the cost of other beings' wellbeing.

The simple version: Chapter Ten begins just like Chapter One — the formal opening tells us another story of suffering caused by past evil actions is about to be told.

एवं खलु जंबू ! तेणं कालेणं तेणं समएणं वद्धमाणपुरे णामं णयरे होत्था । विजयवद्धमाणे उज्जाणे । मणिभद्दे जक्खे । विजयमित्ते राया । तत्थ णं धणदेवे णामं सत्थवाहे होत्था, अड्ढे जाव अपरिभूए । पियंगु णामं भारिया । अंजू दारिया जाव उक्किट्टु सरीरा । समोसरणं जाव परिसा पडिगया ।

Indeed, O Jambu! At that time and in that era, there was a city named Vardhamanpur; a garden called Vijayavardhana; a yaksha shrine named Manibhadra; a king named Vijayamitra; and in that city a merchant caravan-leader named Dhanadeva — wealthy and of undiminished standing — whose wife was named Priyengu, and whose daughter Anju had a supremely beautiful body; and Bhagavan Mahavir arrived, his divine assembly convened, and the assembly returned.

This sutra efficiently establishes the world of Chapter 10: a prosperous city, a royal presence, a wealthy merchant family, and a daughter of exceptional beauty. The name Anju — later formally known as Anjushri — carries aesthetic associations with something delicate and graceful, and this contrast with her later condition of emaciated suffering is central to the chapter's teaching. Priyengu, her mother's name, refers to a fragrant and delicate climbing plant — suggesting a family of aesthetic refinement and material comfort. The sutra also establishes that Bhagavan Mahavir is present in Vardhamanpur: this is what will give Gautam Swami the opportunity to witness Anjushri's suffering and receive Bhagavan's explanation of its karmic origin. The entire story unfolds within the sphere of the Lord's active teaching presence.

The simple version: In the prosperous city of Vardhamanpur lived King Vijayamitra and a wealthy merchant named Dhanadeva, whose beautiful daughter Anju lived there — and Bhagavan Mahavir was also present in the city at this time.

तेणं कालेणं तेणं समएणं समणस्स भगवओ महावीरस्स जेट्ठे अंतेवासी जाव अडमाणे विजयमित्तस्स रण्णो गिहस्स असोगवणियाए अदूरसामंतेणं वीईयमाणे पासइ एगं इत्थियं– सुक्कं, भुक्खं, णिम्मंसं, किडिकिडियाभूयं, अड्ढुच्चमावणद्धं णीलसाडगिणियत्थं कट्टाइं कलुणाइं विस्सराइं कूवमाणिं पासइ, पासित्ता चिंता तहेव जाव एवं वयासी– सा णं भंते ! इत्थिया पुव्वभवे का आसी ? वागरणं ।

At that time and in that era, the chief disciple of Bhagavan Mahavir, while walking on his begging rounds, passing near the Ashoka grove of King Vijayamitra's palace, saw a woman — dried up, starving, flesh-less, her bones crackling, wrapped in half-dried skin, wearing a blue sari, crying out pitiful, tearful, and distressing sounds; seeing her, the familiar reflection arose within him and he addressed Bhagavan: "O Bhagavan! Who was this woman in her previous life?" Bhagavan gave the answer.

The sight that stops Gautam Swami is devastating in its clinical precision. The word *kiḍikiḍiyābhūya* — "having become something that makes crackling sounds" — is particularly striking: this is not a metaphor but a physiological description of a body so depleted of flesh and fluid that its very bones creak audibly with each movement. Anjushri has been reduced to a living skeleton wrapped in drying skin, sitting near the royal Ashoka grove — a place of pleasure and beauty — wearing the dark blue sari of the destitute, crying out in sounds the text describes as pitiful, tearful, and distressing. These three adjectives build on each other: *kaṭṭā* (hard, harsh), *kaluṇā* (compassion-inducing, heart-wrenching), *vissarā* (resonant with distress, far-carrying). Her cries are not quiet — they carry. And yet she sits alone. No physician has been able to help her. The king's proclamation has failed. She is abandoned to her pain. The contrast with the Ashoka grove — where blossoming trees and fragrant flowers surround her — makes the image unbearable. This is the world the Vipaak Sutra never lets us look away from: beauty and suffering, side by side, both rooted in karma.

The simple version: Gautam Swami, walking near the king's garden, saw a woman reduced to skin and bones — starving, flesh-less, her bones crackling — wailing in grief. He asked Bhagavan who she had been in a past life.

एवं खलु गोयमा ! तेणं कालेणं तेणं समएणं इहेव जंबुद्दीवे दीवे भारहेवासे इंदपुरे णामं णयरे होत्था । तत्थ णं इंददत्ते राया । पुढविसिरी णामं गणिया होत्था । वण्णओ । तए णं सा पुढविसिरी गणिया इंदपुरे णयरे बहवे राईसर जाव पभिओ बहूइहिं विज्जापओगेहिं य मंतपाओगेहिं य चुण्णपाओगेहिं य हियड्ढावणेहिं य णिण्हवणेहिं य पण्हवणेहिं य वसीकरणेहिं य आभिओगिएहिं य अभिओगेत्ता उरालाइं माणुस्सगाइं भोगभोगाइं भुंजमाणी विहरइ ।

Thus, O Gautam! At that time and in that era, here on this very continent of Jambudvipa, in the land of Bharata, there was a city named Indrapur; there King Indradatta ruled; and in that city there was a courtesan named Prithvishri — of renowned beauty — who used various forms of intoxicating knowledge-applications, mantra-applications, powder-applications, heart-captivating agents, binding substances, questioning compounds, bewitching preparations, and subjugation-medicines to captivate the minds of numerous kings, lords, and wealthy men — and thus lived consuming abundant human pleasures and comforts.

Prithvishri's story introduces the only female protagonist in the Dukha Vipaak Sutra, and she is presented with complete moral complexity. The text does not describe her as merely promiscuous — it describes a sophisticated professional who deployed an entire pharmacopoeia of psychological, chemical, and ritualistic tools to make men captive to her. The eight categories of instruments she used range from scientific knowledge to mantra-based influence to physical powders and potions — a complete spectrum of methods, both material and subtle. The gaṇikā in ancient Indian society occupied a complex social position: educated, skilled in arts, often wealthy, patronized by kings, but existing outside the moral framework of dharmic life. What the Agama identifies as Prithvishri's specific karma is not simply that she enjoyed pleasure — it is that she deliberately manipulated other beings' minds and desires, making them instruments of her gratification without regard for their spiritual welfare or her own. The word *abhiogettā* — "having subjugated" — captures this: she did not merely attract men, she conquered their will. This weaponized use of desire, repeated across 3,500 years of a lifespan, accumulated an enormous weight of binding karma.

The simple version: In a past life, Anjushri was a wealthy and clever courtesan named Prithvishri who used potions, spells, and tricks to trap the hearts of kings and rich men and live a life of total indulgence — for 3,500 years.

तए णं सा पुढविसिरी गणिया एयकम्मा एयप्पहाणा एयविज्जा एयसमायारा सुबहुं पावं कम्मं समिज्जिणित्ता पणतीसं वाससयाइं परमाउयं पालित्ता कालमासे कालं किच्चा छट्टीए पुढवीए उक्कोसेणं बावीसं सागरोवमं ट्ठितिएसु णेरइएसु णेरइयत्ताए उवण्णा ।

Then the courtesan Prithvishri, having made this very activity her sole karma, her supreme purpose, her only expertise, and her constant practice — accumulating an enormous mass of evil karma — after living out her maximum lifespan of three thousand and five hundred years, died at the proper time of death, and was born as a hell-being among the hell-beings of the sixth hell, with the maximum duration of twenty-two ocean-measure periods.

The mathematical symmetry in this sutra is striking: Prithvishri lived for 3,500 years — the longest lifespan among all the protagonists of the Dukha Vipaak — and descended to the sixth hell with the same maximum term of twenty-two sagaropam as others who practiced far more overtly violent crimes. This equivalence is the Agama's statement about the nature of harm. Violence of the body — torture, murder, abuse — is not the only form of karma-accumulation that leads to the deepest hells. Violence of the soul — the systematic corruption of others' consciousness, the weaponization of desire, the turning of beings into objects of gratification — accumulates equally severe karma. Prithvishri did not kill anyone. She did not torture anyone physically. But she spent 3,500 years deliberately enthralling the minds and desires of countless beings, leading them away from dharma and into bondage, while she herself was completely enslaved to sensory pleasure. The fourfold formula — sole karma, supreme purpose, only expertise, constant practice — applies as devastatingly to her as it did to Durjodhan the prison warden.

The simple version: Because Prithvishri spent her entire 3,500-year life completely consumed by the pursuit of pleasure and manipulation of others, she was reborn in the sixth and near-deepest level of hell, where she suffered for twenty-two unimaginably long time periods.

सा णं तओ अणंतरं उव्वट्टित्ता इहेव वद्धमाणपुरे णयरे धणदेवस्स सत्थवाहस्स पियंगु भारियाए कुंछिसि दारियत्ताए उववण्णा । तए णं सा पियंगु भारिया णवण्हं मासाणं बहुपडिपुण्णाणं दारियं पयाया । णामं अंजूसिरी । सेसं जहा देवदत्ताए ।

Immediately after passing from that existence, she was reborn in the womb of Priyengu, the wife of merchant Dhanadeva, right here in the city of Vardhamanpur, as a daughter; after nine months were fully complete, Priyengu gave birth to a daughter; she was named Anjushri; the rest is as described in the chapter of Devadatta.

The soul that was Prithvishri — who spent millennia expertly enthralling others with beauty, substances, and the arts of seduction — is now born as a daughter. The irony is precise: Prithvishri's entire life had been organized around physical beauty as a tool of power. She is reborn as a girl named Anjushri — "beautiful Anju" — into a prosperous household. The wealth and beauty continue; they are the residual impressions of a life entirely oriented around them. But the karma carried beneath the surface is the karmic debt for all those centuries of exploitation. The soul does not begin its new life in obvious suffering — the suffering comes later, slowly, as the residual karma ripens. The reference to Chapter Nine (Devadatta) for the standard descriptions indicates that Anjushri's early life followed the same pattern as other noble daughters in these chapters: named at twelve days, raised with care, growing to youth.

The simple version: After leaving the sixth hell, Prithvishri's soul was born again — this time as the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant in Vardhamanpur, and was named Anjushri.

तए णं से विजये राया आसवाहणियाए जहा वेसमणदत्ते तहा अंजुं पासइ । णवरं अप्पणो अट्टाए वरेइ, जहा तेयली जाव अंजूए भारियाए सद्धिं उम्मि जाव विहरइ ।

Then King Vijaya (Vijayamitra), while going for horse-riding sport, saw Anju just as Vaishramanadatta saw his beloved — and he sought her for himself alone; just as Tailaputri, he obtained her, and thereafter lived with Anjushri as his consort, enjoying pleasures together.

The king's encounter with Anjushri follows the standard Agamic narrative pattern of royal infatuation: a king sees a beautiful woman while engaged in leisure, is captivated, and takes her into his household. The abbreviations to Vaishramanadatta and Tailaputri refer to similar scenes in other chapters, indicating the reader is expected to be familiar with this standard arc. What is significant here is the word *appaṇo aṭṭāe* — "for himself alone." The king does not arrange a marriage; he claims her for exclusive personal enjoyment. This is the world Anjushri enters: not a marriage of love or dharmic partnership, but a transaction of beauty for wealth and royal protection. From the perspective of karma, this mirrors Prithvishri's own past: she too had been a person whose beauty was the currency of exchange in encounters without genuine human connection. The soul now finds itself in the same dynamic, but on the other side: now the one being claimed rather than the one doing the claiming.

The simple version: King Vijayamitra saw the beautiful Anjushri while out riding, immediately wanted her for himself, and took her into his palace as his personal consort.

तए णं तीसे अंजूए देवीए अण्णया कयाइ जोणिसूले पाउब्भूए याविं होत्था । तए णं से विजये राया कोडुंबियपुरिसे सद्धावेइ, सद्धावित्ता एवं वयासी– गच्छह णं तुमं देवाणुप्पिया ! वद्धमाणपुरे णयरे सिंघाडग जाव एवं वयह– एवं खलु देवाणुप्पिया ! विजयस्स रण्णो अंजूए देवीए जोणिसूले पाउब्भूए ! जो णं इच्छइ वेज्जो वा वेज्जपुत्तो वा जाणुओ वा जाणुयपुत्तो वा तेगिच्छिओ वा तेगिच्छियपुत्तो वा अंजूए देवीए जोणिसूलं उवसामित्तए, तस्स णं विजए राया विउलं अत्थसंपायणं दलयइ । तए णं ते कोडुंबियपुरिसा जाव उग्घोसेंति ।

Then at some time, a vaginal disease arose in Queen Anjushri; King Vijayamitra then summoned his domestic servants and spoke to them thus: "Go, O dear ones, to the city of Vardhamanpur — to the crossroads and public places — and proclaim thus: 'O dear citizens! Queen Anjushri of King Vijaya has developed a vaginal disease. Whoever — physician or physician's son, practitioner of signs or their son, healer or healer's son — can cure this disease of Queen Anjushri, King Vijaya will give that person abundant wealth.'" The domestic servants thereupon made the proclamation throughout the city.

The disease that strikes Anjushri — a severe vaginal condition causing intense suffering — is presented by the Agama as the specific karmic consequence of Prithvishri's misuse of the body's capacity for pleasure. The organ that was the instrument of a lifetime's worth of gratification and exploitation now becomes the site of unrelenting pain. This is not the Agama's moralizing — it is its teaching on the precision of karma: *whatever we use as an instrument of harm to others or to our own soul's liberation eventually becomes an instrument of our own suffering.* The king's response is compassionate and practically organized: he deploys household officials to make a city-wide proclamation, opening the royal treasury to anyone who can cure her. The proclamation carefully names every category of healer — the classically trained physician, the diagnostician, the folk healer — and even their sons, suggesting a willingness to try anyone. This desperation makes the failure that follows all the more poignant.

The simple version: Anjushri developed a severe and painful internal disease. The king sent servants throughout the city to announce a huge reward for any physician who could cure her.

तए णं ते बहवे वेज्जा वा–६, इमं एयारूवं उग्घोसणं सोच्चा णिसम्म जेणेव विजये राया तेणेव उवागच्छंति, उवागच्छित्ता अंजूए देवीए बहूइहिं उप्पत्तियाहिं वेणइयाहिं कम्मियाहिं पारिणामियाहिं बुद्धीहिं परिणामेमाणा इच्छंति अंजूए देवीए जोणिसूलं उवसामित्तए णो संचाएंति उवसामित्तए । तए णं ते बहवे वेज्जा य–६, जाहे णो संचाएंति अंजूए देवीए जोणिसूलं उवसामित्तए ताहे संता, तंता परितंता जामेव दिसिं पाउब्भूया तामेव दिसिं पडिगया ।
तए णं सा अंजू देवी ताए वेयणाए अभिभूया समाणी सुक्का भुक्खा णिम्मंसा कट्टाइं कलुणाइं विस्सराइं विलवइ ।
एवं खलु गोयमा ! अंजू देवी पुरापोराणाणं जाव विहरइ ।

Then the many physicians and healers of all six categories, having heard this proclamation, came to King Vijaya; applying all four kinds of medical intelligence — innate knowledge, learned skill, practical experience, and inferential reasoning — they tried and wished to cure Queen Anjushri's disease, but could not cure it; when those many physicians and healers could not cure Queen Anjushri's disease, they left — exhausted, discouraged, and worn out — returning the same way they had come. Then Queen Anjushri, overcome by this pain, grew dry, starving, and flesh-less, wailing in pitiful, tearful, and distressing cries. Thus, O Gautam! Queen Anjushri is experiencing the specific bitter fruit of her ancient evil deeds.

The fourfold classification of medical intelligence in this sutra — innate, learned, practical, and inferential — reflects the Jain understanding that medicine, as a form of knowledge, operates on multiple levels. The text is careful to say that the physicians tried using all four types: this was not incompetence or laziness. The finest healing minds of the city were deployed, applying every form of knowledge available to them. And they failed. The Agama's teaching here is not that medicine is useless — it is that certain conditions are karmically sealed. When the ripening of karma is the root cause, material remedies can alleviate symptoms but cannot dissolve the underlying karmic seed. The physicians depart "exhausted, discouraged, and worn out" — and the three words are carefully graduated: exhausted from effort, discouraged from failure, and worn out from both. The scene closes with the return to the image of Anjushri that opened the chapter: the same three-word description — dry, starving, flesh-less — now confirmed not as a momentary state but as her settled condition. And Bhagavan's final statement seals the meaning: "She is experiencing the specific fruit of ancient evil deeds."

The simple version: Every physician who came — using every kind of medical knowledge — tried their best but failed to cure Anjushri. They gave up and left, while Anjushri grew thinner, weaker, and more miserable, wailing in pain.

अंजू णं भंते ! देवी इओ कालमासे कालं किच्चा किहं गच्छिहिइ ? किहं उवव्वजिहिइ ?
गोयमा ! अंजू णं देवी णउइं वासाइं परमाउयं पालित्ता कालमासे कालं किच्चा इमीसे रयणप्पभाए पुढवीए णेरइयत्ताए उवव्वजिहिइ । एवं संसारो जहा पढमे तहा णेयव्वं जाव वणस्सई । सा णं तओ अणंतरं उव्वट्टित्ता सव्वओभद्दे णयरे मयूरत्ताए पच्चायाहिइ । से णं तत्थ साउणिएहिं विहिए समाणे तत्थेव सव्वओभद्दे णयरे सेट्टिकुलंसि पुत्ताए पच्चायाहिइ ।
से णं तत्थ उम्मुक्क बालभावे तहारूवाणं थेराणं अंतिए केवलं बोहिं बुज्झिहिइ । पव्वज्जा । सोहम्मे ।
से णं ताओ देवलोगाओ आउक्खएणं भवक्खएणं ठिइक्खएणं किहं गच्छिहिइ ? किहं उवव्वजिहिइ ?
गोयमा ! महाविदेहे वासे जहा पढमे जाव सव्व दुक्खाणमंतं काहिइ ।
एवं खलु जंबू ! समणेणं भगवया महावीरेणं जाव संपत्तेणं दुहविवागाणं दसमस्स अज्झयणस्स अयमट्टे पण्णत्ते । सेवं भंते । सेवं भंते । त्ति बेमि ।

"O Bhagavan! When Queen Anjushri dies here at the time of death, where will she go? Where will she be reborn?" "O Gautam! Queen Anjushri, having lived out her maximum lifespan of ninety years and dying at the proper time of death, will be born as a hell-being in the Ratnaprabha (first) hell-realm. The cycle of worldly wandering is as described in the first chapter — up to the plant kingdom. Then, immediately after emerging from that, she will be reborn as a peacock in the city of Sarvarthobhadra. There, having been killed by hunters, she will be reborn as a son in a merchant family in that same city of Sarvarthobhadra. There, passing beyond childhood, she will attain pure spiritual awakening through a venerable elder — she will take monastic initiation, and be born in the Saudharma heaven." "And from that heavenly existence, when the lifespan, the birth, and the duration are exhausted, where will she go? Where will she be reborn?" "O Gautam! In the Mahavideh region, just as described in the first chapter — she will bring all suffering to its end." Thus, O Jambu! The meaning of the tenth chapter of the Dukha Vipaak Sutra has been propounded by Bhagavan Mahavir, who has attained omniscience. "So it is, O Bhagavan. So it is, O Bhagavan. Thus I say."

The final sutra of the Dukha Vipaak Sutra is layered with significance. Anjushri's post-death journey is: first hell (short term, as the current life's karma is less intense than the sixth-hell level of the past life) → extensive wandering through lower life forms → peacock in Sarvarthobhadra → killed by hunters → merchant's son in the same city → spiritual awakening → renunciation → Saudharma heaven → Mahavideh → liberation. The peacock birth is notable: the peacock is among the most visually spectacular of birds, famous for its display of beauty. A soul that spent its foundational life as Prithvishri — whose entire existence revolved around beauty as a tool and spectacle — is given one final animal birth in the form of beauty itself. But the peacock is also prey. It is killed by hunters. The beauty that was once power becomes vulnerability. And from that death comes the merchant's son, the quiet householder life, the encounter with a great teacher, the awakening, and the long arc toward liberation. The formal closing — Sudharma's statement to Jambu, and Jambu's double affirmation "Sevaṃ bhaṃte, Sevaṃ bhaṃte" — is the traditional seal of the oral Agamic transmission, affirming that the teaching received is true, complete, and accepted.

The simple version: Bhagavan tells Gautam that Anjushri will suffer for ninety years, then die and be reborn in the first hell, then wander through many rebirths, eventually becoming a peacock that is killed, then a merchant's son who finally awakens spiritually, takes monastic vows, and after more lives, reaches complete liberation.