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MAŅIPATI-CARITA-ANONYMOUS
TRANSLATION
1. After adoring Mahāvira the steadfast who is endowed
with the thirty-four supernatural powers I will tell the story of Manipati which is full of jewels, to wit, the
virtues of good sādhus. 2. The royal sage Maṇipati, rich in the virtues of the religious - life through annihilation of the pain of burning (and
therefore absence of physical imperfection was proper for him) was born a king in order to make known the
excellence of the sacred doctrine. 3. There is a country called Kāśī, prosperous, auspicious,
well supplied with food, free from the burden of taxes, stocked with cattle and other livestock and with
plenty of good water and grain. 4. There in that pleasant country where the three aims of
life are sought and which is a place of delight for mer
chants who traffic in many commodities, 5. is a city properly divided by gates giving access to squares,
court-yards, and intersections of three or four roads, attractive and possessed of numbers of agreeable lakes
and lotus-pools. 6. The sunrays reflected from the lakhs of firmament-kissing
mansions might be regarded as its wealth of horses whilst its many streets are congested with crowds of
men and women delightedly amusing themselves. 7. There ascetics are distinguished generally by their vows,
merchants by their wealth, women of good family by their unsullied chastity and the opulent by their
generosity. 8. There too the hearts of men are like mirrors of flawless
jewels reflecting the joys and sorrows of others. That city is called Manipatikā.
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