Notes on Pādapopagamana

Seventeen kinds of death are recognized. Bhag. 91, p. 120a. Sth. 102, p. 94b. Sam. 17, p. 34. Pravac. 1006-17, p. 298. Uttar. B. 30. 12 f. The following account is based on the Uttar. Of these, three are from fasting (anaśana).

1) Bhaktapratyākhyāna: in this he makes a confession to his gum in presence of other sādhus, adopts saṃlekhana, and rejects all food. He may or may not take water. He is allowed to move, if able; and if not able, can be assisted by others.

2) Iṅginī: he makes confession, etc., as before. Rejects water also. Is allowed to move within a limited space, i.e., from shade to sun and vice versa; but cannot be assisted by any one else.

3) Pādapopagamana. as before, but is not allowed to move at all. He goes to a mountain, cave, etc., and remains motionless like a tree until he dies. All the commentators have adopted this Sanskrit for the Pk. pāovagamaṇa, hence the comparison with a tree.

These 3 kinds of anaśana are divided into vicāra, ‘with motion,’ (kāyaceṣṭām udvarttanādikām), which includes 1) and 2), and avicāra, ‘without motion,’ which applies to 3). They are further divided into parikarma and aparikarma, though the exact difference between vicāra and parikarma is not clear to me, nor to the commentators apparently, since they give two explanations. The first is sthānopaveśanatvagvarttanodvarttanādi, which certainly does not differ much from kāyaceṣṭā. This includes 1) and 2), and 3) is aparikarma.

Another explanation is that fasting is saparikarma when there is saṃlekhana. This would be when he fasted in the absence of any fatal injury. In case of a fatal injury he would not be able to perform saṃlekhanā, and then it would be aparikarma. Again fasting is divided into sanirhāra and anirhāra. This, however, is limited to pādapopagamana. Again explanations vary. The Uttar, gives nirhāra as going to a mountain, cave, etc., from the village, etc. Anirhāra is defined: ‘yat punar utthātukāme vrajikādau kriyate tad anirhāri, tatra kvāpi gamanābhāvāt.’ The meaning of this is not cleat, nor have I been able to obtain any satisfactory interpretation, but apparently he does not leave the village, which is in itself a contradiction of the fundamental definition of pädapopagamana. The Bhag. 91 defines nirhāra as the carrying out of the corpse, when a sādhu dies in the upāśraya. Similarly, Sth. p. 94. But in these, it is not stated in the first place that pādapopagamana must be performed in a remote spot. According to the Pravac., pādapopagamana can be performed only by those having vajrarṣabhanārāca-bodies.