Ratnakara
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Ratnakara (रत्नाकर) has been mentioned by Kalidasa in Raghuvansha as a name of Ocean between India and Sri Lanka. Buddhist literature mentions Ratnākara (रत्नाकर) as the name of an ancient city.
Origin
Variants
History
Ratnākara (रत्नाकर) is the name of an ancient city, according to the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 58. Accordingly, as Pulastya said in his hermitage: “... there lived in the city of Ratnākara a king named Jyotiṣprabha, who ruled the earth with supreme authority, as far as the sea, the mine of jewels. There was born to him, by his queen named Harṣavatī, a son, whose birth was due to the favour of Śiva propitiated by severe asceticism”.[1]
Ratnākara (रत्नाकर) is the name of a horse, according to the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 123. Accordingly, “... and when he saw that wonderful boar, he came to the conclusion that some being had assumed that form with an object, and he ascended his horse called Ratnākara, the progeny of Ucchaiḥśravas”.
In Buddhism
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism) mentions — Ratnakara in Mahayana glossary:
1) Ratnākara (रत्नाकर) is one of the Bodhisattvas accompanying the Buddha at Rājagṛha on the Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata, mentioned in a list of twenty-two in to Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter 13.—They were at the head of countless thousands of koṭinayuta of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who were all still awaiting succession and will still accede to Buddhahood. He is also known as La na kie lo or Pai tsi.
Ratnākara is one of the sixteen classified as a lay (gṛhastha) Bodhisattva: Ratnākara, a young prince (kumāra), lives in Vaiśālī.[2][3]
2) Ratnākara (रत्नाकर) is the name of the Buddha presiding over the Ratnāvatī universe according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter XV).—Accordingly, “Then in the east, beyond universes as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and at the limit of these universes, there is a universe called To pao (Ratnāvatī) where there is a Buddha called Pao tse (Ratnākara) who is now teaching the Prajñāpāramitā to the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas”.
There is a Buddha there called Ratnākara (“jewel mine”). He is so called because he includes the pure faculties, the powers (bala), the path of bodhi and the other jewels of the Dharma (dharmaratna). Question—If that is so, all the Buddhas should be called Ratnākara. Why reserve the name Ratnākara for this Buddha alone? Answer—All the Buddhas have these jewels, but this Buddha is the only one to take his name from them. In the same way, Mi lö (Maitreya) is called “loving-kindness” (maitreya) although all the Buddhas have the same loving-kindness (maitrī), but Maitreya is the only one to have this as his name. [4][5]
रत्नाकर समुद्र
रत्नाकर (1) (AS, p.776) : रत्नाकर भारत और लंका के बीच का समुद्र, जो प्राचीन काल से ही सुंदर रत्नों विशेषतः मोतियों के लिए प्रसिद्ध है। 'रघुवंश' 13,1 में महाकवि कालिदास ने भारत-लंका के मध्य स्थित समुद्र के लिए 'रत्नाकर' शब्द का प्रयोग किया है- 'रत्नाकरं वीक्ष्य मिथः स जायां रामाभिधानो हरिरित्युवाच।' कालीदास के 'रघुवंश' 13, 17 में इस समुद्र के तट पर सीपियों से भिन्न हुए मोतियों (पर्यस्तमूक्तापटल) का वर्णन है।[6]
रत्नाकर (2) (AS, p.777) :जिला हुगली (पश्चिम बंगाल) की काना नदी जिसके तट पर खानाकुल कृष्णनगर बसा है. [7]
External links
References
- ↑ Source: Wisdom Library: Kathāsaritsāgara
- ↑ Source: Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra
- ↑ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/ratnakara
- ↑ Source: Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra
- ↑ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/ratnakara
- ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p. 776
- ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p. 776