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According to Jain tradition, king Samprati was a great Jain king who lived during the second half of the third and the first half of the second century BC. He was the grandson of the great king Ashok. History, however, hardly mentions Samprati. That can be attributed to two reasons. The ancient history of India revolves around Magadh and its capital Patliputra. Since Samprati ruled over Malwa in central India, his character might not have received attention. Moreover, Samprati was a Jain. Since most historians until recently took Jainism as a part of Buddhism, their attention was not drawn to the important role that Samprati played in the realm of Jainism.
The authenticity of Samprati as a great king is, however, beyond reproach. Jain history obviously provides enough details of his life. The Buddhist literature also has made mention of him by the Präkrut term Sampadi. His name also occurs in some of the Hindu Puräns, wherein he is variously referred to as Samprati, Sampati, Saptati etc. Moreover, coins bearing his name have now been found, where signs of crescent were discovered, which of course is the Jain symbol of Siddhashilä and of three dots which are symbolic of the Jain trio of perception, knowledge and conduct. Some of the coins also show Swastika below the three dots. That is the conclusive evidence of his being a Jain king.
He was the son of prince Kunäl. There is an interesting tale about that prince. Jain tradition lays down that when it was time for sending him to school, Ashok sent the instructions that he should be educated. In Sanskrit language, the message was written as 'Kumäro Adhiyau'. Before it was dispatched, Kunäl's stepmother happened to see it. She noticed the possibility of changing it so as to pave the way for making her son the future king. With her eye ointment, she therefore placed a dot over the 'A.' Thereby the instructions read Kumäro Andhiyau, which means the prince be blinded. As Kunäl read the instructions, he willingly blinded himself as an obedient son.
Another version of that episode occurs in Ashokävadhän, which has been translated into English, French, German and one or two other European languages. It states that when Kunäl grew up to be a young prince, he was sent as a governor of the north-western region. While in that position, he became impatient to get to the throne and planned to displace Ashok from his position. Ashok, however, came to know of his plans. He called back the prince and imprisoned him. Time passed by and Ashok virtually forgot that Kunäl was in prison. His other queen, however, felt afraid that he might forgive Kunäl. In order to remove that possibility, she arranged to blind Kunäl in the prison.
Anyway, Ashok was sorry to learn that. Kunäl now being blinded, it was not possible to treat him as the heir apparent. However, he sent the prince to the well-known University of Taxshilä to be trained in the arts suitable for the blind. Kunäl studied all the fine arts there and in due course, he was married to a pretty girl named Sharatshri. Some time after the marriage, she gave birth to a son. Thereupon Kunäl decided to make the appropriate arrangements for the future of the boy.
He had gained proficiency in music. Soon after having the son, he therefore came to Patliputra to demonstrate his art. Ashok was very pleased with his skill and told him to ask for anything that he liked. Kunäl asked for half the kingdom. Ashok was amazed to hear that the blind prince was asking for such a boon. He asked what he would do with that. Kunäl replied that he wanted it for his prince. Ashok was surprised and again asked when he had the son. Kunäl replied 'Samprati' meaning just now. Thereupon the newly born son was called Samprati and the kingdom of Avanti was earmarked for him. Thus, when Ashok died in 232 BCE, his other son Punyarath, alias Dasharath, became the king of Patliputra, while Samprati became the king of Avanti.
Samprati was raised and educated in Avanti. While he was a prince, he once happened to see a grand Jain procession led by äryä Suhastigiri, who was the head of the Jain religious order. On seeing the ächärya, Samprati felt that he had seen him somewhere. While deeply pondering over it, he faintly recollected that the ächärya had been his Guru in earlier life. He bowed to him and asked whether the latter knew him. The ächärya dwelt inward and remembered that Samprati was his pupil in the previous life.
It had so happened that there was an acute famine, when äryä Suhasti was once in Kaushambi. It was difficult in that hard time to get food. Jain householders, however, took care to see that the monks received their alms. At that time there was a pauper who could hardly get any food and was starving. He noticed that the monks were getting enough food even in the time of that acute scarcity. Thereupon he requested the ächärya to give him some food. Foreseeing that the man was destined to be a great Jain in the next birth, the ächärya told him that he could get the food if he became a monk.
The man gladly agreed. Accordingly he was initiated and thereby he received enough food to eat. Since he was starving for many days, he ate too much. Consequently, he had acute pain in the stomach. He bore the pain patiently, while cursing himself for eating too much. Other monks, of course, served him in all possible ways, but the pain did not subside. On the contrary, it continued to increase and the man died of the pain that very night. Due to his adopting the restraints as a monk and on account of bearing the pain quietly, he was reborn as the grandson of Ashok.
The ächärya narrated the entire episode to him. Samprati was glad to hear that. He realized the benefit of resorting to Jainism even for a short while. He therefore adopted it as his faith and formally accepted the ächärya as his Guru. After he became the king, he offered the kingdom to the Guru, because it was obtained on account of his benevolence. ächärya, however, declined to accept the same and said that as a Jain monk he did not want to possess anything. He, however, pointed out that if Samprati realized the benefit of resorting to the true religion, he might try his best to promote and encourage Jainism.
Samprati heeded to that advice. He started devotedly worshipping the omniscient Lords. He was a bold king and expanded his rule considerably in the South up to Vindhya and in the West up to the Arabian Sea. He constructed temples, not only in his dominion, but also encouraged the rulers of Andhra Pradesha, Karnatak, Maharashtra, etc. to do so. Jain tradition maintains that during his lifetime he arranged for installing more than 100,000 idols and for constructing or renovating 36,000 temples. He also sent his emissaries abroad to Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma and even China for propagating Jainism. It is therefore hardly surprising that in 'Early History of India' Vincent Smith calls him Jain Ashok.
He treated his co-religionists very affectionately and tried to help them in every way. Since he remembered his starving condition in the previous life, he was sympathetic to all poor people and took care to see that they did not starve. He set up 700 public eating places where any one could eat free of charge.
Samprati had no children. He considered it as the consequence of the earlier Karma and observed the religious customs more scrupulously. After ruling over his large dominion for 53 years, he died in 179 BCE. Jain tradition believes that he has been reborn as a heavenly being.
Key Message : Service to others is one way of following Jainism and Samprati certainly demonstrated this quality. He not only helped promote Jainism by expanding temples and building idols, but also helped reduce the pain of the poor. We should also strive to serve others during our lifetime. His life story also demonstrates that, a religious deed performed even for a short while, gives manifold results. And it creates a chain of good deeds leading to beneficial results.
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