Let the Animals Lead the Way: Mantra, Contemplation, and Spiritual Progression in the Cīvakacintāmaṇi

As is well known among scholars of South Asian literature, premodern epic-style and narrative literature from the subcontinent served as a source of moral and practical instruction. Although seen by commentators as a site of moral teachings, the 9th century Tamil narrative poem Cīvakacintāmaṇi is not the first place most scholars of Jain studies would think to look for perspectives on contemplative practice. This text, which tells the story of Cīvakaṉ (Jīvandhara in Sanskrit) is well known – even infamous – for its excessively erotic nature. Although some scholars interpret it as ultimately critical of embodied experiences (e.g., Ryan 1998), we can also read the work as exploring what it means to be embodied while on a spiritual path. Cīvakaṉ’s romantic and erotic exploits feature strongly as part of his journey, as do a variety of other encounters and practices. The story follows Cīvakaṉ through a series of marriages as he waits to avenge his father’s murder and take his rightful place as king. Throughout the story, Cīvakaṉ, his wives, and his friends engage in Jain practices of worship and contemplation, leading eventually to Cīvakaṉ’s liberation and the attainment of Indra status on the part of his wives and companions. 

In the narrative world of the Cīvakacintāmaṇi animal interactions form a critical part of this path for Cīvakaṉ. In their work on Buddhist narrative sub-ethics, particularly with regard to the Jataka tales, Charles Hallisey and Anne Hansen (1996) argue that anthropomorphized animals feature as “ethical exemplars” in works because they do not carry the same social locations as humans and can create useful critical distance for human ethical reflection. Although they discuss this from the standpoint of the external audience, there is a similar dynamic at play when characters within the story witness or engage with animals in the Cīvakacintāmaṇi. The text does not present its anthropomorphized animals as ethical exemplars, per se, but rather as beings with relatable problems and foibles. It is clear throughout the narrative that engaging with animals or witnessing their strife or suffering creates space for self-reflection and an impulse for contemplation that neither didactic lessons nor human interactions can, in part because animals are free of identities that are otherwise salient for the characters in the text (e.g., caste). Leaving behind these identities becomes an important part of the characters’ paths.

This paper looks at the ways animal interactions and animal suffering catalyze intense emotional experiences, moments of contemplation, mantric practice, and the central character’s ultimate decision to renounce kingship and the world. I will look closely at three scenes in different parts of the narrative to show how animal relationships with each other and with Cīvakaṉ contribute to his spiritual journey.

Early on, Cīvakaṉ encounters a dog who has been badly and unjustly beaten by a group of brahmins. As the dog lays dying, a bereft Cīvakaṉ instructs him in mantric practice, including on the appropriate mental orientation to make the mantra effective. As a result of this intervention, upon his death, the dog becomes a vidyadhara and life-long friend to Cīvakaṉ. 

Later, Cīvakaṉ witnesses a love quarrel between two swans, one that follows the typical literary script for a feigned quarrel between lovers. Observing the swans brings him into a moment of emotional contemplation, fretting over the state of his beloved first wife, Tattai. Assuring himself first with lover’s logic, he realizes that she must still be alive because, were she not breathing, he could not be breathing. He then moves to a second level of contemplation, one focused on the general/abstract problems with losing oneself in love and with being beset by anxiety. For the third stage of his process, he enters a period of contemplative silence and connection with nature that shows him relieved of his strong emotions.

Finally, Cīvakaṉ’s decision to renounce directly follows upon him witnessing a lover’s quarrel between two monkeys. As they make up from their quarrel, the fruit the male offers to the female as an olive branch is stolen by a guard. All of this gives Cīvakaṉ a new perspective on himself, a flash of insight, the critical distance to contemplate the reality of things as they are. In contrast to the view of Anne Monius (2012), I read this scene as more earnest than satirical, based on the progression of Cīvakaṉ’s animal encounters and the role they have played in his moral and spiritual development. The previous scenes ultimately build up to and foreshadow this instance of insight, and it is telling that he has always taken animals so seriously. More than that, he always sees something of his own experience in their plight. 

These animal encounters serve a critical role in Cīvakaṉ spiritual progress, and these three encounters especially highlight key aspects of his practical progressional toward renunciation. More than that, this text offers historical insight into a Tamil Jain model for spiritual practice of mantra and contemplation and their role in a path to liberation. Despite the story’s antiquity, these key moments can serve as guiding examples even in today’s world.