Mahabhal (महाबल)

सत्तमस्स उक्खेवो ।

The opening of the seventh chapter.

This is the standard opening formula that marks the beginning of the seventh chapter of the Sukha Vipaak section. Lord Mahavira is speaking — every narrative in this scripture flows from his omniscient knowledge (kevala jnana), which can see the full arc of every soul's journey across many lifetimes. As with every preceding chapter, the brief declaration formally separates one narrative from the next and prepares the listener for a new illustration of the same moral law: good deeds in past lives produce good fortune in future ones. By this point in the Sukha Vipaak, the listener has already heard six stories following the same pattern. That repetition is deliberate: each new story adds a different name, a different city, a different past life — but the same outcome. This is how Lord Mahavira teaches a principle: not by stating an abstract rule, but by demonstrating it through example after example until the pattern becomes undeniable. The seventh chapter tells the story of Prince Mahabal, whose name literally means "the Greatly Powerful One." By the chapter's end, we will understand that true power is not in armies or palaces — it is in the accumulated strength of a virtuous life.

The simple version: This line simply announces: "The seventh chapter begins now."

महापुरं णयरं। रत्तासोगं उज्जाणं। रत्तपाओ जक्खो। बले राया। सुभद्दा देवी। महब्बले कुमारे। रत्तवईपामोक्खाणं पंचसयाणं रायवरकण्णगाणं पाणिग्गहणं। तित्थयरागमणं। पुव्वभव पुच्छा। मणिपुरं णयरे। णागदत्ते गाहावई। इंददत्ते अणगारे पडिलाभिए जाव सिद्धे। णिक्खेवो जहा पढमस्स। ।। सत्तमं अज्झयणं समत्तं ।।

In the city of Mahapura (the Great City), there was a garden called Rattashoka (Rattasog — the Red Ashoka Garden). The guardian spirit was Yaksha Rattapao (Red-Footed One). King Bale ruled there. His queen was Subhadda Devi. Prince Mahabal (Mahabbale — the Greatly Powerful) was born. He married Rattavai, chief among five hundred royal maidens. The coming of the Tirthankara is described. When asked about his previous birth: in the city of Manipur, there was a householder named Nagadatta. Through the monk Indadatta, he attained spiritual progress, up to final liberation. The closing follows the pattern of the first chapter. The seventh chapter is completed.

The seventh chapter tells the story of Prince Mahabal in the city of Mahapura. The names in this chapter carry a deliberate theme of strength and power: Mahapura means "the Great City," King Bale's name means "the Powerful One," and Mahabal means "the Greatly Powerful." Even the guardian spirit Rattapao (Red-Footed One) and the garden Rattashoka (Red Ashoka) share the color red — traditionally associated with energy, vitality, and worldly strength. This naming is not random. The Vipaak Sutra frequently sets up a contrast between worldly power and spiritual power. Mahabal is born into a world of great strength and abundance — and yet his story, like every other story in the Sukha Vipaak, ends not with him enjoying that strength forever, but with him renouncing it. The key to his current royal birth lies in his past life as an ordinary householder named Nagadatta in Manipur. Nagadatta was not a king or a prince. He was a common man — a "gahavai," a householder. Yet through his encounter with the monk Indadatta, he received teachings, practiced virtue, gave with generosity, and lived with moral discipline. That is the teaching embedded in this story: the path to liberation does not require a spectacular life. It requires sincere action. A humble man who listens to a monk and changes his behavior accumulates the karma that will eventually carry him to a royal birth — and through that royal birth, to the feet of a Tirthankara — and through that encounter, to liberation itself.

The simple version: In the powerful city of Mahapura, Prince Mahabal heard Lord Mahavira's teachings and chose the spiritual path. His good fortune came from a past life as Nagadatta, an ordinary but generous householder in Manipur who practiced virtue under the monk Indadatta's guidance. He eventually attained complete liberation.