Arya Bhadrabahu

Author(s): M A Dhaky
Publisher: Z_Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_1_002105.pdf and Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_2
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269040/1

Page #1
Arya Bhadrabahu M. A. Dhaky Preliminary Considerations From at least the post-Gupta period, the patriarch Arya Bhadrabahu (c. B.C. 325-297) has been held in the highest esteem and unswerving reverence by the principal Jaina sects, the designation 'Jaina' anciently was known as "Nirgrantha.' The notices on Bhadrabahu largely hail from the literature of the two surviving major sects of the Nirgrantha-darsana, Svetambara and Digambara. Bhadrabahu is reckoned and adored by both sects as the last caturdasapurvadhara' as well as the sruta-kevali?. And yet the glaring fact remains that he very largely has remained an illusive figure. The Jaina writers of our own times possess a strong, even an obsessive, bias for his supposedly inestimable greatness. As a result, they failed to see through the veil of illusion created by some stray but relatively late--some contradictory and confused-literary and inscriptional references to him and likewise could not escape the spell of ethos of the dazzling aura they themselves projected around him. Some of them explicitly believed (and still believe) in all that was attributed to him in the past as an invariate fact, a tangible and truthful reality. The high-pitched reverential attitude adopted for Bhadrabahu has not only hindered an objective approach toward searching and reconstructing his realistic image, not even a sketchy history based on available evidentiary facts, but also, as its consequence, has disallowed taking dispassionate estimation of him and his supposed contributions. This happening, in essence and so far, has led to preclude examining the very basis on which the edifice of esteem for him was built. Likewise, excepting for one category of literature, the niryuktis, very little effort had been made in the past toward checking the veracity of the claim for what are looked upon as the works authored by him in the Northern Nirgrantha (Svetambara) tradition?

Page #2
Arya Bhadrabahu 109 The Northern as well as the Southern Nirgrantha Church has preserved only small bits of information on Bhadrabahu, some seeming reliable, some probable or plausible, some undoubtedly falling in the category of doubtful,' and still others that frankly are at variance with the other recorded facts as well as internal evidence present in his supposed works and hence clearly undependable. The present article intends to focus critically on the image of Bhadrabahu as it emerges through the light cast by the evidence preserved within the relatively earlier and more trustworthy sources, though later writings will not be neglected : This evidence, in point of fact, lead to some hitherto unsuspected angles and consequently to surprising implications and conclusions. Some among the available Northern Nirgrantha sources relatively are earlier than the known Southern : hence these will be noticed here first, followed by the Southern, and next the information gathered from both sources will be compared, evaluated, integrated wherever plausible, and used in the discussions to follow. And finally will be presented the conclusions that may flow therefrom. Northern Nirgrantha literary sources on Bhadrabahu The earliest extant source on Bhadrabahu is the Sthaviravali or hagiological list of pontiffs incorporated in the Paryusana-kalpa. In its present shape, it was compiled partly from the preexisting lists and partly completed in V.N.S. 980/993 or A. D. 503 or 5164. The Sthaviravali, in point of fact, is the result of a five-phase growth and correspondingly contains portions of different periods, the portion forming Phase I begins its statement, after a brief introduction, with the ganadhara-apostle Sudharma--the direct disciple of Arhat Vardhamana alias Jina Mahavira--and next serially follow the names of four patriarchs as successors, the list terminating with the fifth pontiff Arya Yasobhadra (c. B.C. 350-325) who, as we learn from the Sthaviravali's Phase 2 portion, was the preceptor/guru of Arya Sambhutavijaya and of Arya Bhadrabahu. The Phase I portion, predictably, may have been composed in a still older linguistic form as well as, perhaps, a little more archaic stylistic mould, in Ardhamagadhi, plausibly at the end of the first Synod convoked in Pataliputra (in or before B.C. 300) for the redaction, the first in recorded history, of the Nirgrantha sruta/ scripture/ canon after the end of a long draught* in Madhyadesa. The Phase 2 of Its duration is reported, in some sources to be discussed, of 12 years.

Page #3
110 M. A. Dhaky the Sthaviravali embodies a portion which, in point of fact, came from another and, seemingly, somewhat later source. It represents a shorter version (samksipta vacana), as against the much more elaborate Phase 3 portion (vistrta vacana), commencing as it does from Arya Yasobhadra and his two aforenoted disciples and extending further down, through six successive pontiffs, to Arya Vajra's disciple Arya Vajrasena and ending with the names of the latter pontiff's four disciples (c. 1st cent. A.D.). But, it is the aforenoted Phase 3 portion, which covers an enlarged version of the second, is very, very important, because it, for the first time, gives detailed denominations along with the succinct indications on the origination of the various ganas (cohorts), their sakhas (branches), and their kulas (regional and clanal groups), all of these being the subdivisions formed by the specific bands of mendicants. Arguably, the starting point for these group-proliferations temporally must be located a few decades after Arya Bhadrabahu from whose senior disciple Godasa, the earliest and hence the very first gana of the Nirgrantha monastic system is reported, as per the northern hagiological tradition, to have emanated. (This may have taken place some time in the latter half of B.C. the third century.) While the list of succession within this Phase 3 (which figures in several manuscripts of the Paryusana-kalpa) terminates with Arya Phalgumitra (c. early 1st cent. A.D.), some mss. also contain a Phase 4 extension leading up to Arya Skandila (or Sandila)-the 17th pontiff in succession from Arya Phalgumitra-who presided over the Synod convened in Mathura in c. V. N. 830-840/A.D. 353-3637. These four successive sections of the sthaviravali are in prose and were dovetailed to form a single continuous text, largely in Ardhamagadhi, by casting them into a homogeneous stylistic mould which doubtless reveals a few lately introduced linguistic affectations of the Maharastri Prakrit. The last, or Phase 5, which is the latest portion of the Sthaviravali, however, is in versified form and unambiguously is rendered in Maharastri Prakrit. It starts from Arya Phalgumitra and, after mentioning the 16th pontiff in succession, namely Arya Dharma who was the guru of Arya Skandila, switches over to Arya Jambu (apparently the confrere of Arya Skandila of whom it takes no notice) and next gives the names of six pontiffs in succession, the sixth being Devarddhi gani who chaired the Valabhi Synod II in A.D. 503, or, according to an alternative tradition, in A.D. 5169, Jambu-jyoti

Page #4
Arya Bhadrabahu 111 the period when the Maitraka viceroy Dhruvasena I was governing from Valabhi in the Surastra region on behalf of some imperial power, either Gupta or, perhaps, Vakatakalo. For our purpose, only the second and the third Phase of the Sthaviravali are relevant; for it is these two which give some initial, though very succinct but the earliest and significant information on Bhadrabahu. The source of information, contemporaneous (or may be even earlier) in time, in the past, was the Gandikanuyoga of Arya Syama I alias Arya Kalaka I (c. 1st cent. B.C.-A.D.) which plausibly contained passages in a chapter (gandika) that had dealt with Bhadrabahu, namely the "Bhadrabahu-gandika," a section noted in a different context in the Samavayanga-sutra (147)'. This iatter agama, the fifth of the 12 argas, was updated (or rather recompiled with many additions, as a replacement palpably of an earlier shorter version)* in or soon after A.D. 363 and thus in the latter half of the last century of the Kusana rule in Mathura. Regrettably, the Gandikanuyoga, like all other works of Arya Syama, is for long lost12. It is, however, likely that, for a part of the information on Bhadrabahu in late Gupta agamic notices, the ultimate source may have been this work. The source next in time is the Sthaviravali of the Nandisutra of Deva Vacaka (c. mid 5th cent. A.D. 13); but that work only briefly alludes to Bhadrabahu and his gotra (familial lineage) and, in point of fact, adds nothing more to what is gleaned from the Phase 2 portion of the aforenoted Sthaviravali of the Paryusana-kalpa. After the Nandisutra, the works which mention Bhadrabahu, in one or the other context, are the Uttaradhyayang-niryukti (C. A.D. 525 and later) 24, the Titthogaliya i.e. Tirthavakalika (or Tirthodgarika)-prakirnaka (c. mid 6th cent. A.D.)', the Vyavahara-bhasya (c. late 6th cent.):6, the Avasyakacurni (c. A.D. 600-650)"?, the Uttaradhyayana-curni (c. A.D. 650-700), and the Avasyaka-vrtti of Haribhadra suri (c. mid 8th cent. A.D.)'9. Among the medieval sources, the first is the Kahavali of Bhadresvara suri (c. late 10th century)20. A fairly dependable medieval source, like the Parisista-parva (c. A.D. 1166) of Acarya Hemacandra of Purnatalla-gaccha"), apparently * Abhayadeva suri (latter half of the 11th century), in his commentary on the Samavayanga, refers to its shorter version which apparently was available in his time. I forego citing the source since it is a secondary point.

Page #5
112 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti is indebted, mainly indeed, to the aforenoted work for its information on Bhadrabahu namely the Kahavali and, to some extent, to the Tirthavakalika and the Avasyaka-curni, though for a few details, Hemacandra also may have consulted one or two other concise textual sources, including perhaps a Southern one. Southern Nirgrantha Sources on Bhadrabahu Unlike Northern and, importantly, the Southern sources also include epigraphical. Among the literary works--what have been looked upon by Western (particularly German) scholars as secondary, substitute, or surrogate agamas, theAradhana of Sivarya (c. early 6th cent.)22, and the Tiloyapannatti, (Trilokaprajnapti, assigned to c. mid 6th cent. A.D.) 23 are the earliest to have a bearing, in a small measure though, on Bhadrabahu. Next comes the Harivamsa-purana of Jinasena of Punnata Sangha (A.D. 783)24, the Dhavala-tika of Svami Virasena of Pancastupanvaya (completed A.D. 816)25, as also the Aradhana-Kannada-tika (popularly known as Vadda Aradhane26), now ascertained to be a work of Bhrajisnu (c. A.D. late 9th or early 10th cent.])27, and the Brhat-kathakosa (A.D. 931) of Harisena28 (who, too, like Jinasena, was a monk of the Punnata Sangha29). All of these, in the Southern context, relatively are older and more useful among literary sources. Incidentally, also theBhavasangraha of Pt. Vamadeva (c. 16th cent.), the Bhadrabahu-carita of Ratnanandi (c. 16th cent. A. D.)30, the Munivamsabhyudaya of Cidananda-Kavi (A. D. 1680), and the Ratnavalikathakosa of Devacandra (A. D. 1838)* which contain overtly sectarian material and which, from their particular standpoint, orientation in thinking, liking, and hence the attitude adopted and predilections set, has been considered authoritative and used by some Digambara Jaina scholars. As for the the epigraphical domain, it is restricted exclusively to Karnataka and, the earlier records there, happen to be the inscription no.1 (C. A. D.600)31 as well as no. 24 (c. mid 7th cent. A. D.)32 at the Cikkabeta or Candragiri, Sravanabelgola, are more ancient and, to a large extent, also crucial. Also are the two inscriptions from some site in the Srirangapattanam taluq (c. A.D. * The first, the third, and the fourth work, all very late, were not available to me for consultation. But, from their content known through others' writings, they all are, like Ratnanandi's work, highly sectarian.

Page #6
Arya Bhadrabahu 900). Moreover, the Sravanabelgola inscription no. 251 at the Bhadrabahu cave on Cikkabeta and datable to c. 11th cent. A. D., the two epigraphs from Humca (A.D.1075, 1077) and one other there datable to the c. 13th cent. A. D.33 are to some extent relevant to the discussions in the present context. All of these will be discussed in section VI where they have a direct pertinence. 113 IV The Deducible Facts from Sources While focusing on this aspect, the first to be noticed, since more ancient, are the Northern sources34. The second Phase of the Sthaviravali of the Paryusana-kalpa (c. 1st cent. A.D.) notices two disciples of Arya Yasobhadra (the fourth patriarch after the apostle Sudharma), namely Arya Sambhutavijaya and Arya Bhadrabahu as earlier stated. It next turns to Arya Sthulabhadra (the disciple of Arya Sambhuta) and his seven successors up to Arya Vajrasena and next mentions the latter's four disciples. Hereunder I quote from the text (after removing the Maharastri affectations and, as its consequence, restoring the original Ardhamagadhi linguistic form) only that portion which has relevance to Bhadrabahu : therassa naM ajjajasabhaddassa tuMgiyAyanaguttassa aMtevAsI dube therA- there ajjasambhUtavijae mADharasagutte, there ajjabhaddabAhu pAInasa gutte / This statement reports that Bhadrabahu was the disciple of Arya Yasobhadra and had belonged (prior to ordination) to the family having the Pracina-gotra, which, in essence, may imply that he belonged to the "Praci" or eastern country35. The country immediately easterly in relation to Magadha is Varendra with Vanga including ancient Radha (called Ladha in Magadhi), these being the major territories forming ancient (as well as undivided modern) Bengal. (The Nandi-sthaviravali [c. A.D. 450], as remarked earlier, repeats this information36.) The literary passage immediately next in sequence is the enlarged version of the hagiographical list-the Phase 3 of the Sthaviravali of the aforenoted Paryusana-kalpa which thus runs : therassa naM ajjajasa bhaddassa tuMgiyAyanaguttassa imo do therA antevAsI ahAvaccA abhinAtA hutthA || taM jathA-- there ajjabhaddabAhu pAInasagutte, there ajjasambhUtavijae mADharasagutte / therassa naM ajjabhaddabAhussa pAInasaguttassa ime cattAri thesa antevAsI ahAvaccA abhinnAtA hutthA / taM jathA --- there godAse 1, there aggidatte 2 there jannadatte 3, there somadatte 4 kAsavaguttenaM / therehito godAsahiMto kAsavagattehiMto itthaM naM

Page #7
114 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti godAsagaNe nAmaM gaNe niggae, tassa naM imAo cattAri sAhAo evmaahijjNti| taM jathA--tAmalittiyA 1, koTivassiyA 2, poMDavaddhaniyA 3, dAsIkhavvar3iyA 4 // This passage gives more details on Bhadrabahu. Besides repeating the information of the passage in the preceding Phase 2 portion, it further reports that he had four disciples : Godasa, Agnidatta, Yajnadatta, and Somadatta, all of whom belonged to the Kasyapa-gotra. From the chief disciple Godasa, a cohort of friars called 'Godasa-gana' emerged; and, from this gana, had emanated four specific sakhas or branches of mendicants, namely the Tamraliptika, the Kotivarsiya, the Paundravardhanika, and the Dasikarvatika. Three of these sakhas evidently took their denominations after the contemporary towns of the following names--Tamralipti (Tamluk), Kotivarsa (Kotipura?), and Pundravardhana (Pandua), while Dasikarvata is still unidentified though it may be conjectured that it was a smaller habitational settlement of the servant caste as its name suggests, very likely was located in Bengal and either had disappeared in the past or if it exists, today it may be known by some other appelation37. The three identifiable are, of course, ancient towns located in Bengal. Bhadrabahu's connection with Bengal is supported, in fact further confirmed, by notices, though late, inside the Southern sources. The Vadda Aradhane tika of Bhrajisnu reports that Bhadrabahu was born in Kaundini in the Pundravardhana territory and was initiated by acarya Govardhana38 And, Harisena (of the Punnata Sangha) (A.D. 931), slightly differing from Bhrajisnu, mentions that Bhadrabahu was born in Koripura/Korinagara situated in the Pundravardhana territory39. He was tought, groomed, and next initiated by the Caturdasapurvadhara Govardhana muni. Bhadrabahu thus, and to all seeming, was a native of ancient Bengal, a conclusion to which the historian of eminence, R. C. Majumdar, earlier had reached but, his concerned publications are, at the moment, not available to me. And arguably, Bhadrabahu's disciple Godasa and his immediate disciples and in turn their hagiological descendents as well as followers, reported exclusively in the early Northern source, too, had hailed from Bengal as inferrable from the sakha-denominations that specifically, indeed indubitably, reveal connection with Bengal". These notices on Bhadrabahu and his disciples also raise some questions. First, why no ganas and their sakha sub-orders emanated after the other

Page #8
Arya Bhadrabahu 115 three disciples of Bhadrabahu. Generally speaking, as inferred from the further details given in the Sthaviravali (Phase 3), in the palpably early stages of growth of the Northern Nirgrantha Church, the sub-orders of friars did sometimes originate from the confreres of the chief disciple of a pontiff : Second, what happened to the sub-orders of the Godasa-gana; for nothing afterwards has been reported about them in the ecclesiastical or epigraphical records either, the latter largely are encountered in Mathura. After the passage dwelling on Bhadrabahu's disciples, the Sthaviravali takes up Sthulabhadra, disciple of Bhadrabahu's confrere Arya Sambhuta and, further onwards, gives particulars of Sthulabhadra's descendents, indeed not for once returning to Bhadrabahu's line, an omission the significance of which later will be discussed. The hagiographical position from Arhat Vardhamana onwards and especially after Arya Jambu--the disciple of ganadhara Sudharmaand up to Bhadrabahu and his disciples, according to the first three phases of the Sthaviravali of the Paryusana-kalpa, may be tabulated as follows: Arhat Vardhamana (Preached c. B.C. 507-477)42 Ganadhara Gautama Ganadhara Sudharma Arya Jambu Arya Prabhava Arya Sayyambhava (or Svayambhuva) Arya Yasobhadra Arya Sambhuta Arya Bhadrabahu (C. B.C. 325-297) Arya Sthulabhadra Godasa Agnidatta Yajnadatta Somadatta

Page #9
116 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti The next source, which preserves a small piece of information on Bhadrabahu, is the Uttaradhyayana-niryukti (c. A.D. 525). In this work it is reported that the four disciples of Bhadrabahu (the niryukti does not specify their names) died in peace in a cave at Vaibharagiri near Rajaguha, having faced sita parisaha, visitation of severe chillo3 : rAjagihami vayaMsA sIsA cauro u bhddbaahuss| vebhAragiriguhAe sIyaparisayA samAhigayA / -uttarAdhyayananiyukti 91 The Uttaradhyayana-niryukti's verse, in point of fact, clarifies the import of a relevant (and earlier) verse from the Maranavibhakti-prakirnaka (c. 2nd3rd cent. A.D.)44, which apparently alludes to this very incident although, like the Uttaradhyayana niryukti, it specifies no names of the friars involved : it does mention Rajagrha, but not the Vaibharagiri cave there. Moreover, it does not specifically state that these four were the disciples of Bhadrabahu : rAyagihaniggayA khalu paDimApaDipannagA muniicuro| sIta vihUya kameNaM pahare pahare gayA siddhi / -maraNavibhaktiprakIrNaka 489 However, the combined information from the last two sources would lead to infer that, what was intended to be conveyed, is the death of the four disciples of Bhadrabahu due to the visitation of severe chill (on Vaibharagiri) in Rajagrha. According to the Uttaradhyayana curni (c. A.D. 675-700), these four disciples were of the Vanika (merchant) community and belonged to Rajag?ha45. But each one of them, according to this source, died at a different locale within Rajagrha46. These four disciples evidently were different, as will be shown, from the earlier four noted, beginning from Godasa, in the Sthavinavali. We will look into other information in the post-niryukti literature as the discussion progresses. Turning now to the Southern literary sources, the earliest two works which tabulate the spiritual lineage of Bhadrabahu, namely the Trilokaprajnapti47 and the Sravanabelgola Inscription No. 148 are about five to three centuries and odd decades posterior to the relevant two earlier portions of the Sthaviravali of the Paryusana-kalpa cited in the foregoing discussion. And the two sources next in date, the Harivamsa-purana49 and the Dhavala

Page #10
Arya Bhadrabahu tikas, largely follow the preceding two Southern sources, adding no new information. Keeping in view the temporal position of these sources, it is clear that the earliest is not earlier than mid sixth century, the earliest being the Trilokaprajnapti whose sectarial affiliation is, in fact, somewhat dubious since, like the agamas inherited by the Svetambara sect, it stipulates 12 instead of the 16 kalpas for the Kalpavasi gods, the figure 16 otherwise is firmly held by the Digambara sect. The Southern (and South affiliated) sources inter alia with some minor variations in a few nominal details, present the following pontifical sequence after Arhat Vardhamana's disciple and grand disciple, the apostles Sudharma (Loharya in Southern version) and Jambus: SB.Ins.No.1 Harivamsa-purana Dhavala-tika (c. A.D. 600) (A.D.783) (A.D.816) Loharya I Loharya Loharya Jambu I Visnu Nandimitra Trilokaprajnapti (c. mid 6th cent. A.D.) Loharya T Jambu I Nandi I Nandimitra Govardhana I Bhadrabahu 1 Visakha Jambu T Visnudeva Aparajita Govardhana I Bhadrabahu Visakha Jambu 1 Visnu yd Nandimitra I Aparajita 1 Govardhana 1 Bhadrabahu Visakha 117 Govardhana T The confrontation of the Northern and the Southern hagiologies of Bhadrabahu reveal intriguing, even sharp differences between the two. Contrast on at least five points clearly are discernible: First, the Southern gurvavalis under reference do not prefix the honorific term "Arya" before the pontiffs' appellations; second, they take no notice of their gotras; third, they are silent on the names of the four disciples of Bhadrabahu; instead, only one name figures as Bhadrabahu's disciple, Visakha, not found in the northern list; fourth, and as a direct consequence of the third difference, the Godasa-gana and its four sakhas find no mention there; and fifth and the major, which is the sharpest, difference is about the names of the post Bhadrabahu 1 Visakhacarya

Page #11
118 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti Jambu predecessors of Bhadrabahu including his own preceptor's name in both sources. In the present state of our knowledge, it is difficult to explain this too obvious a difference, no question of reconciling the two lists52. One of them is inaccurate or both may be unaware of certain realities of the past. Now, to some other facts/anecdotes recorded in Southern sources. The Aradhana of Sivarya (c. early 6th cent, A.D.), a Yapaniya work (or plausibly of its likely parent sect, the Botika-Ksapanaka of north India, founded by the schismic pontiff Arya Sivabhuti in the second century A.D.) only records a single fact : It states that Bhadrabahu passed away by resorting to avamodarya, reduction in the quantity of the food intake. It does not, though, specify the place where he breathed his last. Nor does it note his predecessors,' or 'successors' names either. The Kathakosa of Harisena (A.D. 931), however, mentions that, after the prediction he made of the 12 years' draught in Ujjayani, Bhadrabahu passed away in Bhadrapadadesa (unidentified, but may be contiguous to the Pariyatra region adjacent to the Malava country) by anasana or rite of suspension of aliments. The earlier noted Kannada work, the Aradhana-tika, however, despite several legendary and imaginary elements appearing in its long-winding narration, does state that Bhadrabahu passed away by avamodarya but that event occurred in Sravanabelgola. (The details and implications of these differing statements are reserved for discussion in Section VI.) Works attributed to Bhadrabahu From at least the time of the opening verse of the Dasasrutaskandhaniryukti and the Pancakalpa-niryukti (both c. A.D. 525) and, following it in time, of the Pancakalpabhasya of Sanghadasa gani (c. A.D. 550) as well as the Dasasrutaskandhacurni (c. mid 7th cent. A.D.), the authorship of the three chedasutras--the Dasastrutaskanda (also called the Acaradasa), the Kalpa, and the Vyavahara of the Northern or Ardhamagadhi canon-is attributed to Arya Bhadrabahus4 Bhadrabahu, in the post-Gupta Svetambara (as well as the medieval and possibly pre-medieval Digambara) tradition, is believed to be the last patriarch to have possessed, as had been noticed in the foregoing pages, the complete knowledge of scriptural works (srutakevali). Likewise, he is looked upon as the last to have possessed the knowledge of the 14 Purva-textsss; hence he also had been called

Page #12
Arya Bhadrabahu 119 the antima caturadasa-purvadhara in the post-Gupta, pre-medieval, and medieval exegetical and the late biographical literature of the northern tradition. The current Svetambara Jaina tradition, and even the critical Western scholarship, hardly had doubted the pious assumption regarding Bhadrabahu's authorship of the Kalpa and the Vyavahara (along with the Dasasruta)56, and hence no attempt was made to check the accuracy/ veracity of the belief and hence of the tradition by verifying the premises on which it may have been founded. The Kalpa and the Vyavahara are formularies embodying the monastic codes containing the basic rules of conduct, the first text enjoining what is admissible and what is not for the Nirgrantha mendicants and nuns; the second, in its primary intentions, lays down the rules of atonement embracing large areas of conduct as well as what must be done in cases of the transgression of the disciplinary rules, surprisingly with fair amount of detail for the age they were formulated, together with some other material. (As the matter stands, these two texts, along with the Dasasrutaskanda, till now have not been subjected to detailed textual, linguistic, analytical, and stylistic study.) The style and, no less the content, of the first two works under reference--both being in the sutra or prose form--should be able to reveal whether the monastic situations/conditions envisaged therein can be consistent with, or can really go back to the times as ancient as those of Arya Bhadrabahu (c B.C. 325-297). And, predictably, the study of the terminology and expressions, language and phrase-structure together with the formal habits and cadence, can cast light on their true temporal status and sectarial affiliation. These factors can be considered here but only very briefly. Terminology, Style, and Content 1) Unlike the most ancient among the extant agamas, namely the Acaranga (Book I, c. B.C. 450-300), and next the Sutrakrtanga (Book I, earliest parts c. B.C. 300-100), and the Uttaradhyayana (early chapters c. 3rd cent. B.C. to 1st cent. B.C.-A.D.), and unlike also the early Pali Buddhist worksS7, the term acela for the nude friar is almost completely absent in the Kalpa as well as in the Vyavahara58. The two works, instead, inention the Jina-kalpa and the Sthavira-kalpa states (sthitis) for the Nirgrantha

Page #13
120 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti recluses59. (The Vyayahara also mentions panipratigrahadhari [bowl-less mendicants) and Pratigrahadhari (in essence monks using a begging-bowl]). These terms, on the other hand and, significantly, are absent in theagamas of the pre-Christian Era. What is more, there is here noticeable a scholastic approach and classificatory tendencies about the kaipa-sthitis which do not seem compatible to, or correspond with the much simpler and straightforward (but very stern) ideals held, and the precise rules laid down for the acela or e friars and, by contradistinction, for the sacela friars (in that early age having minimal allowable possession for them) in the undoubted oldest strata of the earlier agamas such as the Acaranga Book I. Even the style and phraseology of these specific kalpa-sthiti passages in the Kalpa widely differ from those of the rest of the text. These passages apparently had been introduced at some point in time from somewhat later and different, yet relatively ancient, source. These formidable facts raise the first solid suspicion on the supposedly high antiquity of the Kalpa and the Vyavahara and their authorship ascribed to Bhadrabahu. 2) Both of these works reflect a highly developed state of organization of the Nirgrantha clergy, as also a well-established as well as much proliferated monastic church. On the testimony of the third phase of the Sthaviravali (c. A. D.100) of the Paryusana-kalpa, the first ganas or organized bands of friars and mendicants (nigganthas, bhikkhus) and nuns (nigganthis, bhikkunis) progressively began to be instituted some 50 years or so posterior to Bhadrabahu* and had diversified further, indeed considerably so into sakhas and kulas by, and even before, the first two centuries of the Christian Era. The ganas, in the next stage, also were further divided into sambhoga-groups. The Vyavahara refers to this latter term which, however, nowhere appears in the earlier canonical literature including even the Acaranga Book II (c. Ist cent. B.C.-A. D.): It does figure though in * Alate Satavahana inscription in one of the Junnar caves in Maharashtra refers to "Siddh-gane Aparajite." [Cf. S. Nagraju, Buddhist Architecture of Western India, (C. 250 B.C.-A.D. 300), Delhi 1981, "Appendix : List of Brahmi Inscriptions from the Rock-cut monuments of Western India," p. 331, Ins. no. 10.) If the Aparajita noted here is the grand preceptor of Bhadrabahu, then the convention for the gana formation may have started a few decades earlier. The whole problem needs further investigation. (Thisgana has not been noticed even from an early literary source. It is noted late in the Southern work, the Srutavatara (c. 10th cent.].)

Page #14
Arya Bhadrabahu 121 the Mathura inscriptions; but the earliest of those which have this term are of the middle Kusana period, generally datable to c. 3rd cent. A. D. or slightly earlier 61. And the terms ganavacchedaka (administrator of the gana) and his female counterpart, the ganavacchedika (next to mother superior), figuring in the Vyavahara-sutra, appear neither in the earlier canonical texts nor anywhere in the inscriptions. These monastic positions/titles had been instituted and apparently, therefore, the terms denoting them had been coined and had come into currency, arguably some centuries posterior to Bhadrabahu's time62. 3) The Kalpa permits the friars to have cloth (vattha, vastra), also a piece of cloth for foot-cleaning (padapunchanaka), and a blanket (kambala), the possessions which enter somewhat later into (and even may have been interpolated into) the corpus of monastic rules embodied in the somewhat younger portions of the Acaranga I, but are more regularly referred to thereafter. The Vyavahara-sutra, moreover, is much too lenient in allowing several objects as friar's possession : these include a leatherpiece, a leather-bag, a cloth-curtain, a stick, and even an umbrella53. A rule such as this could be an anathema to the followers of the doctrine of the total non-possession (or exceptionally and indeed exceedingly restricted possession) for recluses belonging to the Church of Arhat Vardhamana, to which the patriarch Arya Bhadrabahu traditionally had belonged. Here, in point of fact, is discerned a clear-cut introduction of the elements consistent more with the practices of the followers of the Church of Arhat Parsva (and hence of the Parsvapatyas) rather than those of the Church of Arhat Vardhamana64. Friars who kept such accessory objects (upakaranas) later will be classed as "Pasattha" or wayward and degraded or, alternatively, perhaps more accurately, implied to be (or may be interpreted simply as) those who had not joined the reformed and sternly ascetical Church of Arhat Vardhamana but had stayed within the more lenient Church of Arhat Parsva (hence Parsvastha). The position in the Vyavahara, for such sections of the text, either indicates a period considerably later than that of Arya Bhadrabahu or else, if it really is early, reflects a very different monastic ideology and practices. It unquestionably stands farther from the extremely austere and strict monasticism of Arhat Vardhamana. Vyavahara's moderate discipline comes closer to not only what is attributed to the Church of Arhat Parsva but also, to a fair degree, to the Order of Buddha. In point of fact,

Page #15
122 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti in terms of the doctrinal principles and consequent monastic rules, such a situation was to manifest in the future times in western India, indeed some centuries posterior to even the period of Arya Raksita (c. 1st cent. A. D.) who had permitted only one additional patra or bow165 beside the usual (single) begging bowl and who advocated and practised strict nudity, allowing no other possession including loin cloth (kati-bandhana, kari-pattaka, cola-pattaka) for a friar66, the kati-bandhana, interestingly, is noted in the Kalpa and in the relatively later portion of the Acaranga I. (If the Kalpa indeed was authored by Bhadrabahu, then this point will have a bearing on Bhadrabahu's doctrinal leanings and creedal connections.) 4) The Kalpa loudly talks about a "shelter-building" (uvassaya, upasraya) which temporarily may be occupied by friars and nuns and also enters into considerable detail relating to its surroundings as well as its internal disposition 67. Places such as these as temporary resorts for recluses virtually is an impossible reality in the early phase of the Church of Vardhamana : because, the earlier agamic injunction refers exclusively to cemetery (susana i.e. smasana), ruined and desolate dwelling-houses (sunnagara, sunyagara), and tree-bases (rukhamula, vsksamula) as places appropriate for recluses to take shelter by or into68. The Kalpa, of course, is aware at least of vrksamula and also adds there 'bamboo-clump base' which it permits to the nirgranthas but forbids to the nirgranthis, nuns69. However, the older spirit and the forms of very rigorous ascetic practices are somewhat wanting in this (as well as, even more so, in the Vyavahara) text. The Kalpa, though forbidding the nuns to stay at the travellers' lodge (agamanagrha), permits the mendicants to do so70. The latter clause is again inconsistent with the most ancient friars' discipline if we take into account the earlier notions of the Nirgrantha monastic constraints as laid down in, or understandably followed within, the Church of Arhat Vardhamana. Indeed, this and several other such points encourage toward reassessing the nature of monastic discipline of Bhadrabahu's time. 5) The style of the Kalpa, though sounding fairly ancient where the sutras generally begin as 'No kappati' (not permissible), or 'Kappati' (permissible), is seldom encountered in other disciplinary agamas like the Acaranga Book II, the Nisitha, etc?l. It is, perhaps, likely that such a style of phrasing may have been peculiar more to the books of monastic codes,

Page #16
Arya Bhadrabahu 123 now lost?2, of the Church of Arhat Parsva rather than of Arhat Vardhamana and adopted for the composition of the Kalpa. Bhadrabahu, it must be remebered, knew by heart the Purva texts of the Church of Arhat Parsva as per the tradition. Looking now at the mode of expression of the Vyavahara, it is, in point of fact, and visibly, different from that of the Kalpa, although Bhadrabahu is claimed to be the author of both the works. It also largely differs from the style of the agamas of the first three phases73. Moreover, the Vyavahara, both in style and content, is heterogeneous in character, with chapters possibly of differing dates, details, and perceptions, The text of the Kalpa as well as that of the Vyavahara conceivably may have been modified at a few places and augmented or added to, or subtracted at some points of time in the past?5, a possibility which cannot be ruled out. Since both works also were included in the sacred treatizes of the Yapaniya Sect, it may be concluded that they already were known and recognized as an authoritative part of the canon before the 2nd cent. A.D. in the Northern Nirgrantha Church?6. Supposing it can be established that the earliest portions of the two texts are indeed datable to the Maurya period, it would then raise some serious questions :1) Was Bhadrabahu their author ? 2) If he were, did he lean toward the monastic discipline of the Church of Parsva or, alternatively, did he sanction generous concessions for accommodating the mendicants and nuns of the Church of Parsva who, assumably, may have been progressively joining the Church of Arhat Vardhamana ? Since, as is believed in the tradion, he had mastered the 14 Purvas-arguably the agamic books of the Parsva's sect--there is a possibility that he was fully conversant with the Parsvian monastic disciplinary code and, as a result, may have been influenced by it. If this surmise is accurate, it may, in turn, compel us to revise our views on Bhadrabahu. The present discussion perhaps opens a door to what seemingly is an entirely unsuspected and uncharted area of investigation". Of course, it will all depend on the definitive evidence, besides the presently known post-Gupta tradition, that the Kalpa and (the parts of) the Vyavahara were authored by Bhadrabahu. The third work, namely the Dasasrutaskandha olim Acaradasa, both from the standpoint of style and content, is far more heterogeneous in composition and in content: and, for the style of a few of its chapters,

Page #17
124 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti it positively looks away from Bhadrabahu's times. These chapters, in fact, are younger in age. It, therefore, raises even graver doubts about the veracity of its long believed attribution to Bhadrabahu. It likewise presents a somewhat more complex situation78, needing a separate investigation involving elaborate and an in-depth discussion. Before closing this section, it may be noted that the Southern tradition does not attribute the composition of any work to Bhadrabahu. It only believes that he was responsible for introducing and propagating the Nirgrantha religion in Southern India?' And later, in the eighth century, Padmanandi of the anvaya Kondakunda, known from the 13th or at most the 12th century as Kundakundacarya' in the Digambara sections in north India, is said to have regarded Bhadrabahu as his 'gamika-guru' or a teacher by virtue of his being, as he may have believed, in the Bhadrabahu's sectarial traditions VI Sruta-Kevali Bhadrabahu, Candragupta, Sravanabelgola, and Southern Jaina Traditions Fairly considerable literature has grown in English and in German, not to say in Hindi and in Kannada which revolve around the Southern Nirgrantha traditions that associate Bhadrabahu and Candragupta on one hand and on the other hand associate the two to the famous tirtha site of Sravanabelgola inside ancient Gangavadi, located in Southern Karnataka The trends of discussions and conclusions drawn therein reveal a picture in which some scholars agreeing, others rejecting, a few sitting on fence while some sensing not enough strength in available evidence yet willing to concede credibility to the tradition. When all is said and done, some among the noteworthy writings which dwell on this subject at some length, impress the reader as either one-sided since they refuse to use, even allude to, sources which go against their cherished intentions (or declare them as late although they are not), often indeed uncritical or insufficiently critical or wanting in an objective as well as common sense approach. Perhaps the only, rather very partial, exceptions are the much too succinct statements within the discussion by the editorial team of the Epigraphia Carnatica Volume II (Mysore 1973) and a brief observation by A. M. Ghatage(r) The earliest, and indeed crucial, evidence in the Southern context is the Sravanabelgola Sanskrit inscription No.1 (c. 600 A. D.), which more or

Page #18
Arya Bhadrabahu less had been the starting point of discussion in several serious writings. It refers to a prediction in Ujjayani by Bhadrabahu, an expert on the eightfold omenology (astanga-nimitta)-he is not called there either 'srutakevali' or 'caturdasa-purvadhara" of the visitation of a 12-year famine (dvadasa samvatsara-kala-vaisamya, implied to be in north India) whereupon the entire Nirgrantha community (samasta-samgha) from north India (Uttarapatha) migrated to south India (Daksinapatha). At some point, when this congregation (samgha) was passing through southwestern Karnata (the specific area later to be called Gangavadi), a pontiff by name Prabhacandra, sensing his end approaching, separated himself from the congregation and clambered the hill Katavapra (Cikkabetta or Candragiri Hill in Sravanabelgola) along with one disciple (name not specified) with the objective of passing away in peace (samadhi) by the rite of suspension of aliment unto death (sanyasaradhitavan). And in course of time, some 700 other friars in succession followed (the same path, of dying by the rite of sallekhana), the inscription in question reports as its end note83. The said inscription does not bring Bhadrabahu to this Hill; his role was confined to making the prophesy of the oncoming draught that was to last for 12 years. Indeed, the central focus of the inscription is "Prabhacandra," not Bhadrabahu. What is more, the inscription is silent on Candragupta, a significant omission. There is likewise not the slightest indication there to warrant equating Prabhacandra with Bhadrabahu and, the unnamed accompanying disciple, with Candragupta; nor, on the other hand, is there even the vaguest hint that would allow identitying Prabhacandra with Candragupta. Indeed, no source clarifies that the Maurya emperor Candragupta, after his supposed ordination as a Nirgrantha friar, was rechristened Prabhacandra. Such an identification has been conjectured by some writers of our times, but without any clear or firm evidence to base upon. In any case, the inscription, like the Aradhana of Sivarya, is silent on what happened to Bhadrabahu or where he proceeded after the prediction he is said to have made in Ujjayani. Now, to explain away the silences, an inference has been drawn from this inscription that two Bhadrabahu-s (as stated here in annotation 82) are implied, the first one is he who figures in the pontifical sequence from Loharya downwards, that is the one who was the disciple of Govardhana and preceptor of Visakha as also the preceptor of Candragupta: It was he who, the 125

Page #19
126 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti in the tradition, was the srutakevali and the caturdasa-purvadhara : the second Bhadrabahu who, in due course flourished in that monastic tradition, was the astanga-naimitika (expert on eightfold omenology). It was he who predicted the visitation of the 12 years' famine in Ujjayani. But neither of the two Bhadrabahu-s is, even implicitly, said there to have visited Sravanabelagola. It was Prabhacandra who passed away on the Katavapra Hill there according to that earliest inscription from Sravanabelagola. The commemorative record under reference, moreover, is not contemporaneous with the passing away of Prabhacandra. It arguably was engraved centuries after the period of the supposed happening of the event which, implicitly though, is much later than c. B.C. 300 (Bhadrabahu's time) and predictably even a few years after the second Bhadrabahu conjectured, by some scholars, from the data contained in the inscription. And between the date of Prabhacandra's passing away and the date of this inscription of C. A.D. 600, significantly, no commemorative inscriptional record is found on this Hill even when it clearly refers to the passing away of some 700 other friars after Prabhacandra on this Hill84. The inscription seemingly records the essence of a "legend" or "belief," current in the late sixth century, of the death by self-mortification earlier on this Hill, of a pontiff named "Prabhacandra," a nomen which has no parallel in the period between the Mauryan and the very early centuries of the Ganga (or for that matter contemporaneous Kadamba) period in Karnata, or for that matter in the inscriptional or literary records of the earlier periods--be they Nirgrantha, Buddhist, or Brahmanical--in north India. Typologically, the name does not accord with the fashions in vogue for personal appellations before the sixth, or at most the fifth century A.D85. Prabhacandra, doubtless, will be a very popular nomen for the monks in pre-medieval and, even more so, in the medieval Digambara Jaina Church. In literature, the earliest reference noticeable for this appellation is by Pujyapada Devanandi (activec. A.D. 635685) in his Jainendra-sabdasastra, referring as he does to a peculiar grammatical formation in Sanskrit by Prabhacandra86 and the next is in the encomium of the Jayadhavala-tika (began by Virasena, completed by his great disciple Jinasena (c. A.D. 837) in which Jinasena eulogizes the (poetic) qualities of the Candrodaya-kavya of Prabhacandra87, the reference in the latter two cases might pertain to one and same poetPrabhacandra--though not to the Candragiri-Prabhacandra who is purported

Page #20
Arya Bhadrabahu 127 to belong to earlier times88. After these two relatively early Prabhacandrasone figuring in the 600 A.D. inscription, the other appearing in the two literary allusions, one being post-Gupta (early Calukya) and the other pre-medieval (early Rastrakuta)-several other Prabhacandras successively came in different ganas and gacchas till the late medieval times as inferred from the Digambara inscriptional and literary / hagiological and allied notices. This early 'Prabhacandra' of Sravanbelgola, then, generates an enigma which will need future efforts and concrete, indeed more definitive, evidence to resolve it. One thing is certain. He cannot be connected either with Bhadrabahu or with Candragupta. Within 50 years of this earliest inscription on Candragiri mentioning Prabhacandra, scores of other inscriptions are encountered from whose report it is clear that the pontiffs and mendicants, monks and nuns, vied one another ritually to give up their life on this sanctified Hill. Could the legend of the first Prabhacandra--a figure unknown in the annals--passing away here have inspired this phenomenal (and from the standpoint of Jainism a sacred and elevating) activity of self-mortification on this Hill ? Arguably not. A more powerful stimulus was needed for this development. Plausibly, between c. A.D. 550-650, a new and a parallel legend was being worked out, at some Jaina centre in Karnataka, of Srutakevali Bhadrabahu and his supposed disciple, the Maurya emperor Candragupta, laying down their life by the sacred rite ofsallekhana on this Hill. Some anecdotes or bits of partially valid historical facts must have existed for the formulation of such a legend. The beginning of a part of this belief, somewhat vaguely though, may be sensed in a statement occurring in the Tiloyapannatti (Trilokaprajnpti, c. A.D. 550 with sizeable later additions) that, among the crowned kings, Candragupta was the last to be initiated to the Order89 : There is, though, no clarification in this notice whether the Maurya' Candragupta is implied and who his preceptor was. It is only the epigraphical records, in date posterior to the Tiloyapannati, to be noticed now, which implicitly or explicitly connect the two. The most crucial on this issue is the Sravanabelogo! inscription 17-18 (32) in Kannada, dateable to c. mid seventh century. It states : "When the Faith that had much prospered in the time of the pair of the chief among the sages--Bhadrabahu and Candragupta---who shed lustre on it, later grew dimmed, (then) the coral-lipped santisena, the chief among the ascetics,

Page #21
128 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti rejuvenated it: And on the hill at Velgola, having given up food etc., attained the (state of) cessation of birth (i.e. attained salvation) : "90 zrIbhadrabAhu scndrguptmuniindryugmdinoppevl| bhadramAgida dharmamandu vaLlikkevandinisaLakalo // vidrumaadhrshaantisenmuniishnaamievelgol| adrimelazanAdi viTTapunarbhavakkere Agi / This inscription for certain connects Bhadrabahu with Candragupta, arguably as the teacher and the disciple, though it does not explicitly associate the two with Sravanabelago!a. However, the act of including this phrase in the draft of the inscription would be meaningless if the composer of the text had not intended to convey the connection of the two with this sacred Hill. From this standpoint, it may be regarded as the earliest pointer, even somewhat obliquely, toward that direction. Next of note are some inscriptions, all of them of medieval period and not valuable as weighty evidence in the historical construct for times very ancient. An inscription of c. A. D. 1110 (71[166]) in the Bhadrabahu cave, records that some Jinacandra bowed to the feet (carved imprints) of Bhadrabahusvami : And, below the footprints carved on the summit of the Cikkabetta hill, is a 13th century record purporting to the effect that they are those of Bhadrabahusvami. What is more, in the two records from Srirangapattana taluk, of c. A. D. 900 (E.C. Vol. III, Sr. 147, 148], it is stated that Kalbappu (Katavapra or Cikkabetta Hill) is blessed with the (carved) imprints of the feet of Bhadrabahu and Candragupta. Moreover, an inscription of A. D. 1163 (Nos.40 (54), new no. 71) refers to srutakevali Bhadrabahu and his disciple Candragupta. Likewise, a record of A. D. 1129 (Nos.5 (67), new no.77) refers to the celebrated pair. And on a pillar in the Siddharabasadi environs on the Doddabetta (Vindhyagiri, Sravanabelagola) are two late records, the first of A. D. 1398 (No.105, [254]) mentioning srutakevali Bhadrabahu and the second of A.D. 1432 which mentions srutakevali Bhadrabahu and his disciple Candragupta". It thus remains established that, at the dawn of the medieval period, the Bhadrabahu-Candragupta pair and their association with Sravanabelgola was a firmly established fact in the Digambara Jaina lore and later was persistently recalled as inferred from the above-cited inscriptions. And the footprints of Bhadrabahu were carved on Cikkabuta or Candragiri before A. D. 900.

Page #22
Arya Bhadrabahu 129 Turning next to the Southern literary sources having a bearing on Bhadrabahu, the earliest, as was pointed out, is the Aradhana of Sivarya (c. 6th cent.), a Yapaniya (or Botika-Ksapanaka) and not Digambara work. it, however, refers to only a single point related to Bhadrabahu, namely his death due to reduced food intake92 : omodarie ghorAe bhaddabAhU asNkilitttthmdii| ghorAe vigicchAe paDivaNNo uttamaM ThANaM // -ArAdhanA 1539 The next source is the Aradhana-tika, also known as the Vadda-Aradhane (c. 9th or early 10th cent.), the commentary in Kannada by Bhrajisnuo, on the above-cited Sivarya's Aradhana. Unlike the inscriptions, it delineates Bhadrabahu's life-sketch wherein a small part seems somewhat genuine, but the rest has a look and flavour of fiction as well as smell of fabrication and coloured by sectarian bias, the latter part omitted here in discussion since irrelevant in the present context. 'In the town of Kaundini within the Pundravardhana county,' says Bhrajisnu, *ruled a chief called Padmaratha with his consort Padmasri. To his high priest Somasarma and wife Somasri was born Bhadrabahu.' The names, except for Bhadrabahu and the localities noted there, obviously are fictitious. The commentary next enters into a lengthy mythical account concerning caturdasapurvi Govardhana (ultimately the one who initiated Bhadrabahu) and immediately next the one relating to Bhadrabahu. This portion we may leave out for good. What is contextually significant is of course the notice that Bhadrabahu not only learnt the Anga texts (the 11 Nirgrantha canonical works) but, significantly, also the Purva. texts from his preceptor Govardhana. The Commentator then dwells not upon the Maurya emperor Candragupta but his grand son Asoka reigning in Pataliputra. Next he turns to another phase of the anecdote, the queen Candranana, consort of Asoka's son Kunala, the prince who was blinded by an official due to a wrong reading (tempered version?) of the emperor's communication. She gave birth to a son who was named Samprati-Candragupta by Asoka. Following this account, starts a lengthy mythical narrative concerning the previous embodiment of that prince, which being totally useless as history, has to be ignored. The grown up Samprati-Candragupta is placed by the Commentator in

Page #23
130 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti Ujjeni (Ujjayani) which is next visited by Bhadrabahu, alongwith a large group of friars. There he sojourned in some park. Interestingly, Bhadrabahu is qualified by the commentator as 'Caturdasa-purvadhara' and not 'astanga-naimitika' in contrast to the Sravanabelagola inscription of c. A.D. 600. King Samprati-Candragupta visits Bhadrabahu and embraces the vows of the (Nirgrantha) lay-follower. One day. Bhadrabahu, during his almsbegging tour, entered a house where a child in a swing said: "Revered Sir, go away, go away!" He took these words as omenic of the onset of a draught: on asking for how many years, the child, by gesture, indicated the figure 12. Whereupon Bhadrabahu assembled the disciples and announced the visitation soon of 12 years famine and proposed to migrate to South. The same night the King dreamt 16 strange and prognosticative dreams, their interpretation by Bhadrabahu leading to the same conclusion, of the oncoming eventuality of the prolonged draught. (The lengthy narrative relating to this imaginary event is omitted here.) The King, now knowing about the impending calamity, joined the Order of the Mendicants. Bhadrabahu next sent a message to the mendicants in Madhyadesa to migrate to South. And he, with his new disciple Samprati-Candragupta and eight thousand friars moved toward the Southern country. On the way, when they reached Katavappu (Katavapra, Candragiri in Sravanabelgola), he sensed that his end is near. Whereupon he sent the sangha under the leadership of his other (arguably senior) disciple Visakha to the Tamil country. He next clambered the hillock Katavapra with SampratiCandragupta, undertook the rite of avamodarya and sanyasta, eventually passed away and, was born as god in the Brahmakalpa heaven with the life span of ten sagaropamas'. Samprati-Candragupra stayed on at Katavapra, and, as for alms, he was eating what a sylvan deity of that area offered. After 12 years, when the news reached that the drought in Madhyadesa had ended, Visakhacarya returned from south to Katavapra advised SampartiCandragupta not to accept food from a deity, and proceeded toward north. Samprati-Candragupta who, staying as he did for all those years close to the (commemorative) shrine of Bhadrabahu on the hillock, eventually passed away and (he, too,) was born in the Brahmakalpa with the life span of ten sagaropamas. Forgetting the imaginary elements which are innate to the Indian narrative class of writings in ancient and medieval India Jaina being

Page #24
Arya Bhadrabahu 131 famous for its super-inflated megalomania and super-astronomical pampalomania--the problems that this katha generates are, even at the first look, these : 1) In the established history of India, Samprati was junior to Bhadrabahu by four generations, he being the great grandson of emperor Candragupta's son Bindusara. Moreover, he never was known as Candragupta. So, this notice in the commentary is very visibly anachronistic besides betraying gross historical confusiono. (Samprati, of course, had ruled from Ujjayani, but his preceptor was Arya Suhasti who in turn was Arya Sthulabhadra's disciple, as gleaned from the post-Gupta Svetambara sources. And that hagiographical notice perfectly synchronizes with the known dates of the Maurya imperial chronology. 2) It is clear that, the legend of Prabhacandra and his unnamed disciple as noted in the Sravanabelagola inscription of c. A.D. 600, is transferred here to, or superimposed on Bhadrabahu and Candragupta duo. This new legend of the association of those two celebrities with Sravanabelagola apparently had come into currency in Karnataka by, or before, circa the mid seventh century and Bhrajisnu used it to fit it in his narrative context. The two inscriptions from Seringapattam taluq which are more or less contemporaneous with Bhrajisnu's commentary, likewise cannot be reckoned as good evidence for Bhadrabahu-Candragupta connections with Sravanabelagola. The whole episode smells of improbability and hangs on a slender thread of an untenable notice. A solid and an unambiguous as well as fairly early evidence of Bhadrabahu's migration with Candragupta to Sravanabelgola is wanting. No reliance can be placed on later writings which come in conflict with what is said and implied in the relatively earlier sources. The earliest inscription referring to Bhadrabahu does talk about migration to South, but in that event neither Bhadrabahu, nor Candragupta, or both were involved; and the earliest available literary source---Bhrajisnu's Kannada commentary (c. 9th - 10th cent.), too, does not illuminate the history because of the confusions it creates. 3) The commentator had given no thought on the logistics of as many as eight thousand friars travelling together, the problems about feeding them under the strict Nirgranthist rules of bhiksa, besides providing them camping facilities, which virtually would be unmanageable in those times. In the pre-Mauryan and Mauryan periods, megalithic culture had prevailed

Page #25
132 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti in Karnataka. But the nearest megalithic habitations were some miles away from Sravanabelagola. There is, indeed, no evidence that Sravanabelagola, with its starkly stony terrain, was inhabited even long centuries after the Maurya times. There are conflicting notices as to the region where the famine was to visit as per the prediction; was it just Madhyadesa (central and eastern Uttar Pradesh) or was it the entire northern India. In the former case, there was no need to migrate to Southern India. Also, a continuous draught lasting for as many as 12 years would create a havoc in the ecology of the concerned territories. Most rivers progressively would have dried up. The Jaina writers (of both sects) gave no thought on what, under such circumstances, would have happened to the Brahmanists, the Buddhists, the Ajivakas and other people who all together must have constituted the far larger part of population than the Nirgranthas in north India. Such an eventuality also would have destroyed the larger part of flora and fauna, besides human population of north India. And the Buddhist annals surely would have taken note of it. The South-oriented source, next in time, seemingly is the "Bhadrabahu-kathanaka" inside the Brhat-kathakosa of Harisena (A.D. 931)%. It largely agrees with the Vadda-aradane in several details. It mentions the capital town Kotipura (in Bengal, which, as the author reports, was called in his times Davakotta), the names given of the ruling king and his consort and those of Bhadrabahu's parents there are the same as mentioned in the Aradhana-tika. When Bhadrabahu was young, the caturadasapurvi Govardhana muni, who was on his way to Ujjayantagiri* for paying obeisance to Jina Nemi, visited Kotinagara (=Kotipura). Bhadrabahu apparently was initiated on that occasion by Govardhana muni who imparted the knowledge of the scripture (sruta) to him. After some years, Bhadrabahu, alongwith the caturvidha-samgha, visited Ujjayani-puri (Ujjain), located on the river Ksipra, in Avanti-visaya. There ruled king Candragupta with his consort Suprabha. He was already) a (Nirgrantha) sravaka possessing true faith (samyag-darsana). While sojourning in Ujjayans, once on his begging tour, in one mansion, Bharabahu saw a child * This Tirtha, however, was not founded till we come to the initial centuries of the Common Era.

Page #26
Arya Bhadrabahu 133 resting in a swing. The child made him a gesture to leave, which he took as an omenic sign and predicted the onset soon of a 12 years' famine, whereupon the Sangha proceeded to Daksinapatha while he himself retired to (some unspecified place within the Bhadrapradadesa where he passed away in peace. Before that, Candragupta joined the Order of Mendicants and was called 'Candragupti muni'. The narrative's details up to the prediction part essentially are the same as in the Aradhana-tika; but Harisena does not send Bhadrabahu to Sravanabelagola, a point on which he, in fact, sharply differs from, or rather contradicts, Bhrajisnu. Also, the king's name he specifies is just 'Candragupta,' not 'SampratiCandragupta;' what is more, the Maurya emperor Candragupta had ruled from Pataliputra, not from Ujjayani, though that visaya apparently was included in his empire (and a century or so afterwards, his fifth descendant Samprati will govern it). And Harisena does not mention the 16 dreams dreamt by Candragupta that confirmed the visitation of 12 years' famine and, further more, the other undesirable consequences that will follow therefrom. Lastly, he does not state what happened to Candragupti muni, whether he accompanied Bhadrabahu, or remained in Ujjayani, or went along with the Congregation to the Southern country. Among the Northern narrative sources on Bhadrabahu, usually, why totally neglected by the scholars using Southern sources, four happen to be more important. The earliest is the Tirthavakalika prakirnaka (c. A.D. 550). Its author first lays down the details of Bhadrabahu's hagiology, which, of course, follows that of the Paryusanakalpa-Sthaviravali as well as of the Nandisutra. Next, in its exposition, it brings in Bhadrabahu in connection with a single, and an important, episode described through 63 verses in Prakrit. As the work goes on to say, after the end of the prolonged drought (its duration unspecified) in Madhyadesa (eastern U.P.), the (Bhiksu-) sangha assembled in Pataliputra (in Magadha) to reconstitute the agamas since many learned pontiffs had lost the memory of several texts due to their abandoning regular recitational practice-some knowledgeable friars even may have passed away-during those trying years. The munis, who participated in the proceedings of the Synod, are reported to have reconstituted the 11 anga-texts but, as the work reports, none of them remembered the 12th one, the Destivada, in which were included the Purvatexts--in all probability the works of the Church of Arhat Parsva-which

Page #27
134 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti arguably contained Parsva's pravacana or teachings. The only pontiff who is said to have possessed the knowledge of the Purva-texts was Bhadrabahu who was not present at the Synod. (It is not clarified where he then was and why was he not present despite his eminence.) A messenger from the Council was sent to him, respectfully addressing him as the 'Jina of their times' and requesting him to pass the knowledge of those texts to the Council, to which he declined, expressing as he did disconcern and detachment. That angered the (leaders of the) Sangha who next sent a categorical/unequivocal notice warning him that he, as he himself is aware of the rule, in that event, will be excommunicated. Thereupon Bhadrabahu yielded, agreeing to impart instruction to some bright young mendicants. Whereupon Sthulabhadra', alongwith 500 friars--the figure of course is very highly inflated, a characteristic tendency noticeable in Jaina writings of this class--was sent. While other mendicants eventually deserted since the tempo of teaching was very slow, Sthulabhadra alone persisted : and he persevered in learning from Bhadrabahu. He progressively learnt the ten Purva-texts. In the meantime his seven sisters (who had embraced the Order of the Nuns) came to visit him". Bhadrabahu informed them that Sthulabhadra then was meditating behind the Siva temple. In order to impress them with the supernatural powers he had acquired, Sthulabhadra assumed the form of a lion which frightened the nuns who ran back to Bhadrabahu telling him that the lion seems to have devoured Sthulabhadra. Bhadrabahu assured them that the lion is Sthulabhadra himself. This incident of misuse, by Sthulabhadra, of the extraordinary powers made Bhadrabahu unhappy. He, consequently, refused to impart further instruction to Sthulabhadra whose repentance-full appealings softened him and he passed the texts of the remaining four Purvas but withheld the exposition of their meaning. Ignoring the miraculous element which predictably emanated from the belief that the Purvas included a text that embodied the secrets of magical powers (Vijjapahuda/ Vidyaprabhrta ?)--the belief reflecting profound reverence of later ages toward the assumed mystical character of, and awe in which the long lost Purva-texts were held by, the later writers--the central fact remains that Sthulabhadra had been deputed to Bhadrabahu by the Pataliputra Synod to learn the Destivada that included the Purva texts. The BhadrabahuSthulabhadra connection may be inferred through an earlier reference,

Page #28
Arya Bhadrabahu 135 in Umasvati's Prasamarati-prakarana (c. A.D. 350), which tacitly hints to the myth of Sthulabhadra's vanity due to his acquiring magical powers through the sacred literature and, as its consequence, he generated in his psyche (a sub-variety of) kasaya-passion called sruta-mada/vanity due to possessing (the rare) knowledge of the canon, the knowledge which otherwise was meant for eliminating vanity of all kinds99 : mASatuSopAkhyAnaM zrutaparyAyaprarUpaNAM caiva / zrutvA'ti vismayakaraM vikaraNaM sthUlabhadramuneH / / sampakodyamasulabhaM caraNakarasAdhakaM zrutajJAnam / labdhvA sarvamadaharaM tenaiva madaH kathaM kAryaH / / -rauchtut 84-8EUR The medieval commentator of the Prasamarati-prakarana, namely Haribhadra suri (A.D. 1129)100, thus explains the content of those verses relating to Sthulabhadra and tacitly hints to the episode due to which (the quantitative) degradation/disappearance of the scripture or canon (sruta-viccheda) began: 'ativismayakarazca vikaraNaM' vaikiyasiMharUpanirmANaMsthUlabhadramaharSerjAmiAryikANAM darzanAya, AgamAbhiyoganitaM labdhivikaraNaM zrutasampradAyavicchedaM....101 The next source, the Avasyaka-curni (c. A.D. 600-650), follows the Tirthavakalika in time as well as in content, but specifies two additional details (not noted in the Tirthavakalika), the first being that the drought had lasted for 12 years (as is also stated in the Southern sources) and, second, Bhadrabahu had moved to Nepala during that distressful period 102. The third source, the Kathavali of Bhadresvara suri (c. late 10th cent.), repeats what the Tirthavakalika as well as the Avasyaka-curni record, differing only on a few minor details, or adding small particulars not mentioned by the former two sources. Like the curni, it states that Bhadrabahu with Sthulabhadra eventually had moved to Pataliputra 103, apparently after the major part of instruction to Sthulabhadra on the Purvatexts was over while in Nepala. The fourth source in sequence is the Parisista-parva of Hemacandra14 It clarifies a couple of points left partially unilluminated by the former three works. Plausibly, on the basis of what is noted in the Avasyaka-curni, it records that, at the time of the Pataliputra Synod for the redaction of

Page #29
136 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti the canon, Bhadrabahu was in Nepala where, as stated also in the curni, Hemacandra adds, he had undertaken the yogic mahaprana-sadhana. As its prelude, Hemacandra also talks about the 12 years' drought whereupon the pontiff Suschita dispersed the Samgha to different congenial locales and, at that time, emperor Candragupta attained Samadhimarana, peaceful end/death by ritually undergoing starvation. The work earlier talks at great length about Canakya and how he helped Candragupta in vanquishing Nanda and in seizing his empire. Then there is a brief report on Candragupta's son and successor Bindusara, followed by that on Asoka, his son Kunala, and the circumstances under which Kunala was blinded; also, he mentions Kunala's consort (by name Saraccari) and their begetting the son Samprati who eventually was given a share in Asoka's empire. (He very plausibly ruled from Ujjayani as his capital.) The account thus far and in part is endorsed by the earlier sources except that (Arya) Susthita, in point of fact, was to appear on the historical scene a couple of centuries lateri's. But more serious confusion appears when Hemacandra starts talking about a "second 12 years drought" and Bhadrabahu next meeting Samprati, an impossible reality, unless he is some other Bhadrabahu, about whom nothing is known from any other source. It was Arya Suhasti, disciple of Sthulabhadra, who was contemporary as also the preceptor of Samprati. And this latter notice seems plausible since it synchronizers with the historical chronology of the Mauryan dynasts. VII Conclusions After assessing the total evidence from the available earlier writings and related pre-medieval and medieval epigraphs from Karnataka on Arya Bhadrabahu, the following facts, by way of recapitulation, together with a few additional, brief, clarificatory, and further elucidatory observations now may be put forward. Alongwith it a few speculative thoughts also will be included. The picture delineated even by the collective information from all of the presently available sources, however, is far from complete. There are several gaps, lingering doubts, unresolved enigmas and obvious improbabilities ranged against the apparent plausibilities. The conflicting positions are present at several crucial points, paths, and turnings. As a result, the determinations in all such cases, wherever made, or plausibilities in happenings, wherever suggested, are at best tentative.

Page #30
Arya Bhadrabahu 137 1) Arya Bhadrabahu doubtless had flourished during the regime of the first Maurya monarch Candragupta who had vanquished the Nanda and inherited his empire early in the last quarter of B.C. the fourth century, the general consensus for the absolute date of that event veers around B.C. 322106 2) Bhadrabahu belonged to Pracina-gotra and thus to Bengal as earlier perceived by U.P. Shah; and, R.C. Majumdar (who otherwise had not seen the Southern and South affiliated literary sources) likewise had arrived at the same conclusion-on the basis of the appellations of the sakhas or monastic branches emanated from his senior disciple Godasa-that Bhadrabahu was a native of Bengal. The Southern literary sources unequivocally endorse that inference, adding that he was born and (in his earlier years) had lived in a town within Bengal--be it Kaundini or Kotipura-and was initiated in Pundravardhana. 3) According to the second as also the third phase growth of the Sthaviravali of the Paryusana-kalpa (c. A.D. 100), Bhadrabahu was the disciple of Arya Yasobhadra, the fifth pontiff in the hagiological descent from Arhat Vardhamana. According to the Southern and South-affiliated Jaina literary sources (earliest of which dates from circa the mid 6th century onwards) as well as the Sravanbelagola inscription of c. A.D. 600, however, his preceptor's name was Govardhana who, too, might have been a Bengali. As an after thought, a reconciliation between these two totally divergent notices, the Southern being four to five centuries younger in date than the Northern, may be suggested by assuming that Govardhana may have been the vidyaguru--not the diksaguru--who probably had taught the 14 Purva-texts to Bhadrabahu. And the Southern sources, for that matter, in the hagiological sequence, connect Bhadrabahu with Govardhana. 4) Bhadrabahu, according to the earlier noted Sthaviravali, had four disciples, namely Godasa, Agnidatta, Yajnadatta, and Somadatta. They all, as their appelations unambiguously suggest, were brahmins. The Uttaradhyayana-niryukti reports the death of four disciples of Bhadrabahu (who earlier were initiated in Rajagrha), on Vaibharagiri near Rajagrha due to sita parisaha, suffering by severe chill. In the gloss given by the Uttaradhyana-curni, regarding the death of the four disciples in question, they are said to have died at different locales within Rajagrha's environs, of

Page #31
138 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti course due to the same cause, though it likewise does not identify them. This statement, as regards the four disciples of Bhadrabahu who died by suffering from intense cold, is broadly confirmed by a notice in the Prakirnaka class of agamic work, the Maranasamadhi, a pre-medieval compilatory work, which absorbed the versified content of eight earlier texts, largely of pre-Gupta (Mitra-Saka-Kusana) date, within it. Now, the curni calls these latter four disciples as of vanika or mercantile community. Clearly, then, these four unnamed disciples were different from the former four named and, as their names suggest, of brahmin extraction. 5) Bhadrabahu's senior disciple Godasa as well as the latter's disciples, too, must have hailed from Bengal, as indicated by the appellations of the sakhas or branches of mendicants that afterwards had emanated from them, namely the Tamraliptika, the Kotivarsiya, the Paundravardhanika, and the Dasikharvatika. Of these, at least the first three definitely were named after the then existing ancient towns in Bengal. 6) The authorship of the three agama-category of works, namely the Dasasrutaskandha, the Kalpa, the Vyavahara, as also of the Niryuktis traditionally is attributed to Bhadrabahu in the Svetambara sect. Of these, the first three texts, afterwards classified under the Chedasutra category that dwells on the rules for acara or monastic discipline, the Kalpa alone and, plausibly, for its larger part (which seems ancient and largely uniform in style), may have been his work. The Niryuktis seemingly are as late as early sixth century A.D., of course partly based on older material. (The Logassasutta induded within the Avasyaka compendium is a hymn to the 24 Jinas and ascribed to Bhadrabahu by Silacarya in his Acaranga-vrtti [latter half of the 9th cent. A.D.). However, as I elsewhere have suggested, it could have been the inaugural hymn of the Prathamanuyoga of Arya syama 1 (c. 1st cent. B.C -A.D.), which was the earliest work to notice the 24 tirthankaras, giving as it also did their biographical (in most cases of course overtly fictitious) sketches.) The Svetambaras also attribute the famous magical and very popular hymn, the Uvasaggahara-thotta (Upasargahara-stotra), composed in the Maharastri Praksta, to Bhadrabahu. (In the Digambara sect, it is believed to be a composition by Manatungacarya, c. fate 6th-early 7th A.D., an equally erroneous and hence untenable ascription) That work, as is obvious by its language, style, content, and spirit seems a composition by

Page #32
Arya Bhadrabahu 139 some medieval Svetambara abbatial (caityavasi) monk practicing sorcery and plausibly belonged to the late ninth or early tenth century A.D. as the of the hymn suggest. 7) It is likely that the emperor Candragupta, in the last year of his regnal period, may have been admitted by Bhadrabahu to the Order of Mendicants. The combined information obtained from the Tiloyapannati (c. mid 6th cent.) and several inscriptions from Sravanabelagola dating from circa the mid seventh century onwards, provide such an indication. The 12th century Svetambara writer Hemacandra, on the basis of some source before him, records that Candragupta attained Samadhimarana 07, death by the rite of suspension of aliment which, too, would hint towards a possibility that he had embraced Nirgranthism. There is thus some degree of probability on this score even when the concerned sources are not sufficiently ancient. Some hazy but a genuine memory of the past event seems to have been preserved in that tradition 108. Bhadrabahu doubtless was contemporary of Candragupta but not of Samprati who, in point of fact, was the son of Candragupta's great grand son Kunala*. Both Bhrajisnu, the author of the Karnata-tika on the Aradhana and Hemacandra, the author of the Parisistaparva, are confused on this point. Samprati's association with Vijayani as his capital (by virtue of his becoming the ruler of the westem half of Asoka's empire) does seem a historical reality or at least a plausibility. 8) As for Bhadrabahu's visit to Sravanabelagola alongwith his mendicant disciple Candragupta and the passing away of both of them there, it is not so recorded in the earliest inscription from Sravanabelgola (c. A.D. 600). The inscription does mention Bhadrabahu in connection with the prediction he made in Ujjayani of the 12 years' drought, but does not mention Bhadrabahu and Candragupta or bring them to Sravanabelagola, although this eventuality of historic importance and of considerable significance could hardly have been missed by the author of the draft of the inscription. Instead, it mentions Prabhacandra to have died there 109 And no direct or indirect allusion to the effect of Bhadrabahu's and Candragupta's association with Sravanabelagola is available in Northern Indian Jaina sources. Somewhere in Karnataka, this belief was taking shape apparently in the late sixth century and was firmly established by mid seventh * The dynastic order is Candragupta, Bindusara, Asoka, Kunala, and Samprati.

Page #33
140 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti century as earlier had been suggested here on the basis of an inscription, on the holy hill Katavapra, concerning Santisena, of c. mid seventh century. Bhrajisnu, in the Aradhana-tika (c. late 9th or early 10th Cent.), positively associates Bhadrabahu and Candragupta with the Sravanabelgola hill. On this point, Harisena's Brhadkathakosa (A.D. 931) comes in conflict with the Bhrajisnu's tika. For it reports that Bhadrabahu, after the prediction he made, retired from Ujjain to (some site in) Bhadrapradadesa where he died by resorting to avamodarya or progressively decreased intake of food, the latter fact, without mentioning the locale sinvolved, was noted earlier and originally in Sivarya's Aradhana (c. early 6th cent). The Brhadkathakosa throws no light on Bhadrabahu's disciple Candragupta as to what he did and where he was after he embraced the Order. Bhrajisnu, however, avers that he was with Bhadrabahu when the latter passed away in Sravanabelagola by anasana rite : and the sage Candragupta, who stayed over there, died sometime after the 12 years' draught. The Northern sources say nothing on how and where Bhadrabahu died. 9) The most intriguing point is the presence of Bhadrabahu simultaneously at two places and, on the opposite score, also in two times as deduced from two completely contradictory reports :(1) during and after the draught, he was in Nepala; and (2) just before the onset of draught, he was in Sravanabelgola and his passing away there very soon after ! The Northern records, available from c. mnid sixth century onwards are unanimous that, when the Pataliputra Synod was convoked after the draught for the redaction of the agamas in c. B.C. 300 (or a few years before that date), Bhadrabahu was in Nepala and Sthulabhadra-disciple of Bhadrabahu's confrere Arya Sambhuta (and son of Sakatara, minister of Nanda)--was sent by the Paraliputra Council to Bhadrabahu for learning the 14 Purva-texts from him. The Southern literary sources, all of which are late, on the other hand, claim that Bhadrabahu was in Ujjayani, had predicted the onset of 12 years draught, and either before or just at the beginning of the 12 years famine, proceeded either to Bhadrapadadesa where he passed away by reduction in food-intake, or to Sravanabelgola where he went along with his royal disciple Candragupta, passed away by anasana rite, and had sent the Sangha with his disciple Visakhacarya to Southern India (Tamilnadu). The Southern sources, moreover, show no knowledge about the Pataliputra Synod which assembled after the long draught and that

Page #34
Arya Bhadrabahu 141 Bhadrabahu was still alive and then was in Nepala11. It is difficult to reconcile the two totally differing and absolutely conflicting notices, their content standing poles apart. If these two represent not only very different traditions but also may refer to two separate Bhadrabahu-s, which, somewhat remotely, may be a plausibility, then the first Bhadrabahu belonged to the Mauryan period and the second was of a later date who may have migrated to Sravanabelgola. However, the concerned biographical anecdotes of the two Bhadrabahu-s (if the second really existed) were confounded in the past and the today's messy confusion arises therefrom111. It generates a formidable conundrum which, in the present state of evidence cannot be resolved. 10) The complete absence in north India of inscriptions mentioning the ganas and the sakhas that had originated from Bhadrabahu's lineage is a pointer to the fact that Bhadrabahu's disciples and hagiological descendents were not in north India (Bengal and perhaps Orissa to be precise) and, by implication/deduction, had migrated to the Southern territories and settled there. Some, plausibly during the years of the draught, had gone as far as Simhala-dvipa, while several apparently had settled in the Pandyan country in lowermost Tamilnadu where the earliest grotto inscriptions (c. B.C. 2nd1st cent A.D.) indicating the passing away, apparently of the Nirgrantha recluses-assumably by the rite of sallekhana-have been inferred112. 11) Bhadrabahu of the Mauryan period, even if he really may have gone to Sravanabelgola, he may have done so a few years subsequent to the Pataliputra Synod and after Sthulabhadra's learning the Purva texts from him. There is no reason to brush aside the Northern sources on the point of Bhadrabahu-Sthulabhadra association. That particular tradition is, as recorded in the Northern literarily notices, positively anterior by about three centuries to the mid-seventh century Southern epigraphical reference that at best is suggestive only obliquely of the Bhadrabahu-Candragupta connection with Sravanabelagola, while another epigraphical source at the same site, which is half a century anterior to the former, explicitly refers to Prabhacandra and his (unnamed) disciple and not at all to Bhadrabahu and Candragupta: but the earliest literary source, the commentary of Bhrajisnu (c. 9th-10th cent.) talks about Bhadrabahu and SampratiCandragupta (the ruler of Ujjayani) visiting Sravanabelagola and not the Maurya emperor Candragupta (who ruled from Pataliputra), who was

Page #35
142 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti Samprati's great grand-father's father. (Bhrajisnu doubtless is confused on this point.) 12) A question, indeed of sterling importance, also arises why Bhadrabahu, despite his eminence and seneority, was not present at the Pataliputra Synod. It seems that, today's Bengal-Bihar divide seemingly had existed even in early Mauryan times. Bhadrabahu apparently was alienated, the preponderance (and consequent predominance) of the mendicants from Magadha and from other territories, some of which now forming the State of Uttar Pradesh, at the Pataliputra Synod and contrariwise, not according due importance to the Bengali Bhadrabahu, perhaps not even inviting him for the Redaction Conference, may have hurt him and consequently he may have remained aloof by staying in Nepala and thereby completely ignoring the Synod 113. (The 'diktat' or command of the Synod to pass, what then had become very rare, the knowledge of the Purva texts, may have served to sprinkle salt on the wound.) That the tempo of teaching was very slow, proves that Bhadrabahu was an unwilling horse and only reluctantly had imparted the instruction to Sthulabhadra. And the legendary anecdote of Sthulabhadra's vanity bordering on deliquency was created, plausibly in pre-Gupta times or earlier (since the legend already was known to Umasvati) to cover up the fact that Bhadrabahu had withheld the last four Purva texts while the teaching had entered into the final phase. And there is no clarity on the point whether the Pataliputra Council had continued their sessions indefinitely and had waited till the return of Sthulabhadra. The medieval sources briefly note that both Bhadrabahu and Sthulabhadra had reached Pataliputra after the major part of teaching was over. 13) Since Bhadrabahu either had not visited Karnataka at all, or, if he did, he may have stayed at Sravenabelag!a for a very brief period before he passed away : How, in that event, indeed in that extremely short period and under the avamodarya (oranasana) vow as he is said to be, did he propagate the Nirgrantha religion in Southern India is a moot point. The more likelihood is that it was his hagiological descendents as well as some other contemporaneous Nirgrantha mendicants, who had migrated during the drought period to Tamilnadu and settled there, possibly were

Page #36
Arya Bhadrabahu 143 responsible for the propagation of Nirgrantha-darsana in South, particularly and at first in the Tamil country and some time after in Andhradesa 114 There may have been more than one group of mendicants that migrated from the northern (essentially eastern) to southern India'is, indeed progressively so in different ancient centuries. Bhrajisnu, as well as Harisena, talk about the events in north India during the famine as well as what happened after Visakhacarya returned to north India in post-famine time. They are, of course, not only poorly informed but are overtly sectarian and the South affiliated sources posterior to these two earliest ones only repeat what the above-noted two authors said and the further additions of details they made only betray their very strong sectarian bias with increased hate and venom. (I intend to deal with that part of the storey, of what happened during the draught years and in post-Bhadrabahu times in north India, as perceived by medieval and postmedieval Digambara writers, in a future paper.) In Karnataka, the Nirgranthas eventually may have moved from western Andhradesa as well as from north western Tamilnadu and settled there only in the late third and early fourth century of the Common Era as indicated by the earliest charters from the lower Gangavaoi and the Kadamba country that predate the known Sravanabelgola inscriptions116. The principalities of the Gangas and the Kadambas by then already had been founded. No earlier Jaina vestiges including epigraphs, or literary notices either, between c. B.C. 300 and A.D. 300 so far are known from Karnataka* * There, of course, are reported a few grotto inscriptions of c. the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. mentioning the death (by sallekhana rites) of the (Nirgrantha) mendicants in lower southern Gangavadi.

Page #37
144 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti Annotations : 1. The 14 Purva texts were believed to be the older and fundamental agamas. To all seeming, they were of the sect of Arhat Parsva and some of them plausibly had covered the early phase of Nirgrantha scholasticism. These texts' cosmography and probably much of the basic Nirgrantha doctrines (including the theory of eight karmas) and the dogmatics, besides disciplinary rules and allied matters, predictably had permeated through-of course by then in a developed formin some of the available earlier agamas, particularly their later chapters, and the younger agamas, of the saka and Kusana periods, as well as the agamic works, all of the Northern tradition of Arhat Vardhamana's Church. To a fair degree, this applies also to the much younger surrogate canon of the Southern tradition. As for the Niryuktis, these largely are composed in the Maharastri Prakrit, are cast in the Arya meter, and adopt the niksepa method of examination in determining the word's meaning intended in the given context. The German Jainologists ascribe these to c. 80 A, D. Muni Punyavijaya, however, regarded them still younger in date, composed as they must have been soon after the Valabhi Synod II (A. D. 503/516), and hence this date could be circa A. D. 525. Afterwards, however, he changed his view and ascribed them to the early centuries of the Common Era. However, i seem to think that his earlier determination is valid. The Maharastri Prakrit does not appear even in the Satavahana inscriptions before c. 200 A. D. and the first available work in Maharastri, the Tarangavaikaha of Padalipta suri I also dates around A. D. 200 225. The Niryuktis do contain some older, but largely relatively later material. 2. Literarily omniscient by virtue of the complete knowledge of the sacred scripture.' 3. Since the Yapaniya sect (mainly located in Karanataka) recognized the agamas including the 'Kalpa (Brhad-Kalpasutra)' and the Vyavahara,' both of which the Svetambara sect attributes to Bhadrabahu, it is likely that, that sect, too, attributed these to Bhadrabahu. (This, of course, is my feeling. There is, at the moment, no direct evidence to that effect.) These two different dates are given in some manuscripts of the Paryusanakalpa at the end of the "Jinacaritra" (which is the second of the three sections of che Paryusana-kalpa,) In some, the date given is V.N. 980; in a few others, according to another tradition, V.N.993. The first date apparently originates as per the Mathura Synod's tradition; the other plausibly was due to the Valabhi Synod I tradition as earlier was suggested and, as I recall, by Muni Kalyanavijaya in one of his works. (It was, perhaps, his Viranirvana Samvat aur Jaina

Page #38
Arya Bhadrabahu 145 Kalaganana, Hindi. At the moment it is not handy.) For the date of the nirvana of Jina Mahavira, I have followed Jacobi's determination, namely B.C. 477. According to the tradition recorded in Dharmasagara's autocommentary on his Pattavali (late 16th-early 17th cent.), the Paryusana-kalpa was first recited in the assembly of Dhruvasena (I) of the Maitraka dynasty at Anandapura (Vadanagar) in north Gujarat. Hence Jacobi's determination appears valid; for the Maitraka prince named Dhruvasena (1) did flourish in early sixth century A.D. Seemingly, Dharmasagara had before him some old traditional record. For no one before him mentions the name of this king, which was known only through the copper plate charters of the Maitraka donor rulers that were discovered, deciphered, and studied in the last century. 5. These dates are suggested here on the basis of a reasonable guess, based on computa tions and synchronisms, the details regarding which I shall not dwell upon here. For these are being discussed in a separate paper, "The Paryusana-kalpa sthavi ravali--eka Adhyayana" (Gujarati), still incomplete, to be published in future. 6. Arya Phalguinitra apparently was contemporary of Arya Raksita, the latter pontiff reported in later literature as the one who classified the sruta/canon into four anuyoga-categories, namely the Dharmakathanuyoga, the Caranakarananuyoga, the Ganitanuyoga, and the Dravyanuyoga. Since the term anuyoga is synonymous also with vacana or redaction, a hitherto unreported synod may be suspected in this notice. It may also be added that the available agamas are not categorically arranged into fouranuyogas or classes stipulated in the above-noted later tradition. Hence, the term anuyoga, in the above-noted context, may be understood more accurately as vacana rather than categories of canonical literature. Phaigumitra, for certain, figures in the main line of succession and Raksita, who otherwise may have played a key role at the Synod, apparently had belonged to a collateral branch (avantara sakha): Hence the name of Arya Raksita (who otherwise was of considerable eminence) does not, but his much less famous contemporary Arya Phalgumitra's does figure at the point where the Third Phase of the Sthaviravali terminates. Seemingly, each one of the Sthaviravali's five Phases ended soon after a redaction of the agamas took place. Thus, each time it had to be extended after the happening of a redaction. If a redaction of the agamas did happen in Phalgumitra's time, the place where the elders met for that purpose is not recorded in the available literature. (No redaction had been undertaken after the Valabhi Synod II inc. A.D. 503/516.) *

Page #39
146 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti 7. Medieval sources specify this date : The computed date for Arya Skandila / Sandila also accords with this date : the date thus seems probable. I reserve detailed discussion on this date for a future paper. 8. For this Phase 5, in fact for the whole of the Sthaviravali, I have consulted the Pattavali-samuccaya, Ed. Muni Darsanavijaya, Sri Caritra-Smaraka granthmala, Viramagam 1933, pp.1-11. 9. These two different dates are recorded, as specified in annotation 4, at the end of the "Jinacaritra" section in some later manuscripts of the Paryusanakalpa. Muni Punyavijaya's edition does not give the second or alternative date, namely V.N.993/ A.D. 516: (Cf. his Kalpasutra, Ahmedabad 1952, pp. 59-60, sutra 200). Valabhi Synod II was convoked for collating and reconciling the differences and divergencies in the versions fixed at the Mathura Synod (c. A.D. 363) chaired by Arya Skandila (or Sandila) and the contemporaneous Valabhi Synod I presided over by Arya Nagarjuna of the Nagendra-sakha. This fact is reported in the Kahavali of Bhadresvara suri (c. late 10th century A.D.: unpublished) and, if I correctly remember, in one of the commentaries by Malayagiri (c. 3rd quarter of the 12th cent. A.D.). 10. As I recall, the noted epigrapher and historian H. P. Shastri favours Gupta as the more probable sovereign power under which the Maitrakas ruled before they became independent rulers. 11. Cf. the Thanamgasuttam and Samavayamgasuttam, Ed. Muni Jarnbuvijaya, Jaina Agama-Series No.3, Bombay 1985, p. 450. 12. Arya Syama is credited in the two seventh century curni commentaries on the Brhatkalpasutra to have composed the Prathamanuyoga (embodying lives of the 24 tirthankaras), the Gandikanuyoga (treating the lives of the Cakravartis, Vasudevas, and some other early great men), the Lokanuyoga (dealing, as its title suggests, with cosmology/cosmography), and some Samgrahanis or collections of topical verses, some of which may have been inserted in the corpus of the agamas of the Saka and Kusana periods and some of them apparently were utilized in the formulation of the texts of some of the Prakirnaka agamic works. All of the works of Arya Syama, however, are lost, but were available for consultation to the compiler of the Samavayanga-sutra (c. A. D. 353/363). The curnis interpret the heading 'Lokanuyoga' in a way different from mine. However, as the title suggests, it must pertain to cosmology/cosmography. (For details and discussion on Arya Syama and his contributions, see Punyavijayaji article, "Prathamanuyogasastra ane Tena Praneta Sthavira Arya Kalaka," (Gujarati),

Page #40
Arya Bhadrabahu Jaananjali, Vadodara 1960, pp. 122-129. (This article originally was published in Acarya Sri Vijayavaallabhasuri Smaraka Grantha, Bombay 1956, pp. 49-56. 13. As I elsewhere have shown, the date of Deva vacaka is c. mid fifth century A.D. and not c. A. D. 400: (C). "Bhadraryacarya ane Dattilacarya" Gujarati, Svadhyaya, Vol.14, Vadodara V.S.2037/A. D. 1981. This article has been incorporated in the author's Nirgrantha Aitihasika Lekha-Samuccaya, pt. 1, Ahmedabad 2002, pp. 103-113.) The hagiological table of Deva vacaka and of Devarddhi gani is as follows: Deva vacaka (Nandisutra: c. A.D. 450) Dusya gani ksamasramana Sthiragupta ksamasramana Kumaradharma gani Devarddhi ksamasramana (chaired Valabhi Synod II: c. A.D. 503 or 516) 147 Cf. here the annotation 36 for quotation. See the "Uttaradhyayana niryukti," the Niryukti-sangraha, (comp.) Vijayajinendra suri, Sri Harsapuspamrta Jaina Granthamala, Vol.189, Lakhabawal (Lakhababal) 1989, 2.91, p. 373. Bhadraryacarya 15. Muni Kalyanavijaya and, following his view, Pt. Malvaniya dated this work to the fifth century of Vikrama Era (c. A.D. 345-445). (See Kalyanavijaya, Vira nirvana Samvat aur Jaina Kalaganana, (Hindi), Jalor S. 1987/A.D. 1931, p.30, and D. Malvaniya, "Study of Titthogaliya," Bharatiya Puratattva (Muni Jinavijaya Felicitation Volume), Jaipur 1971, pp.129-138.) I would, on the basis of style and content, prefer the date c. A.D. 550 for this work: It must be available to the author of the Vyavahara-bhasya (c. late 6th cent.) which, as noted by Malvaniya, mentions this text: (Malvaniya, p.137). It is, however, not noted in the list of the Prakirnaka works in the Nandisutra (c. A.D. 450). This significant omission almost confirms the date I here have suggested. 16. It apparently is the latest among the earliest agamic bhasyas. 17. It is one of the two earliest extant curnis, the first being the Dasavaikalika-curni of Agastyasimha (c. A.D. 575). The time bracket A.D. 600-650 for the Avasyakacurni was suggested, if I have remembered correctly, by Leumann. I have tested the validity of that date: It certainly is probable.

Page #41
148 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti 18. Thiscurni, like that on the Acaranga and the one on the Sutrakstanga, is younger among that class ofagamic exegetical literature. 19. Haribhadra (active c. A.D. 740-784), as guessed by earlier writers, apparently had begun his literary career by writing vrttis in Sanskrit on the agamas like the Nandi, the Anuyogadvara, and the Avasyaka in c. A. D. 750. 20. The Kahavali of Bhadresvara suri is as yet unpublished. Prof. Harivallabha Bhayani had assigned the task of its editing to Dr. Ramanik Shah. I am grateful to Dr. Shah for giving me the gist of the "Bhadrabahu-katha" incorporated in that medieval work. As for its date, see my paper, "Kahavali-kartr Bhadresvara surino Samaya," (Gujarati), Sambodhi Vol.12, Ahmedabad 1982-83. It has been included in the Nirgrantha Aitihasika Lekha-Samuccaya, pt.1, Ahmedabad 2002, pp.103113. (There, the word was kartr' in the original rubric which here is replaced by kartta.) 21. Sthaviravalicarita or Parisistaparvan, (Ed.) Hermann Jacobi, sec. ed., Calcutta 1932, pp.242-248; and Sri Paricistaparva (Gujarati), translator Rajasekhara suri, Ahmedabad 1994, pp.182-186. The particulars on the content of the Parisistaparva will be cited in this article at a relevant point in the discussion. 22. Bhagavati Aradhana, pt.2. (Ed.) Pt. Kailascandra Siddhantasastri, Solapur 1978, p.707. The work earlier has been identified as of the Yapaniya sect by Pt. Nathooram Premi, A. N. Upadhye, and even Pt. Kailashchandra Shastri agreed with this attribution. I forego citing references to their writings since not directly relevant to the present discussion. 23. Tiloyapannatti, pt.1., Jivaraja Jaina Granthamala 1, Sholapur V.S. 2000/A.D. 1944, 4. 1476-1482, p.338. 24. Harivamsapurana, Jnanapitha Murtidevi Jaina Granthamala, Vol.27, sec. ed., Ed. Pannalal Jaina, Delhi/Varanasi 1972, 1. 60-61, p.7. 25. Satkhandagama, pt. 1, (Eds.) Hiralal Jain and A.N. Upadhye, srimanta Setha Sitabray Laksmicandra Jaina Sahityoddharaka Siddhanta Granthamala 1, Sholapur 1973, pp.66-67; cf. there the Dhavala-tika, the portion that concerns with the hagiology of early pontiffs. 26. See B.K. Kharabadi, Vaddaradhane : A Study, Karnataka University Research Publications Series : 38, Dharwad 1979. See there "6. The Story of the Sage Bhadrabahu," pp. 49-56. 27. Its editor Kharabadi ascribes the work to Sivakoti and dates it to the tenth century. But Hampa Nagarajaiah has shown, on the basis of a reference in the Punyasrava

Page #42
Arya Bhadrabahu 149 kathakosa (c. 11th cent. A.D.) that the author was one Bhrajisnu and because the work uses old Kannada, it may be dated to the ninth century : (Cf. his article, the "Aradhana Karnata-tika," Jain Journal, Vol. XXXIII, No.4, April 1999, pp. 166 170.) 28. Ed. A.N. Upadhye, Singhi Series No. 17, Bambai (Mumbai, Bombay) 1943. 29. Ibid.,cf. there the Harisena's prasasti, pp. 355-356. ra, Translator (in Hindi), Pt. Udayalalaji Kaslivval, Surat (1911 ?), pp.317-319. 31. In view of its importance, the text of this inscription is here fully quoted: siddham svsti| jitambhagavatA zrIsaddharma tiirth-vidhaayinaa| varddhamAnena samprApta-siddha-saukhyAmRtAtmanA // 1 // lokAloka-dvayAdhArasvastu sthAstu cariSNu vaa| saMvidAloka-zaktiH svAvyaznute yasya kevalA / / 2 / / jagatyacintya-mAhAtmya-pUjAtizayamIyuSaH / tIrthakRnnAma-puNyaugha-mahArhantyamupeyuSaH // 3 // tadanu zrI-vizAlayam (lAyAm) jayatyadya jagaddhitam / tasya zAsanamavyAjaM pravAdi-mata-zAsanam // 4 // atha khalu sakala-jagadudaya-karaNodita-niratizaya-guNAspadIbhUta-paramajina-zAsanasarassamabhivaddhita-bhavyajana-kamala-vikasana-vitimira-guNa-kiraNa-sahasra-mahoti mahAvIra-savitari parinirvRte bhagavatparamarSi-gautama-gaNadhara-sAkSAcchiSya lohArya-jambu-viSNudevAparAjita-govarddhanabhadrabAhu-vizAkha-proSThila-kRttikArya - jayanAma siddhArtha dhRtiSeNabuddhilAdi-guruparamparINakramAbhyAgata-mahApuruSasantati-samavadyotitAnvaya-bhadrabAha-svAminA ujjayanyA-maSTAGga mahAnimitta-tattvajJena traikAlya-dazinA nimittena dvAdaza-saMvatsara-kAla-vaiSamyamupalabhya kathite sarvvassa uttarApathAikSiNApathamprasthitaH kameNaiva janapadamaneka-grAma-zata-saGkhyaM madita-jana-dhana-kanaka-sasya go-mahiSA-jAvi-kala-samAkIrNamprAptavAn ataH AcAryaH prabhAcandro nAmAvanitala-lalAmabhUte'thAsminkaTavapra-nAmakopalakSite vividha-taruvara-kusuma-dalAvali-viracanA-zabala-vipula sajalajalada-nivaha-nIlopala-tale varAha-dvIpi-vyAghraH-tarakSu-vyAla-mRgakulopacitopatyaka-kandaradarI-mahAguhAgahanAbhogavati samuttuGga-zrRGge sikhariNi jIvita zeSamalpatara-kAlamavabudhyAtmanaH sucaritatapassamAdhimArAdhayitumApRcchaya niravaseSeNa saGgaM visRjya ziSyeNaikena pRthulatarAstIrNa-talAsu zilAsu zItalAsu svadehaM saMnyasyArAdhitavAn kameNa sapta-zatamRSINAmArAdhitamiti jayatu jin-shaasnmiti| (For the source,see Hiralal Jaina,Jain-Silalekha-sangrahah, pt. 1. Manikyacandra Digambara-Jaina-Granthamala, vol. 28, Bombay (1928?), 1-2. 32. For the details, see the above-cited work and the "Introduction" by the compiler.

Page #43
150 M. A. Dhaky 33. See the "Introduction," Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol.II, Institute of Kannada Studies, University of Mysore, Mysore 1973, pp.ixxiv-ixxvi. 34. These have been completely ignored by all of the writers on Bhadrabahu who exclusively used southern sources. (The Digambara writers, understandably, recognize only Digambara manya sources.) Jambu-jyoti 35. Some three decades ago, U.P. Shah, in the course of a personal discussion, had conveyed to me his thinking about interpreting this word. I here have followed it. 36. The concerned verse is as follows: jasabhadda tuMgiya vaMde saMbhUyaM ceva mATharaM / bhabAhuM ya pAiNaM zulabha ca goyamaM / nandIsUtra 1.6.24. (Ed. Punyavijaya muni, Jaina-Agama-Granthamala, Vol. 1, Mumbai [Bombay] 1968, p. 6). Also see the Tirthavakalika-prakirnaka. 37. After all, kharvata means a relatively smaller settlement. And when it is prefixed by the term 'Dasi,' it was an humble place, indeed of lesser consequence. 38. Vadda Aradhane, pp. 49-50. 39. Brhadkathakosa, p. 317. The great historian R.C. Majumdar, apparently on the basis of the sakha names of the Godasa-gana, had reached the conclusion that Bhadrabahu hailed from Bengal. As it happened, his relevant published works currently are not handy. 41. Tamraliptika, Kotivarsiya, and Pundravardhanika emanate from Tamralipti, Kotivarsa, and Pundravardhana, as earlier inferred here; and all of these towns are located in Bengal under their modern derivative appelations. Recent researches tend to bring down the date of Gautama Buddha by about a century, toward c. B.C. 400-383, with a few years plus or minus. If this date finally holds, then Arhat Vardhamana's date must also slide down and stabilize at c. B.C. 415-400 since, according to the Pali sources, he predeceased Buddha. This date does not seem incompatible with the computable time-brackets for the successors of Vardhamana. The traditionally held B.C. 527 as the date of Vardhamana's nirvana, of course, is totally unrealistic on several counts, just as it upsets several firmly established historical dates, synchronisms, and timebrackets, an issue that cannot be dealt with in this article. 43. While citing the actual past instances of friars who had suffered from one or the other type of the 22 parisahas or visiting sufferings noted in the agamas, for

Page #44
Arya Bhadrabahu 151 the visitation of the sita-parisaha or suffering due to severe cold, it cites this episode as a typical instance. See the Uttaradhyayana-niryukti 2. 91 inside the Niryuktisargraha, p. 373. 44. Painnayasuttan pt. 1, Ed. Muni Punyavijaya, Jaina-Agama-Granthamala Vol. 17, (Pt. 1), Bombay 1984, p. 184. See the Uttaradhyayana-curni, Rishabhadeo Kesharimal, Ratlam 1933, pp. 56 57. 46. Ibid. 47. Tiloyapannati, pt. 1, 4. 1476-1482. (Eds. A. N. Upadhye and Hiralal Jain, Jivaraj Jaina Granthamala No. 1, Sholapur 1943, p. 338. 48. Quoted here in the annotation 31 along with the particulars on its published source. 49. Ed. Pt. Darbarical Kothiya, Manikyacandra-Jaina-Granthamala, Vol. 32, pt. 1, Bombay 1930, p. 6, 1, 60-62. 50. See the Dhavala tika in the Satkhandagama, 1-1-1, Eds. Pt. Foolchandra and Pt. Hiralal, Amaravati 1939, pp. 65-66. 51. The nomens such as Nandi, Nandimitra et cetera were to come into vogue in times posterior to Mauryan in Indian cultural history. 52. However, I intend to throw a small suggestion in the concluding remarks of the paper. 53. Brhatkahakosa, p. 318. 54. vaMdAmi bhaddabAI pAINaM carima sayalasuyanANi / suttassa kAragamisiM dasAsu kappe ya vvhaare|| --29Sgnatiufteffit 5.8., 55. Already noted in the relevant foregoing pages. 56. However, Schubring has pointed out the anomalous situation in the Doctrine of the Jaina, sec. ed. 2000, Delhi, pp. 109-112. 57. This statement is based on the information I got from late Pt. Malvaniya. I have yet to verify it with the Pali texts. 58. This is rather strange, because the mendicants, in that early age, preferred the nude state. 59. See particularly the last portion of the Kalpa, namely the sixth uddesa, its end part and its commentaries. For the Kalpa and the Vyavahara, I have used Muni Kanhayalal's edition, Rajkot 1969.

Page #45
M. A. Dhaky As inferred from a few Mathura inscriptions. 61. The precise date will depend on the date of beginning of the Kusana Era. 62. That surmise seems reasonable in the present state of available evidence. 63. See the Vyavahara-sutra, eighth uddesa. 64. The study of the oldest portions of the Acaranga Book I leads one to such a conclusion. 152 35595 The tradition is recorded in the pre-medieval Svetambara literature. 66. See my article "On the Implication of the Nagnya Parisaha in the Tattvarthadhigama sutra," Jainism and Prakrit in Anciut and Medieval India, Ed. N. N. Bhattacharya, Delhi 1994, pp. 413-419. 67. See the Kalpa, third Uddesa. chb See the Uttaradhyayana sutra, modelled upon the severe ascetical style of Arhat Vardhamana himself as narrated in the Uvadhana sutta of Acaranga I. 69. Kalpa, second Uddesa. 70. Ibid. Jambu-jyoti A few sutras taken from such works later were incorporated in the Sthananga. 72. Such as possibly the lost Kalpakalpa. 73. These fall within the pre-Mauryan to the Kusana times. 74. See the details of content and style of each chapter and the strata within them. 75. This seems plausible in view of the presence of uncomformities and heterogeneity noticeable in the character of the content. 76. Quotations from the version of the Kalpa possessed by the Yapaniya sect figuring in Aparajita suri's commentary (c. late 8th cent. A. D.) on the Aradhana of Sivarya would lead to such an inference. The Botika-Ksapanaka sect was founded by the schismic Arya Sivabhuti who separated from the main stream Nirgrantha Church somedate in the second century A. D. The Yapaniya sect apparently was the off-shoot of the Botika settled in northern Karnataka. 77. The discussion needs a very detailed analysis of the texts in question, which, of course, cannot be attempted in this paper. 78. Same remarks hold here, too, as they do in the context of the annotation 77. This is the view largely held by the pundits of the Digambara sect and by those 79. who follow them.

Page #46
Arya Bhadrabahu 153 80. bArasaaMgaviyANaM caudasapuvvaMgaviulavityaraNaM / suyaNANi bhaddabAhU gamiyagurubhayavao jyo| -UM413 8.2. (utafize: Ed. Pt. Pannalal Soni, Manikyacandra-Digambara-Jaina -Granthamala, Vol. 17, Bombay, V. S. 1977 (A.D. 1927], p. 127.) 81. Unfortunately, the original article by A. M. Ghatage is not handy. If my memory does not play me false, it had appeared in one of the issues of the Jaina Gazette. 82. Hence some scholars have concluded that he was a later and hence different Bhadrabahu about whose date the opinions widely differed. 83. See here the entire text of the inscription cited under annotation 31. 84. However, we must remember that, at least three temples were built on that hill top to the north of this earliest inscription engraved on the surface of the groundrock there. Could these have covered and hence concealed beneath them some still earlier inscriptions ? 85. At least I so for have not come across the examples of the personal names ending with 'candra' in the earlier context. 86. rAtre: kRti prabhAcandrasya - yay 8-3-860 For discussion, see Nathooram Premi, Jaina Sahitya aur Itihasa (Hindi), Samsodhitasahityamala, Vol. 1., Bambai (Mumbai, Bombay) 1956, p. 74. 87. For elucidation, see Premi, "Virasena, Jinasena aur Gunabhadra," Jaina Sahitya., p.. 137 88. Provided, of course, the belief/tradition recorded there is sufficiantly accurate. mauDadharesuM carimo jiNadikkha dharadi caMdagutto ya / tatto mauDadharA dupyavajjaM Neva gaNhaMti / / - fasit Querit 8-8868 90. I have based this passage on the information noted in the Introduction by Pt. Vijayamurti-his compilation earlier referred to here-as also the Introduction by the editiors of the Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. I, (sec. ed.), Mysore, and the observations thereof. 91. I have based this passage also on the information noted in the Introduction by Pt. Vijayamurti in the introduction by the editiors of the Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. I, Mysore and the observations thereof. 92. Bhagaveti Aradhana, p. 707. 89.

Page #47
154 M. A. Dhaky Jambu-jyoti 93. For particulars on the source, see here annotations 26 and 27. 94. Vadda-Aradhane, p. 55. 95. It also comes into conflict with the traditions preserved in the sixth century and subsequent works of the Svetambara Church. 96. Brhadkathakosa, pp. 316-318. 97. According to the Sthaviravali of the Paryusana-kalpa, he was the disciple of Arya Sambutavijaya. From his medieval biographical sources, he is known to be the son of Sagadala (Sakatara), minister of Nanda, and had seven sisters. Apparently, he must be the youngest child of Sakatara and must be in his prime of life when sent to Bhadrabahu by the Sangha. His future disciple, Arya Suhasti, was to be the preceptor of Maurya Samprati, grandson of Asoka, arguably in the pontiff's advanced age. 98. This account is given, among the older sources, in the Tirthavakalika and the Kahavali. 99. See the Prasamaratiprakarana, Ed. Pt. Raj Kumar, Srimad-Rajacandra-Jaina Sastramala, Agas V. S. 2044/A. D. 1988, pp. 64, 65. 100. He is a medieval author, a namesake of the famous Haribhadra suri of the eighth century. 101. Prasamarati., p. 65. I suspect that the "Bhadrabahu-gandika' (probably a chapter of the lost Gandikanuyoga of Arya Syama, c. 1st cent. B. C. - A. D.) may have contained this myth and this may have been the source of the tradition before Umasvati. 102. SrimadAvasyakasutram (Uttarabhagah), Ratlam 1929, p. 187. 103. According to the curni, the episode of the visit of the sisters of Sthulabhadra took place at the devakulika when Bhadrabahu and he were camping at, or close by, Pataliputra. 104. For particulars, see annotation 21.. 105. For details, see the Sthaviravali. 106. This is the view of the Indian historians, a few of whom, as I recall, also suggested B. C. 325 for that event. The Greek sources state it to be B. C. 312. 107. Parisistaparva, translation, p. 176. 108. The Parisistaparva of Hemacanda (betweenc. A.D. 1160-1170) so states. 109. Further confusion is added by the interpreters of the Sravanabelgola inscription of c. A. D. 600.

Page #48
Bhadrabahu 155 110. Some scholars think that it was the Tarai area of Nepala. one, contemporary of Candragupta; 2) The second of the period of Maurya Samprati; 3) The third, a contemporary of the Digambara Guptigupta who was Candragupta; 4) The fourth a contemporary of Varahamihira who was the author of the Niryuktis; and the fifth was a Svetambara'monk who composed the Jinasahasranama-stotra. See, however, Schubring's obervation based on Leumann's statement: 'IEUMANN, however, points out that, in this list that already existed in the eighth century, "the second Bh. is but a chronistic repetation..."' (The Doctrine., p. 53.) 112. See R. Champakalakshmi, "9 South India," Jaina Art and Architecture, Vol. 1, (Ed. A. Ghosh), Bharatiya Jnanapitha, New Delhi 1974, pp. 92-103. 113. This, to me, seems a plausibility. Schubring, on a related point, thus notes: "The inner reasons are explained by IEUMANN, Ubersicht p. 26f." (The Doctrine., p. 47, infra.) What these 'inner reasons' in their perception were, cannot be guessed untill we have the translation in English of the Leumann's famous and oft-referred to work. 114. The recent discovery of the remains of a Jaina stupa at Vaddamanu founded C. B. C. the first century. (Cf. T. V. G. Shastri et al, Vaddamanu Excavations (1981-85), Birla Archaeological and Cultural Institute, Hyderabad, Hyderabad 1992. 115. Implicitly from Bengal and Orissa. It is easier to enter Andhradesa by land route; and to the Tamil country, by sea route, particularly to the Pandyan country via some port such as Nagapattinam. 116. These date from c. A. D. 300 in Gangavadi and from c. A. D. 464 or so in Kadambavadi. (I here forgo stating the related details.) ODO