Page #1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
________________
Sindhu-desa Of Jaina Literature is Tirabhukti (North Bihar)
YOGENDRA MISHRA
IN 1936 the late Kamta Prasad Jain raised an important and pertinent
problem relating to early Jaina literature and Indian political geography. He pointed out that some Digambara Jaina books placed Vardhamāna Mahavira's birthplace Viśālā or Vaiśāli, whose chief was Cetaka, in Sindhu-deśa or Sindhu-vişaya, and furnished the following quotations in this connection:
1 Jaina-Siddhānta-Bhaskara, Vol. 3 (September, 1936), p. 50, foot-note.
To these we may add the following from the Maha-Purāņa of Puşpadanta, an Apabhramsa work completed in A.D. 965 (chapter 98, section 9, P. L. Vaidya's edition, Vol. III, Bombay, 1941, pp. 241-243) -
“félaug agar grafi
घरसिरिओहामियसुरवरघरि ॥२॥ चेडउ णाम गरेसरु णिवसइ । देवि अखुद्द सुहद्द महासह ॥ ३ ॥ पियकारिणि वरणाहकुलेसहु ।। सिद्धत्थहु कुंडउरणरेसहु ॥१०॥"
Page #2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
________________
222 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
(१) "सद्युक्ते सिन्धुदेशे वै विशाला नगरी मता ।। चेटकाख्यः पतिस्तस्य सुभद्रा महिषी मता ॥"
-Vimala-Purāņa (२) "भ्रमन्सन्नेकदायातः सिन्धुदेशे मनोहरे ।
सिन्धुवेला समुद्रासिक्षेत्रशालोचट्टकप्रिये (१) ॥७॥ विशालाख्या पुरी तत्र वर्तते शालमण्डिता । धनधान्य निधानैश्च देवनाथस्य पूरिव ॥८॥ सामन्तभवसंसेन्यश्चेटकः पतितां पुरीम् । तस्याग्रमहिषी रम्या सुभद्रा सुखकारिणी ॥९॥"
-Srenilca-Caritra (३) " सिन्धुदेशे विशालाख्यपत्तने चेटको नृपः । श्रीमजिनेन्द्रपादाब्जसेवनैकमध्रुवतः ॥४॥"
-Ārādhana-Katha-Koşa (४) " सिन्ध्वाख्ये विषये भूभृद्वैशालीनगरेऽभवत् । चेटकाख्योऽतिविख्यातो विनीतः परमार्हतः ॥ ३॥"
-Uttara-Purana (75) He then raised the question as to what might have been the reasons of the Digambara Jaina scriptures saying that Viśālā or Vaiśāli was in Sindhu-deśa, and made two suggestions :
First, it might be that the authors had equated Sindhu-deśa with Vrji-desa.
Secondly, there might have been a confusion especially because Ujjayini in Avanti, too, was called Viśālā' and there was a Sindhu river in the adjoining territory for which reason it was called Sindhudesa in the middle ages (8th to 15th centuries A.D.). The Digambara writers, Kamta Prasad Jain adds, lived more in the Ujjayini side and hence they appear to have confused Ujjayini (which was also called Viśālā) for the real Viśālā, little knowing that another Viśālä, different from their own, existed in Eastern India; moreover, Vaiśāli lay in ruins as we know from the account of Hiuen Tsiang, and this factor might have easily led the Jaina writers to forget the real Vaiśāli.
We are of the view that the Digambara Jaina authors knew the
2 Jaina-Siddhānta-Bhaslcara, 3, p. 51. 3 Jain does not offer any reason for the possible equation. 4 Cf. Kālidāsa in Meghadūta (I. 30). 5 Jaina-Siddhanta-Bhaskara, 3, pp. 51-52.
Page #3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
________________
SINDHU-DEĆA OF JAINA LITERATURE IS TĪRABHUKTI : 223
geographical position of Vaiśāli and Kundapura correctly; they simply used Sindhu-deśa or Sindhu-vişaya as a synonym for Tirabhukti. Our explanation for this is as follows:
The oldest term for North Bihar was Videha. From the Gupta period (fourth-fifth centuries A.D.) onwards it came to be known as Tirabhuktis, which literally means 'the Province or Country situated on the Banks (of Rivers)'. In poetry synonyms are freely used. Hence
the Province or Country of Rivers' could also be called Sindhu-desa or Sindhu-vişaya, because one of the words for river is sindhu.?
A confirmation of the explanation offered above is available when we find that the Jaina Uttara-Purana (75) places the territory of Cetaka near Rājagsha, the capital of Magadha
"कदाचिच्चेटको गत्वा ससैन्यो मागधं पुरम् ।
राजद्राजगृहं बाह्योद्याने स्थानपुरस्सरम् ॥२०॥" This means that these were neighbouring states.
Thus, in our opinion, the Digambara Jaina writers did not believe that Vaiśālī lay in Sind or the Indus valley or on sea-coast or in Central India. Its placing in Sindhu-deśa or Sindhu-visaya instead of Tirabhukti was only a literary nicety.8
In our opinion Tirabhukti was transformed into Sindhu-deśa or Sindhu-visaya in the following manner :
तीरभुक्ति = (791) artefato = नदीतीरभुक्ति = a(at)fto = a punti = fere or for at or feryfaqt.
6 Cf. the legends on the seals discovered at Vaiśāli (modern Basarh,
Muzaffarpur District, Bihar State) which give this word, Archaeo
logical Survey of India Annual Report, 1903-04, p. 109. 7 Vide V. S. Apte's Sanskrit-English Dictionary. 8 Elsewhere (An Early History of Vaiśäli, Delhi, 1962, pp. 228-237) we
have discussed in detail as to how the Jainas forgot Vaiśāli and Kundapura (Kundagrāma) completely and what measures have been taken by the Vaiśāli Sangha, a premier cultural organisation of Bihar, for the revival of this Jaina tirtha and centre.
Page #4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
________________ 224 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME Incidentally, we may add that desa and visaya have been used synonymously as seen in early Jaina literature itself: 1. Jinasena of the 8th Vikrama century says in Harivamsa-Purana (1.2): “अथ देशोऽस्ति विस्तारी जम्बूद्वीपस्य भारते / विदेह इति विख्यातः स्वर्गखण्डसमः श्रियः // 1 // तत्राखण्डलनेत्रालीपमिनीखण्डमण्डनम् सुखाम्भःकुण्डमाभाति नाम्ना कुण्डपुरं पुरम् // 5 // " 2. Gunabhadra of the 10th Vikrama century says in his Uttara-Purana (74) : " तस्मिन्षण्मासशेषायुष्यानाकादागमिष्यति / भरतेऽस्मिन्विदेहाख्ये विषये भवनाङ्गणे // 251 / / राज्ञः कुण्डपुरेशस्य वसुधारापतत्पृथुः सप्तकोटिमणिः सार्धा सिद्धार्थस्य दिनम्प्रति // 252 // " . - Page 460, Bharatiya Jnanapilha ed., The same writer says later in that book (75) : " विदेहविषये कुण्डसज्ञायां पुरि भूपतिः // 7 / / नायो नाथकुलस्यैकः सिद्धार्थाख्यस्त्रिसिद्धिभाक् / तस्य पुण्यानुभावेन प्रियासीस्प्रियकारिणी // 8 // " --Page 482, Bharatiya Jnanapitha ed. 3. Sakalakirti (who died in A. D. 1464) says in his VardhamanaCaritra (VII): "अथेह भारते क्षेत्रे विदेहाभिध ऊर्जितः देशः सद्धर्मसङ्घाद्यैः विदेह इव राजते // 2 // इत्यादिवर्णनोपेतदेशस्याभ्यन्तरे पुरम् राजते कुण्डलाभिख्यं......... // 10 // " 9 Of these, No.2 (second part) is quoted by Vijayendra Suri in his Vaisali, 2nd ed. (Bombay, 1958), p. 40 and Tirthankara Mahavira, Vol. 1 (Bombay, 1960), p. 81; the remaining quotations are collected by K. Bhujbali Sastri in Jaina-Siddhanta-Bhaskara, 10 (December, 1943), pp. 60-61, footnotes. -