Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 137

KUVALAYAMALA
As to the instructional heritage of Uddyotana, he received lessons in Siddhānta (i.e., in Jaina scriptures) from Ācārya Vīrabhadra who was like a moving wish-fulfilling tree satisfying all (spiritual needs) and shining with great fame; and his Guru in Pramāṇa and Nyāya (i.e., yukti-stāstra) was Haribhadra who has propounded most of the principles (of Jainism) in his vast range of works.
Uddyotana gives some specific details as to where and when he composed
Kuvalayamālā. Comparable to Astăpada, or mount Kailāsa, there is Jābālipura (possibly including also the township on the hill itself) which is lofty, insurmountable, charming with Jina-temple (s), full of Jaina house-holders (sāvaya=srāvaka) and inaccessible. Vīrabhadra had got constructed a temple (there) dedicated to Rşabha-jinendra which is lofty, white and fluttering with charming and rich banners. While staying there (at Jābālipura, in that temple) this Kuvalayanālā, which is expected to be instructive and enlightening to all the pious people, was completed on the fourteenth day of the krşnapakşa of Caitra, during the afternoon, when one day was less for the saka year 700. At that time (jaïyā) the (ruling) king was (Sri-) Vatsarāja, the (proud) elephant on the battle-field, who crushed the enemical and loved the friendly.
In conclusion, Uddyotana expresses his modesty and acknowledges his inspiration to Hrīdevī: he calls himself (at the fag end of his career, perhaps when or after he completed the Kuvalayamālā) an Acārya of the Cāndrakula.
That Toramāņa, or Torarāya, is referred to by Uddyotana is an important piece of information. He was the chieftain of a Hūņa invasion of India and is known to have been established as a ruler of Mālwā in Central India prior to A.D. 500. Lately we have some detailed study about Hūnas and their invasion of India. Dr. D. C. SIRCAR observes: “That the Hūņas were a patent force in the social and political life of the Punjab Rajasthan-Malwa—Gujarat region during the early medieval period seems to be clear from their mention in a large number of epigraphical and literary records." Toramāṇa assumed the style and titles of an Indian 'sovereign of māhārājas.' He died about A.D. 502. His dominion passed on to his son Mihiragula whose capital in India was modern Sialkot in the Punjāb. His Guru was Harigupta who came from the GuptaVamsa and was initiated as an ācārya, in the Jaina order of monks. Harigupta stayed at Pavvasyā, the capital of Toramāņa. It is not pretty clear what exact relation he had with the then Gupta dynasty. Any way the age of Harigupta is to be assigned to c. A.D. 500. Taking into account the general longevity of life among Jaina monks, a period of 250 years, for six generations, between
IV. A. SMITH: The Early History of India (4th ed.), pp. 335, 346, Oxford 1957. Three inscriptions naming Toramāņa are known: Ibidem f. n. 1, p. 335. For the texts of these inscriptions, D. C. SIRCAR: Select Inscriptions, pp. 396 f., University of Calcutta, Calcutta 1942. Dr. N. SHASTRI alleges (Haribhadra ke Prākṣta katha-sāhitya kā älocanātmaka parisilana, p. 64, item No. 8, Vaishali 1965) that the Kuvalayamālā gives historical facts like the looting by the Hüņa king Toramāņa; but nothing like this is found in our text.
2 R. K. CHOUDHARY: The Hüņa Invasion of India in the J. of the Bihar R. Society, Altekar Memorial Volume, Vol. XLV, i-iv, pp. 112-42, Patna 1959. U. THAKUR: The Huns in India, Chowkhamba Publication, Varanasi 1967.