Mahavira his Times and his Philosophy of Life

SR No.: 006504
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Harilal Jain, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 70
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, History, & Philosophy
File Size: 4 MB

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as, Vaiśālī, Jñātr-şaņda-vana, Kollāga-sanniveśa, Karmāragrāma, Vāņiya-gāma are mentioned; and they are helfpul in identifying some of the localities. The Anuttar-aupapātika, the ninth ariga, mentions, how the queens (of king Sreņika who was a contemporary of Mahāvira) like Celanā, Dhāriņi and Nandā, and also twentythree princes entered the ascetic order. In the two mūla-sūtras, Uttar-ādhyayana and Dasa-vaikālika, one gets plenty of material shedding light on the basic ideas of Mahāvīra on philosophy, morality and conduct. The Kalpasūtra gives a well-arranged biography of Mahāvīra. This entire literature is presented through the later Ardha-māgadhi language. In the Avasyaka-cūrni also we get some useful details about Mahāvīra. (Sholapur, 1952). The Tiloya-pannatti (Triloka-prajñapti) of Yati-vrşabha (in Sauraseni Prakrit) is very important, because in its Prakrit gāthās we find the biographies in the form of nāmāvali) of Tīrthakaras and other salākā-puruşas. Here one gets, in brief, almost all the events connected with the life of Mahāvira, in a form very convenient to memorise Based on such material, preserved in strings of names (nāmāvali-baddha) is composed the Pauma-cariya, the earliest known mahākāvya in (Mahārāştrī) Prakrit in which appears a short biography of Mahāvira by way of introduction to the life and activities of Rāma (Bhavnagar, 1914). The Vasudevahindi (Bhavnagar, 1930-31) of Samgha-dāsa and Dharmadāsa-gani (4-5th century A.D.) is an important work in Prākrit narrative literature. Incidentally the lives of many Tirthakaras, including that of Mahavira too, are touched upon here and there. The Cauppanna-mahāpurisa-cariya (V.S. 925; Varanasi, 1961) of Silārika gives in Prakrit prose the biography of Mahāvīra (among those of others). Bhadreśvara's Kahāvali (12th century A.D.) gives in Prākrit prose the lives of 63 salākā-puruṣas. As an independent composition, solely devoted to the life of Mahāvīra, is the Mahāvīra-cariya (Bombay, 1929) of Guna
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