Jainthology

SR No.: 006577
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ganesh Lalwani
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1991
Total Pages: 294
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 8 MB

Page 49

To quote a few : "Neminátha, the 22nd Tirthankara of the Jainas, who preceded Lord Pārsvanātha, was a cousin of Lord Sri Krşņa. If we admit the historicity of Lord Krsna, there is no reason why should not regard his contemporary Lord Neminatha, the 22nd Tirthankara, as a real and historical person."9
Neminātha was the cousin of Krşņa. When the 22nd Ticthankara the Jainas was a contemporary of Lord Kșşņa, the readers may weli imagine the antiquity of the remaining 21 Tirthaņkaras."10
Prof. H. S. Bhattacharya goes a step further and establishes the historicity of Krşņa himselt on the basis of that of Neminátha, by observing that "Notwithstanding remarkable difference, the Kșşņa story in the Jaina Purāņas is essentially similar to that of the Vedic Purānas ... The appearance of the Kțşņa story in the Jaina sacred books shows that Krşņa of the Mahābhārata may not be a purely imaginary being but that in all probability he was a historic person, a high-souled powerful monarch,"11 And, in the opinion of another scholar, "The Jaina traditions represent the oldest form of the Krşņa legend."12 Yet another writer, P. C. Dewan, concludes that the Jaina books contain many historical facts which are not to be found in the Bhagavata literature, and that simply because there are certain discrepancies between the Hindu and Jaina accounts or because the latter puts too long an interval between Aristanemi and Pārsva, the account of Ariştanemi's life as given in Jaina books based on ancient Prakrit texts does not deserve to be ignored.13 Well-known Vedic scholars like Swami Virupaksha Vadiyar are convinced that the Vedic and Puranic allusions to Ariştanemi refer to none else but the Jaina Tirthankara of that name. 14 On the same basis, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan has observed, "There is no doubt that Jainism prevailed even before Vardhamana or Pärsvanatha.”16 And, Dr. Fuhrer categorically asserts that, "Lord Neminátha, the 22nd
9 Basu, N. N., Harivamsa Purana, Introd., p. 6. 10 Karwa, Bhagavad-Gita, Appendix. Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri also describes
Aristanemi as a cousin of Krsna in his Ancient History of Vaisnavism. 11 Heroes of Jaina Legends'-Jaina Antiquary, Vol. XIV, Part 2. p. 77; Lord
Aristanemi, pp. 88-89. 12 Kennedy, Rev. J., The Child Krsna, Christianity and the Gujars'-Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1907, pp. 951 ff. 13 Annals of the Bhandarkar Research Institute, Vol. XXIII, p. 122. 14 Cf. Jain, J. P., op cit., p. 22; Jain Path Pradarsak, III, 3, pp. 106-112. 15 Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 287.
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