Jainism in North India

SR No.: 011067
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Chimanlal J Shah
Publisher: Longmans Green and Compny London
Publication Year: 1932
Total Pages: 66
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 3 MB

Page 107

JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA the Jaina church. Acarya Devasena says in his Darsanasara: "The Svetambara Samgha had its beginning in Vallabhipura in Sourashtra 186 years after the death of Vikrama "I This ongin of the Svetambaras according to the learned Acarya was due to the wicked and loose-charactered Jinacandra, the disciple of Acarya Santi, who was (in turn the disciple of the venerable Bhadrabahu." 2 It is not clear which of the Bhadrabahus is meant here. If this is the Bhadrabahu of the days of Candragupta the period assigned to the schism would fall to the ground. But according to the Digambara tradition of the great famine in the days of Candragupta, the emigration of Bhadrabahu and his votaries from the north, and the consequent separation of the Digambaras and the Svetambaras, no other Bhadrabahu is meant here. Devasenasur has said the same thing in Bhavasamgraha, but in addition to it he talks of the famine which has been connected with the life of Bhadrabahu Here also Jinacandra is painted in the same colours. He is said to have murdered his Guru, Acarya Santi, for rebuking him as being on the wrong path. The curious thing is that he also puts the same date for the great schism * In both these Digambara traditions there is distinctly something wrong about the Bhadrabahu mentioned here. There is something half said, or some other Bhadrabahu is meant, or the traditions are put without any regard for the chronological facts of history, To whitewash these two statements Bhattaraka Ratnanandi introduced in his life of Bhadrababu the following facts: that in Bhadrabahu's time the schism began under the name of Ardhaphalaka (half-clothed); that Sthulabhadra, who tried to oppose the propounder of such a change, was murdered by them; and that the final separation came after a long time because of Candralekha, the daughter of the king of Ujjayini and the wife of the king of Vallabhipura 6 'In contradiction to this there is another tradition which says 1 auta afwere tes F UT del H I --Premni, Dardanasara, v. 11, p 7. Ibid, v 12-15 are a LEGGUI fort e t ete-Devasenasuri, opal, v 158, p 38 CJ Premi, op cit, p 50 wa afchare , ut acest etc-Devasen sur, op cit, 137, p 35 CT Premri, op cit, p 65 Premi, op at, p 60 According to the Digambaray, "under Bhadrabahu, the cighth oge after Mahavim, the last Tirthanhara, there rose the sect of Ardhaphalahas with laser principles, from wluch developed the present sect of Svetambaras (A D 80)". -Dasgupta, op cit,i,p 170 68