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 137

JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA statement of Dr Raychaudhuri is based on the Jaina sources, and the whole story of Candana in short runs as follows: During the war between her father and King Satanika she was caught hold of by one of the enemy's army and was sold in Kausambi to a banker named Dhanavaha, who named her Candana in spite of her already bearing the name Vasumati as her family name After a short time the banker's wife, Mula, felt jealous of her, and having cut her hair put her into custody. In this condition she once served a part of her food to Mahavira, and finally joined his ranks as a nun? Before we pass on to Mrgavati, the third daughter of Cetaka, a few words about Campa in the light of Jaina history will not be out of place. The town of Campa seems to have been situated at a distance of a few miles in the neighbourhood of modern Bhagalpur, and is known to us under some such names as Campapuri, Campanagar, Malini and Campa-Malini, Its importance in Jaina history is self-evident when we know that Mahavira spent three of his rainy-seasons in Campa, the capital of Anga, and its suburbs (Prstha Campa), and that it is known to us as the place of both the birth and death of Vasupujya, the twelfth Tirthankara. Again, as the headquarters of Candana and her father it is remembered by the Jainas as a great centre of their religion. There are signs of old and new Jama temples of both the Digambara and Svetambara sects built for Vasupujya and other Tirthankaras as the chief Jinas 3 The Uvasaga-Dasao and the Antagada-Dasao mention that the temple called Caitya Pannabhadda existed at Campa at the time of Sudharman, one of the eleven disciples of Mabavira who succeeded as the head of the Jaina sect on his death "The town was visited by Sudharman, the head of the Jaina hierarchy, at the time of Kunika or Ajatasatru, who came barefooted to 1 Cf. Kalpa-Sutra, SubodInha-Th, But 118, pp 108-107. Cl. Apasyaha-Sutra, PP 228-226, Hemacandra, op cit, pp 59-62 For further references about CandATIA see Barnett, op at, pp. 98-100, 102, 106 Cf Dey, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medical India, P 44, Cunning. ham, op cit, pp 546-547, 722-728 Now represented by the village of Champapur on the Ganges, ncar Bhagalpur , anciently it was the capital of the country of Anga, corresponding to the modern district of Bhagalpur Dey, op cit, pp. 44-45 "Trom the inscriptions on some Jains images ex humed from the neighbourhood of an old Jauna temple at Ajmer at appears that these images, which were of Bisupyva, Mathimatha, Parsvanatha and Vardhamana, vere dedicated in the thirteenth century AD-e ranging from Samyat 1289-1247"--Ihd, p 45 CE JASB, vil, p 52 Hoernle, op at, 1, 2, notes "Verily, Jambo, in those days there was a city named Campa . sanctuary Punnnbhadde n-Barnett, op. at, PP 9730, 100 Cf Dey, op and loc cut 94