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 140

JAINISM IN ROYAL FAMILIES obscrves Dr Rhys Davids, "pas Pajjota the Fierce, who reigned at the capital Ujjeni. There is a legend about him which shows that he and his neighbour, King Udena of Kosambi, were believed to have been contemporary, connected by marriage, and engaged in war."1 This" lcgend " is fully corroborated by Jaina sources We know from these sources that the Vatsa king, Udayana, was marricd to Vasavadatta, the daughter of thc Pradyota of Avanti Furthermore, to state in brief, Hemacandra tells us that Canda Pradyota had asked Queen Mrgavati from Satanika, and on the refusal of the latter he had declared a war against him It so happened that in the meantimc Satanika died, and when Malavira came down to Kausimbi Canda Pradyota was induced to give up his feeling of revenge and to allow Mrgavati to become a nun, with a promise to makc Udiyana the king of Kausambi. This Udarana, "the king of Vatsa, is the central figure in a large cycle of Sanskrit stories of love and adventure, and in these Pradyota, the king of Ujjain, the father of the peerless Vasavadatta, plays no small part." 5 As just remarked, he is said to have contracted matrimonial alliances with the royal houses of Avanti, Anga and Magadha. Fiom different sources, whether fully reliable or not, we know that Vasuladatta or Vasavadatta, the daughter of Pradyota, king of Avanti; Padmavati, the sister of Darsaka, the king of Nagadha, and the daughter of Drdhavarman, the king of Anga, rere his queens. Of these Vasavadatta was the chief queen of Udayana. Both Buddhist and Jaina literatures "give a long and romantic story of the way in which Vasuladatta, the daughter of Pajota of Avanti, became the wife, or rather one of the three wives, of King Udena of Kosambi."7 As to his attitude towards religion Udayana had before him his mother, and also relatives like 1 Rhys Davids, C.HI,1,P 185. * C Apasyala-Satra,p 074, Hemacandra, Trishashtz-Saldha, Parva X, PP 142-145 34 Avanti roughly corresponds to modern Malyvu, Nimur and the adjoinmg parts of the central provinces Prof Bhandarkar points out that this Janapada was divided into two parts the northern part had its capital at Ujjain, and the southern part, called Avanti Dakslunapatha, had its capital at Mahussati or Mabusmati, usually identified with the modern Mandhata on the Narmada"-Raychaudhur, op cup 92 Cf. Hemecandra, op cit, v 282, p. 107 * Rapson, CHI,1, p 811 C Raychaudhuri, op art, 122, Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, p 285 C Raychaudhur, op and loc at , Pradhan, op cit, pp 212, 246 "Tradition has preserved a long story of adventures of Udena and his three wives "-Rhys Davids, op al, p 187. * Cf Rhys Dands, Buddhist India, P 4; Joasyala-Sutra, p 674, Hema candra, op cit, pp 142-145 97