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 160

JAINISM IN ROYAL FAMILIES Srenika once laid the following point before Mahavira : "Though a young nobleman, you have entered the order; in an age fit for pleasure you exert yourself as a Sramana, 0 Ascetic; I want to hear you explain this." 1 Hearing this, Nataputta gave a lengthy explanation, and so convinced the king that he could not help giving vent to his feelings, as follows: "You have made the best use of human birth, you have made a true Jaina, O great sage, you are a protector (of mankind at large) and of your relations, for you have entered the path of the best Jinas. You are the protector of all unprotected beings, O Ascetic: I ask you to forgive me; I desire you to put me right. That by asking you I have disturbed your meditation, and that I invited you to enjoy pleasures, all this you must forgive me." 2 Here the Uttaradhyayana rightly concludes: "When the lion of kings had thus, with the greatest devotion, praised the lion of the houseless monks, he, together with his wives, servants and relations, became a staunch believer in law, with a pure mind." 3 We have already seen that this Bimbisara was married to Cellana, the daughter of Cetaka, the maternal uncle of Vardhamana. With a few of her sisters as nuns and with her aunt Trisala as mother of the prophet naturally Cellana had come under the influence of Nahavira more than anybody else in the family of Bimbisara. This attitude of hers is particularly to be noticed when we know that she, as the mother of Ajatasatru, the successor of Bimbisara, must have been the chief queen of the Alagadha lord. That is why the Divyavadana speaks, in one place, of Ajatasatru as Vaidehiputra, and in another states, "At Rajagtha reigns the King Bimbisara. Vaidehi is bis Mahadevi (or chief queen) and Ajatasatru, his son and prince." 1 1 Jacobi, S.B.E, xlv,p 101 * Iord , p. 107 एवं पुणिक्षाण स रायसीहो अणगारसीहं परमाइ भनीर / -Uttaradhyayana, Adhyayana XX, v. 58. Cf. Jacobi, op and loc at. "एकदा च प्रववृते शिशिरर्नुभयंकरः। तदा // देव्या चेक्षणया सार्थम् नृपः / वोर ELITEUR AUT I Hemacandra, Trishash i-Salala, Parva X, Y. 6, 10, 11, p. 86 "Once upon a time, when a great stress of cold had fallen on the country, the lang went with Queen Cellana to worshrp Mahavira "-Tawney, op cit, p 175 For further references about this see tund, p 289 Rajagrheraja Bimbisaro .. fasya Pardehi mahadevi Ajalasatruh pulrah, Cowell and Neil, Dioyaoadana, p. 645 Cf ad,p 55; Law (B.C), op cit, P 107, 117