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 166

JAINISM IN ROYAL FAMILIES to the Mahavarsa, murdered by his son Udayibhadra, but the Sthaviravali-Carita informs us that Udavin was overpowered with Sorrow at the death of his father Ajatasatru, and transferred his capital from Campa to Pataliputra." : This part of the Jaina tradition is confirmed by the testimony of the Vayu Purana, according to which Udayi built the city of Kusumapura (Pataliputra ?) in the fourth year of his reign, and hence it seems almost certain that Udayin was in no way connected with the death of his father. It is not possible to say why the Buddhists have pictured him, like his father, as a man whose greed for power and position did override even the natural instinct of regard for his father's life. If the Buddhist tradition of the Mahavamsa had any ground at its back the Jaina writers would have at least taken a note of it, as they have done in the case of Kunika. The Jainas, on the other hand, tell us that he was a devout Jaina. By his order a fine Jaina temple was built in the centre of his new capital, Pataliputra. That the Jaina monks had free access to him is clear from the fact, as related before, that he was murdered by some prince, whose father had been dethroned by him, in the disguse of a monk. Furthermore, from this very incident we can infer that, like an orthodox Jaina, he was regularly observing the monthly religious festivals, because it was on a Paushadhaday that the Surt, accompanied by the novice who carried a concealed weapon about him, went to the palace and preached to the king & This is, in short, what the Jainas have to say about the Saisunagas, under whom the Magadhan Empire took a definite form, 1 Cf Geiger, op. cut, v. 1 . Pradhan, op cit, p. 216 Cf abid , p 219 "The Ceylonese chronicles state that all the kings from Ajatasatru were parricides." --Raychaudhuri, op. cit, p 133; Hemacandra, Parsishtapervan, Canto VI, vv 82-180 Cf Alasyaha-Stilra, pp 687, 689 3 "The choice of Patoliputra as probably due to its position m the centre of the realm, which not included North Bihar Moreover, its situation at the confluence of tro large thyers (the Ganges and the Son) was important from the commercial as well as the strategic point of view. In this connection it is interesting to note that Kautilyn recommends a site at the conflucace of rivers for the capital of a kingdom "-Raychaudhun, op cul ,p 181. C. Pargiter, op. at, p 69; Pradhan, op. al, p 216; Raj chaudhuri, op. and loc cal FUSCADA funt afin,.. - Arasyaha-Sutra, p 699. C Hemscandm, op art, 181. # Teager: m wifa Arasyaha-Satra, p 600 cf. Lemacandra, op at, v. 186, bd, 17. 186-230, Charpentier, C.H.1,1, 164 123