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 167

JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA Let it be clear that we have not entered into any details while dealing with them in their relations with the Jaina church, and that we do not mean doing so in the case of other dynasties that are mentioned in this chapter. It need not, however, be understood that all these details are superfluous, but that it is neither possible nor desirable to enter into them while taking a general bistorical Teview of the northern Jainas. Coming to the successors of Udayin we find that, according to the Buddhist traditions, he was succeeded by Aniruddha, Munda and Naga-Dasaka. The traditions tell us further that all these were parricides, and that the people became angry, banished the dynasty and raised an Amatya named Susu-Naga (Sisunaga) to the throne" 1 However, the Jaina and Puranic traditions omit or forget the weaklings Aniruddha and others, and put down some Nanda or Nandivardhana as the successor of the Udayibhadda of the Buddhists The Jainas say that on the death of Udayin, who left no heirs, the five royal insignia-Viz the State elephant, the horse, the parasol, the pitcher and the chowries-were anointed by the ministers and led through the streets, and this procession met the marriage procession of a man named Nanda, the son of a courtesan by & barber, and the five royal insignias themselves pointed out Nanda as the king of Magadha. He was accordingly proclaimed king, and ascended the throne sixty years after the Nirvana of Mahavira. In connection with the date of Mahavira's Narvana we have seen that the Mauryas came to the imperial throne of Magadha one hundred and fifty-five years after the death of Vardhamana, and thus the Jainas allot ninety-six years to Nanda and his descendants. "This," observes Dr Pradhan, "agrees fairly well with the Puranic tradition that the Nandas ruled for about a hundred years. The Puranas probably borrowed the information from the ancient Jaina sources." 4 He says further: "Hemacandra who has, on account of the similarity of names, not only confounded Nandi-(a)-Vardhana with Raychaudhuri, op at, P 188 C Geiger, op af, YY. 2-6; Pradhan, opal, PP 218-219, Smith, op cit,p 86; Rapson, CH), 1, pp 812-818 Cf Avasyaha-Sutra, PP 690 ft Hemacandra, op at, v 242; Pargiter, op aal, Pp 22, 69 Cru (TFT :- Apatyaka-Sitra, p 690 Cf. Hemacandra, opal, VY 281-248 Pradhan, op cul, P 218 Cf Pergiter, op at, pp 26, 69 124