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 213

JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA Naganika, the queen of Satakarni, and the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela belong to the same period as the Nasik inscription of Krslna. Now the Nanaghat inscriptions of the early Satavahanas are "a little, not much, later than Asoka's and Dasaratha's edicts," and on epigraphical grounds "they are of the time of the last Mauryas or the earliest Sungas--that is, the beginning of the second century B.C." 2 Even therefore if it must be admitted that the Hathigumpha inscription is undated, there is still reason to believe that the date of Kharayela would fit in with the dates of Demetrios and Satakarni in the first half of the second century BC Moreover, as the rise of both the Andhra and Kalinga dynasties must no doubt date from the same period, when the Maurya power began to decline, the probability that these two kings were contemporary is great indeed. Having thus approximately fixed the date of the inscription we shall now examine its contents and see what information we can gather about this great patron of Jainism, and the extent of his political career, which makes him one of the most important his politie Indian history, inscription as siddhas in t The first line of this inscription as laid down above begins with an invocation of the Arhats and the Siddhas in the Jaina style, which corresponds to the beginning of the fivefold form of homage still used among the Jainas. It is here that we came to know that Kharavela belonged to the Cedi dynasty, and that the term Aira formed one of the titles of the kings of this family. According to Mr Jayaswal this is to be taken as a term denoting the descent of the Cedi kings-Aira, a descendant of Ira or Ia--and he proposes "to identify it with the Puranic Aila, one of the main dynastic divisions to which the Cedis belong according to the Puranas." The second line says that for fifteen years Kharavela enjoyed his princely hfe, and during that period, having accomplished various Vidyas (arts), he," who was having conquests as large as those of King Vena," ruled as Yuvaraga for many years? See Buhler, A SII, v,p 71, and Indische Paleographie, p 30 * Buhler, 4 S I , v, pp 71 7 णमो सरिहताण णमो सिद्धाण गमो पायरिया गामो उबकायाण यानो लोए सम्बसाहूण, H U ER, -Kalpa-Sutra, sul I . CE J BORS,1,P 897, and xi, p 222 5 Pargiter, JRAS, 1910, PP 11, 26 JBORS, m, p 228 C brd, wv, p 897, and xiu, p 224 164