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 267

JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA these Dhruvasena I, the fourth in the list, was naturally the third son of the founder of this dynasty. We particularly refer to him because, along with Devardhigani, the high-priest of the Jaina church of his time, he marks the end of the unrecorded period of Jainism in North India. Beyond this we are assured by Smith that "the earlier kings of Vallabhi do not appear to have been independent, and were doubtless obliged to pay tribute to the Huns." 2 Thus Dhruvasena must also be a dependent potentate under the Hunas, because the period of his rule has been put down by Charpentier and others as terminating about A D. 5268 This date becomes more of a certainty on the authority of Smith and Wilberforce-Bell that Bhatarka founded the dynasty in c 490 A D' The two brothers that intervened between Bhatarka and Dhruvasena might have ruled for a short time, and thus Dhruvasena I might have succeeded to the throne in about A.D. 526. This is further strengthened when we know that Dharasena II, the seventh in the Vallabhi list, rules from A.D. 569.5 of the great Jaina council under the protection of the Vallabhipati Dhruvasena we shall speak in the next chapter. What need be said at present is that the canonical and other literature of the Jainas was put down in writing during this period, and thus the unrecorded period of Jaina history was brought to an end It is significant to note that this important event of Jaina history is connected also with the Gupta period. That by this time the Jainas had more or less spread all over India is a fact which cannot be denied. The inscriptions referring to the Jaina communities become very numerous from the sixth century A.D. onwards i cy Wilberforce-Bell, op cit, pp 88-89, Barnett, op cit, pp 49-50 South, op and loc cal "This dynasty was at first subordinate to the Guptas and then to the Hunas, and later became independent " Barnett, op cit, p 40. Dhruvasena I, Maitraka, kang of Vallabhr, was reigning AD 526-540 - Barnett, op cit, p 60 "Now, as King Dhruvaseng I of Vallabhi is supposed to have succeeded to the throne in AD 626 >>-Charpentier. Ularadhana-Sutra, Int, P 10 11 date of the learned scholar 18 based on the date of Mahavira's Nirudna in 407 BC, ang 098 A V, as the date of the redaction of the Jaina canon The other date for the redaction of the canon LS AD 980, and, counting upon this, the date of the council comes to CAD b. Cf Jacobi, Kalpa-Sutra, Int ,p 15, Farquhar, Religious Literature of India, P 103 The difference between these two dates is based on this ground, that in 980 AV the Jauda canon was put in a definite form and in 993 A V Kalpa-Sutra was read before the Samgha, idet the putromage of Dhruvasena I in Anandapura नवशताशीतितमवर्षे कल्पस्य पुस्तक लिखन, FAGA HUGE USTADA-Kalpa-Sutra, Subodha-tha, siit 148, P 120 For the two dates of 980 AY and 998 A see also Jacobi, SBE, XXII, p 270 CJ Smith, op and loc at, Wilberforce-Bell, op cit, p 38 Ci abid , p 89 "Dharasena II Was reigning 571-589"-Bernett, op cit, p bl 216