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CHANDRAGUPTA.
21 the funeral rites were performed by Chandragupta Maurya. Such is the legendary account of the advent of the Jain sage into the south. There is here no element of improbability and yet scholars have doubted not merely the traditions prevailing in the country, but the very inscriptions at Sravana Belgola that give us a complete picture of the whole story.
That Chandragupta, the Mauryan king, was a Jain and attended on Bhadrabāhu during hiss last days, and died twelve years after, doing penance on the Chandragiri hill, may be taken as historical facts. Evidence in favour of such a theory is. overwhelming. We know that scarcity due to drought or floods, is frequently mentioned in Jātaka Storics. Sometimes the famine extended over the whole kingdom but, more often than not, it was confined to small tracts. Megasthenes' testimony as to the immu. nity of India.from famine is well known, but his statement perhaps refers to a general scarcity.' There is, therefore, absolutely no reason to discredit the story of a twelve years' famine. We shall next consider whether Chandragupta was Was
Chandraa Jain. . Dr. Fleet ahas persistently maintained gupta that the Chandragupta referred to in the tradi- & tion as well as in the inscription was one Gupti-gupta, a name which however does not occur in any of the inscriptions. The Sravana Belgola inscriptions are, no doubt, late in origin; yet there is no reason to doubt their authenticity
*The Journal of the Royal Asialic Society 1901 Vol., p. 861.
a Jain ?
