Critical Study Of Paumacariyam

SR No.: 022643
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: K R Chandra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 672
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Book_Devnagari
File Size: 18 MB

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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAW
down upon as Milakkhas or Milakkhus=(Mlecchas). According to the Jaina literature those who did not know the language of the Aryans and committed various sins were known as Anāryas. They are also called as Milakkhus or Milakkhas. They were distinguished as Paccantiyas because they resided on the border of the Aryan countries, The classification of people into non-Aryan category has varied in the Jaina literature also. The TP (4.1333f) refers to the Mlecchakhanda which was conquered by Cakravatin Bharata. It puts the three division of Uttara Bhārata and the two divisions of Dakşiņa Bharata into the Mlecchakhanda. The Uttară. (10.16) mentions the Dasyus and the Mlecchas as Non-Aryan people. The Praśnavyākaranasūtra calls the sakas, Yavanas, Sabaras, etc. as non-Aryans (Vide JASG, p. 135, fn.). The Varāngacaritam (8.6) refers to the Kamboja, Kāśmira and the Barbar countries as Mlecchadeśas. How the boundary of the Aryan country has changed from time to time with the Jainas can be known from the following evidences: The BỊhatkalpasūtra? mentions that the Jaina ascetics were allowed to move up to Anga-magadha (East), Kośambī (South), Thuna (West) and Kupāla (North). Later on king Samprati extended the limits and 251 countries were declared to be Aryan. They were Magadha, Arga, Varga, Kalinga, Kāší, Košala, Kuru, Kusatta, Pañcāla, Jangala, Surattha, Videha. Vaccha, Sandilla, Malaya, Vacca, Varana, Dasaņņa, Gedi, Sindhu, Sovīra, Sūrasena, Bhangi, Purivațţa, Kuņāla, Lāda, and Kegaiaddha. Thus the whole of north India up to the Vindhyas as its southern limit was known as Aryan and the rest of the land was considered to be non-Aryan.
To the author of the PCV the hilly tribes of the north, northwest and the Vindhyas were known as the Mleccha people and it seems that those people had not yet been Aryanised,
The PCV further reveals that its author has given a new definition to some of the ancient tribes. It tells us that Vidyādhara king Indra of Rathanūpura or the Vijayārdha mountain (the Vindhya mountains) held sway over many peoples who were known after the name of the place to which they belonged (7.49-50). The people belonging to Asiņapura, Asurapura, Kinnarapura, Gandhavvapura, Jakkhapura and Vaisāṇapura are called as Asiņas, Asuras, Kinnaras, Gandharvas,
1. Vide IDETB7, p. 139, 2. LAI, p. 144. 3. 50; also Niši. Bha, 16. p. 1111, (Vide LAI, p. 250.)