Comprehensive History Of Jainism

SR No.: 022803
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Aseem Kumar Chatterjee
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 28 MB

Page 239

ŚVETĀMBARA CANONICAL LITERATURE
213
of this prince is, however, absent in the Buddhist texts. This prince, we are told, later embraced the religion of Mahāvīra and became a Jaina monk. The second adhyayana relates the story of merchant Dhanna (Dhanya) of Rājagļha. Once he was sentenced to imprisonment for committing a crime. He and robber Vijaya (a majority of thieves and robbers in Jaina literature bear this name), the murderer of his son Devadatta, were fettered together. This pious merchant, we are told, shared with that thief in jail a food packet (bhoyaņa-pidaga) sent to him daily by his wife Bhadrā.136 Later the merchant became a sādhu under the Jaina ascetic Dharmaghosa The third adhyayana contains an account of the famous prostitute of Campā called Devadattā, who was loved by the sons of the two merchants Jinadatta and Sāgaradatta. This prostitute appears again in a later adhyayana of this canonical text. The fourth adhyayana relates the story of two turtles and a jackal. The first turtle is killed by the jackal as it exposed itself to danger, another, being cautious, remained unhurt in its shell since it waited until that animal had left. The tenth adhyayana is quite interesting as it tells us something about Aristanemi and other Vrsņis of Dvārakā (Bāravai). There is also a description of the Surapriya yakṣāyatana (shrine) which was situated near the city. It is interesting that the five Vrsni heroes led by Baladeva, mentioned in the Vāyupurāņa, as manusyapraksti gods, are also referred to in this section of this text.137 A few other Vrsņi heroes are also mentioned in this section. The mountain Raivailka, which is mentioned for the first time, in the Mahābhārata, 138 is described here as situated near Dvārakā. It should however be pointed out that this mountain is not near Dvărakā but Girinagara and in the Mahābhārata passage Kuśasthali is described as situated near this mountain (kuśasthalım purīí ramyāṁ raivatenopaśobhitām). It follows therefore that ancient Kuśasthali is not Dvārakā but Girinagara. 139 The Jaina writer of this canonical text, it appears, was not much acquainted with the topography of this area. We have already said that Baladeva, Vāsudeva and others had a place in the Jaina mythology, and it is therefore not surprising to find a detailed description of them in this canonical text. However, like other Jaina texts, Aristanemi, who was supposed to be a scion of the Vrsni race, is described as much superior to Krsna and Baladeva in this section of the Nāyādhammakahāo.
This work also refutes the philosophy of the Samkhya teacher.'10 We are told in the fifth adhyayana that the Sāmkhya teacher Suka