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CHAPTER XIV
FOLLOWER KINGS
senika Bimbisara
Among the lay followers of Mahāvira and the Buddha, there were many kings. It is somewhat surprising that some of these kings and princes have been claimed as 'followers' by both the Jainas and the Buddhists. Among the most important names that fall in this group are Sreņika-Bimbisāra, Koņika (Ajatasatru) and Abhayakumara. Both the religious are vociferous in claiming them as very staunch supporters. The Agmas, the Tripitakas and the Purana literature of both the religious are full of accounts about them. These accounts have attracted the attention of researchers, and they have arrived at diverse conclusions. Some of these hold that all the three aforesaid persons were the followers of Mahāyira, while others are of opinion that they were the followers of the Buddha. A third line of thinking is that Srenika was at first a Buddhist and then he became a Jaina, and a fourth line would reverse the order, making him a Jaina first and then a Buddhist. Effort is being made in the following pages to collect and analyse the available material about him and to try to arrive at a conclusion, '
First Acquaintance
The first acquaintance of Bimbisāra with the Buddha appears to have taken place long before the latter's enlightenment, and shortly after his initiation into monkhood. The young monk, the Buddha, entered into the city of Rājagrha in order to beg. His charming personality attracted the attention of thousands of men and women. In the words of the great poet As'vaghosa,
"People had their eyes arrested on eye-brows, forehead, face, eyes, body, hands, feet or the movement of the Buddha wherever they set first". (1)
