Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 214

194
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
out of the struggles of the Buddhists with the Brahmans, so late as the 10th century. According to James Todd,† in the time of the glory of the Vallabhi dynasty, or during the 6th century, three hundred bells of the Jaina temples in their capital of Vallabhipura invited the pious to assemble.
Entirely contradictory to these views are those of Colebrooke and of J. Stevenson. The first assumes that the last Jina, Vira, was the teacher of the founder of Buddhism.‡ The second agrees essentially with this view, and asserts that Gautama or Buddha had, by the superior force of his intellect, entirely supereded the system of the Jainas, until the fading light of the Jainas again recovered a weak glimmer wherewith it reappeared in the firmament of Western India.§ Accordingly he makes the Jaina doctrine older than Buddhism, and lets it step forth again, after the extrusion of Buddhism.
Among the testimonies to the existence of Jaina doctrine which do not originate among its adherents, the inscriptions of the Chalukya dynasty of Kalyâni have the widest bearing, because they show that during the reign of Pulakesi, whose dominion was extensive, from about 485 till 510, the Jainas were very influential. Now, as some time must have elapsed before they could spread themselves from their homes in Northern India to the Dakhan and acquire influence there, it may be assumed that they arose somewhat earlier. Later testimonies of this kind are naturally of less value, but may here be adduced, because it appears from them that this religion enjoyed considerable prominence afterwards also. Varaha Mihira opposes the Jinas to Śákya, and
Altes Indien, p. 160 of the special issue. + Travels in Western India, p. 269.
On the Philosophy of the Hindus, pt. v.-On Indian Sectaries in his Misc. Essays, I. p. 880 segg. In a preceding Dissertation: Observations on the Sect of Jains, ibid. II. p. 191 seqq. he gives no opinion concerning the time of the origin of this sect.
See the Preface to his edition of The Kalpa-Satra and Nava Tatwa, two works illustrative of the Jain Religion and Philosophy, translated from the Magadht, p. xiii.
I See Ind. Alt. IV. p. 97 seqq.
A. Weber's Verzeichniss der Sanskrit-Handschrif ten der Königl. Bibliothek u Berlin, p. 247, and Reinaud's Mémoire &c. sur l'Inde, p. 121 and p. 122.
The passage in question occurs in the ed. of Kosegarten p. 884 seqq. in the 5th book of that work. The soene of this tale is placed in Pataliputra, erroneously stated to be situated in Dakshinapatha.
[JULY, 1873.
Buddha to Arhatám deva, and specially points to the nudity of the Jainas. According to this testimony the Jainas before the end of the 5th century differed from the Baud thas. In the Panchatantra-which collection of fables is well known to have been translated into the Huzvaresh language during the reign of the Sasanian Khosru Anushirvân, and the composition whereof must at all events be assumed before A. D. 500-by the name Jina and Jinds, the Jainas only, and not the Buddhists, must be meant.** So far as the testimonies of classic authors are concerned, such mentioned cannot at all be taken into account passages as those in which the Γυμνοσοφισταί are here, because this name designates Brahmanic ascetics and philosophers so called, not because of their total nudity, but only because of the scantiness of their attire. After this elimination, only the gloss of Hesychios, who lived Térvos, ol Tuprocopioral. before the end of the 5th century, remains, i. e.
It is a mistake to assert that the Buddhist school of the Sammatiyas was not different from the Jainas. It suffices, in order to demonstrate the inadmissibility of this assertion, to mention that the Sammatiyas founded their doctrines upon the Hinayana-Sútra, which kind of literature is altogether foreign to the Jainas.
The only information of the Chinese pilgrim which certainly relates to the Jaings is the statement that the Jaina sect, which he calls Svetavass, and elsewhere Svetâmbara, was in Takshasilâ.
most important point to be investigated concerns After the origin of the Jaina religion, the the time of the last year of the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, Mahavira or Vira; in order
+ This assertion has been made by A. Weber in his dissertation über das Satrunjaya Mahatmyam, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Jaina, p. 9 seqq. The opinion that Siladitya the Vallabhi king was an adherent of the Jaina doctrine is just se untenable: it entirely contra dicts the date of Hiwen Theang, and the seven Buddhas worshipped by that monarch according to III. p. 514, note 8, and IV. p. 543, and cannot pass as an argument in favour of that supposition. When Weber asserts that this Biladitya was the king of the same name of Kanyakubja he overlooks the express testimony of the Chinese pilgrim, 208, that this Siladitya lived 60 years before his visit to Maharashtra; that immediately afterwards Brahmapura and Kita the countries subjugated by him, are mentioned, and that the word aujourdhui occurs in quite another passage, p. 670.
L
p.
I See Ind. Alt. IV. p. 670.