Jain Siddhant Bhaskar

SR No.: 034880
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hiralal Professor and Others
Publisher: Jain Siddhant Bhavan
Publication Year: 1938
Total Pages: 122
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 9 MB

Page 96

JAINA ANTIQUARY.
[ Vol. III
In the history of the Jainas, Podanapura holds a prominent place and the earliest mention of it in the Jaina literature, is found in the "Padmacarit" of Ravisena, where it has been described as Pautana, the capital of Vahubali, who was the son of Rṣabhadeva, the first Jaina Tîrthankara and who having fought successfully with his elder brother Bharata Cakravarti, renounced the world and became a naked saint, only to be first to attain liberation in this cycle of time.1 This very story has been narrated also, by the authors of Harivamsapurāņa and Mahāpurāna. They style it as Podana. In the Mahāpurāṇa it is said that the messenger who was sent by Bharat to Bahubali's capital Podanapur saw it filled with rice and sugarcane fields and the remarkable thing is that he reached Podanapura from Ayodhya in a limited time. And it is stated in Harivamsapurāņa that the messenger started from Ayodhya to west in order to reach Podanapura.*
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Besides Podanapura's prominent mention in connection with Vahubali, we hear of it in the life story of Parsvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara. The scene of the very first prebirth of the pious soul of Lord Parsva is laid up in Podanapura of the time of one Rājā Aravinda. Aravinda's priest was Viswabhūti, who had two sons Kamatha and Marubhuti. The latter's soul becomes the great Jain saint in an after birth. The story is so fascinating that it has been narrated by many a Jain poet. The renowned author of the Pārsvabhyudaya," I mean Sri Jinasena, intervenes the most of the famous Meghadūta' of Kālidās in his Kāvya. He had pointed there that. Kamatha, the brother of Marubhuti, having been banished from Podanapura, joined an Asrama of Tāpasas at the Ramgiri hill, which was situated on a bank of a river.
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Śri Vādirājsûri in his "Pārsvacarit " has also described Podanapura, as the capital of Suramyadeśa, famous for its Saîi
1. Padmacarit, Parva IV, sls. 67-77.
2. Harivansa purāņa sarga XI.
3. Mahāpurana (Indore ed) Parva XXXV.
4. Harivansa, Surga XI SI. 79.
5. Bloomfield's Life and Stories of Parcvanatha & qieàtner