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फेब्रुअरी २०११
In some ninety verses the King related this (Bhārata) genealogy of the Pandavas. Accordingly, Vadicandra calls this First Canto "Shivapurāna (i.e., Bhārata)-abhimata-Pandavotpattivarnano nāma prathamah sargah//
१५९
Hearing him, the Venerable Gautama, the great monk, endowed with avadhi-jnana said:
nedam tathyam, asatyatām upagatam, na shravyam etat katha/I, 164 c.
"This is not as it truly is. This is certainly false. This is not a story to listen to. But one should listen to the glory of the Pandavas as is spoken from the mouth of the monk Gautama."
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The Second Canto, containing Gautama's account of the true genealogy is therefore aptly called “Jaina-mataabhimata-Dhritarashtra-Pāndu-Vidura-sambhava-varnano nāma dvitiyah sargah/" In the remaining seventeen sargas, Vādicandra narrates the story of the Pandavas, (ending in their becoming Jaina munis and attaining moksha) as it is found in the Digambara Mahāpurāna of Acarya Gunabhadra mentioned above.
As error must precede correction, it is evident that Bhattaraka Vādicandra unwittingly granted priority to the Mahabharata version of the Pandava story. The Mahabharata is known as Itihasa, "history" (of court intrigues, wars of succession) of the kingdoms in ancient times, and in the present case, the history of the Great War between the Pandavas and their cousins, the Kauravas, in which Krishna plays a major part.
The time frame measured by the four Yugas (KritaTretā-Dvāpara-Kali) within which this Great War took place presents a new means for testing the validity of the two competing Jaina versions of the same event, by Bhattaraka Vadicandra and by Acarya Hemacandra.
