Book Title: Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study
Author(s): Nagaraj Muni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 542
________________ 502 as a god, where he will live as long as 22 sāgaropamas, on completion of which he will be born in Mahāvide ha and from there, he will attain the status of Liberated Souls (187). Gleaning carefully through the two accounts, one may be left free to wander why Abhayakumāra and Abhayarajakumat should not be taken as two separate persons. Leaving aside the only fact that they had a common father, all other evidences would support the suggestion that they were two distinct persons. According to the Buddhist tradition, Abhayarajkumāra was the name of the father of the royal physician, Jivaka Kaumārabhrtya, but the Jaina tradition gives no hint to that effect. Coming to other differences, while the mother of one is the daughter of a merchant, that of the other is no more than a prostitute woman; while one is the chief minister of Magadha, the other is only an expert charioteer; while one is initiated by Mahavira, the other is initiated by the Buddha. Abhayo. arājkumāra is stated to have given up the nirgrantha religion and too shelter in the religion of the Buddha, Had Abhayarājkumāra been the same person as Abhayakumāra, how could there be an account of his initiation by Mahavira? Srenika Bimbis ara had many sons, and it should cause no surprise if two of them bore similar names. 'Indeed, if all the discussions in the two traditions refer to a single person, then it is worthwhile to note that the Jaina account of his initiation in the nirgyantha religion is a part of the Agama named Anuttarovavayiyadasa, which is one of the 11 fundamental texts. It must have been written prior to the second century of the preVikrama era (188). The Buddhist account of his initiation is contained in the Atthakathā andThera Apadāna(189). The Atthakathā is a posterior construction, and even Apadana of the Tripitaka literature is considered to belong to a later period(190). 'Udrayana' is one of the names of a king that figures in the list of those initiated in both the orders. According to the Budahist work, Avadā nakalpalatā, (191), the name

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804