Ancient Jaina Hymns

Author(s): Charlotte Krause
Publisher: SCIndia Oriental Institute Ujain

Page 46

ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS
when Śakunika-vihara was an impressive stone building and a renowned Jaina place of pilgrimage. Since the poem itself is anonymous and undated, it will be necessary to define that period more precisely so as to ascertain the time of its composition. What happened to Asvavabodha and Sakunika-vihāra after its restoration by Sudarsanā ?
Literature is full of accounts of its existence, its sanctity and popularity, and of its being restored and embellished over and again by kings and ministers'. Some of those accounts lead back into mythological darkness, so that it is not easy to draw a sharp line between legend and history. According to a summary of the history of the shrine, given in the Prabhavaka-carita2, Asvavabodha had twice been restored previous to Sudarsana, viz., by the pre-historical emperors Padma (i. e., Śri-Rama) and Harisena. After the restoration effected by Sudarsanā, it is related to have been renewed by the Śravaka King Samprati, Asoka's grandson, who, according to Jaina belief, never tired of building and restoring temples of the Tirthankaras, nor of installing their images, though there are historians who doubt his existence. Then followed a restoration effected, on Siddhasena's advice, by the great Vikramaditya, who, in the essential aspects, shares Samprati's fate. The subsequently reported events indicate that the poet indeed refers to the "Samvatsara-pravartaka" of 56 A. D., though in reality, Siddhasena was not contemporary with the latter, but with some Gupta-Vikramāditya3.
(1) Vide the above note for bibliography.
(2) Loc. cit. VI, 1, p. 41 ff.
(3) Vid my article "Siddhasena Divakara and Vikramaditya" in the English Vikramaditya Memorial Volume published by the Gwalior State.
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