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अनुसन्धान-५४ श्रीहेमचन्द्राचार्यविशेषांक भाग-२
Are Pāndava Brothers Jaina or Non-Jaina? An unprecedented explanation by Ācārya Hemacandra
Padmanabh S. Jaini
A list of 54 uttama-purushas (in the present avasarpini) appears in the Samavāya (#54). The list begins with names of twenty-four Tirthankaras (from Rshabha to Mahāvira). Then appear the names of twelve Cakravartins: Bharata, Sagara, Maghavā, Sanatkumāra, Shānti, Kunthu, Ara, Subhauma, Mahāpadma, Harishena, Jaya, and Brahmadatta.
The Samavāya next introduces two entirely new categories of “uttama-purushas”, called Baladeva and Vāsudeva. They are described as duve duve Rāma-Kesavā bhāyaro, nine pairs of brothers. The elder, the more virtuous one, is called Rāma (also Balarāma or Baladeva) and the younger, the supreme warrior, is called Keshava (also Vāsudeva and Nārāyana). For example, the 8th Rāma (Rāma, the son of Dasharatha) is a Baladeva, while his younger brother Lakshmana is the 8th Keshava (Vāsudeva or Nārāyana). Another famous pair is of the 9th Baladeva, whose proper name is Balarāma, and the 9lh Keshava, Balarāma's younger brother Krishna Vāsudeva (also known as Nārāyana, and Vishnu in later Jain texts).
Although they are not "uttama-purushas”, the Samavāya gives an additional category of the deadly enemy of the Vāsudeva, called Prati-Vāsudeva (or Prati-Nārāyana), also nine in number. The Vasudeva inevitably kills him and then rules as “Ardha-Cakrin”, the Lord of the Three Continents of the Bharata-kshetra. For example, Lakshmana (and not Rāma) kills Rāvana (his Prati-Vāsudeva); Krishna kills Jarāsandha (his PratiVāsudeva).
A grand narrative of the 54 Mahāpurushas (24+12+9+9)
