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फेब्रुआरी २०११
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was first produced by Acārya Shilānka in his Prakrit CauppannaMahāpurisacariya, in Vikrama Samvat 933 (877 A.D.). The great Ācārya Hemacandra (1088-1172 A.D.) added the nine Prati-Vāsudevas also and produced his massive Sanskrit Trishashti-shalākāpurusha-caritra (The Lives of Sixty-three Illustrious Persons). Notable among the Digambaras are Ācārya Jinasena (c. 800-848 A.D.) and Gunabhadra (c. 803-895 A.D.). They produced a similar work, entitled Trishashti-lakshanaMahāpurāna-sangraha (also known as Mahāpurāna).
Looking at the grand scale of these works, scholars like Klaus Bruhn (see Introduction to the CauppannaMahāpurisacariya) have hailed them as Jaina attempts at presenting “Universal History."
But it is a “Universal History” where each one of these sixty-three great men is born in a Jaina family and hence presumed to be Jaina. Only the twenty-four Tirthankaras (Jinas) can thus be truly described. They find no mention whatsoever in the Brāhmanical Epics or Purānas. The Cakravartins appear to be a mixed group: three Tirthankaras (Shānti, Kunthu, Ara) also appear in this list. Of the remaining, many like Sagara, Sanatkumāra and Brāhmadatta, are served by brahmana ministers, advocates of the Vedic sacrifices. The novel categories Baladeva/ Vāsudeva, are evidently based on the personal names of the brothers Balarāma and Vāsudeva Krishna (and his enemy Jarāsandha), whose valiant exploits are grandly described in the Brahmanical Itihāsa (Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata) and the Purānas.
It is not likely that the Jaina authors might not have heard these episodes popular among the people, notably in Gujarat and Karnataka. However, one looks in vain among Jaina works listed above, for even a single expression of familiarity with or an acknowledgement of a non-Jaina source such as the Mahābhārata of Vyāsa.
In the genealogy of the Jaina-Hari-vamsha, Andhaka
