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फेब्रुआरी २०११
In some ninety verses the King related this (Bhārata) genealogy of the Pāndavas. Accordingly, Vādicandra calls this First Canto “Shivapurāna (i.e., Bhārata)-abhimata-Pāndavotpattivarnano nāma prathamah sargah//
Hearing him, the Venerable Gautama, the great monk, endowed with avadhi-jnāna said:
nedam tathyam, asatyatām upagatam, na shrāvyam etat kathā/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 Pāndavas as is spoken from the mouth of the monk Gautama.”
The Second Canto, containing Gautama's account of the true genealogy is therefore aptly called “Jaina-mataabhimata-Dhritarāshtra-Pāndu-Vidura-sambhava-varnano nāma dvitiyah sargah/" In the remaining seventeen sargas, Vādicandra narrates the story of the Pāndavas, (ending in their becoming Jaina munis and attaining moksha) as it is found in the Digambara Mahāpurāna of Ācārya Gunabhadra mentioned above.
As error must precede correction, it is evident that Bhattāraka Vādicandra unwittingly granted priority to the Mahābhārata version of the Pandava story. The Mahābhārata is known as Itihāsa, "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 Pāndavas 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 Bhattāraka Vādicandra and by Acārya Hemacandra.
