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Arhat Pārsva and Dharanendra Nexus: An Introductory Estimation
ganadharas by name were Subha, Subhaghoșa, Vasistha, Brahmacārī, Soma, Sridhara, Virabhadra, and Yasa. (The names given in the Sthānănga are the same except for the last two which are Virya, and Bhadrayaśa). 18 The chief leader of the friars was Dinna, while the chief of the nuns or mother superior was Puspacūlā. 19 The principal man lay-votary was Suvrata20 while the corresponding position for the lady lay-follower was held by Sunandā. (The highly inflated figures given in the texts for the numbers of friars, omniscients, nuns, and the lay-votaries need not detain us).21
During his itineraries, Arhat Pārśva is said to have visited Ahicchatrā, Āmalakappā, Arakkhuri, Campā, Hastinapura, Kāmpilyapura, Kauśämbi, Mathurā, and Nāgapura; also Rājagrha, Sāketa and Srāvasti. Beyond these facts, what little is said, is all mythical. Even the date as to when he flourished is, to my sensing, doubtful. Indeed the separation of as many as 250 years envisaged between him and Arhat Vardhamāna22 which would place his date somewhere in the bracket B.C. 877-777 or 817-71723 does not seem to accord with some more tangible facts. For example:
(1) The way Keśi, a patriarch of the sect of Pārsva, is introduced in the opening statement of his dialogue with Gautama, the chief disciple and ganadhara-apostle of Nātaputta Vardhamāna,24 seems to indicate that not many years had elapsed between the two Jinas. Also, the manner in, and phraseology by which Vardhamana refers to Pārsva, which includes “Arahā purisādānīya Pāsa" indicates that he acknowledged Pārśva as senior to him but seemingly not too distant in time from him.
(2) The antiquity of Vārānasi where the Jina Pārsva was born does not go beyond eighth-seventh century B.C. Pārsva, therefore, could not have flourished in the nintheighth century B.C. Likewise, the antiquity of some of the cities he is said to have visited, like Campā, Mathurā, Rājagrha, etc. (if the information is correct), does not go beyond seventh-sixth century B.C. on archaeological evidence. Pārsva, therefore, could not have started his ascetic career before the beginning of the sixth century
B.C.
(3) The late medieval work, the Nābhinandana jinoddhāra-prabandha (A.D. 1337) of Kakka sūri of Ukeśa-gaccha, traces the gaccha's origin in the aforenoted Keśī of the Pārsva's sect, his hagiography given there is as follows:26
Arhat Pārsva
ganadhara Subhadatta
Kesi
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