Arya Bhadrabahu

Author(s): M A Dhaky
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M. A. Dhaky
Jambu-jyoti
arguably contained Pārsva's pravacana or teachings. The only pontiff who is said to have possessed the knowledge of the Purva-texts was Bhadrabăhu who was not present at the Synod. (It is not clarified where he then was and why was he not present despite his eminence.) A messenger from the Council was sent to him, respectfully addressing him as the 'Jina of their times' and requesting him to pass the knowledge of those texts to the Council, to which he declined, expressing as he did disconcern and detachment. That angered the (leaders of the) Sangha who next sent a categorical/unequivocal notice warning him that he, as he himself is aware of the rule, in that event, will be excommunicated. Thereupon Bhadrabahu yielded, agreeing to impart instruction to some bright young mendicants. Whereupon Sthūlabhadra', alongwith 500 friars--the figure of course is very highly inflated, a characteristic tendency noticeable in Jaina writings of this class—was sent. While other mendicants eventually deserted since the tempo of teaching was very slow, Sthūlabhadra alone persisted : and he persevered in learning from Bhadrabāhu. He progressively learnt the ten Purva-texts. In the meantime his seven sisters (who had embraced the Order of the Nuns) came to visit him”. Bhadrabāhu informed them that Sthūlabhadra then was meditating behind the Siva temple. In order to impress them with the supernatural powers he had acquired, Sthūlabhadra assumed the form of a lion which frightened the nuns who ran back to Bhadrabāhu telling him that the lion seems to have devoured Sthūlabhadra. Bhadrabāhu assured them that the lion is Sthūlabhadra himself. This incident of misuse, by Sthūlabhadra, of the extraordinary powers made Bhadrabāhu unhappy. He, consequently, refused to impart further instruction to Sthūlabhadra whose repentance-full appealings softened him and he passed the texts of the remaining four Purvas but withheld the exposition of their meaning. Ignoring the miraculous element which predictably emanated from the belief that the Purvas included a text that embodied the secrets of magical powers (Vijjāpāhuda/ Vidyāprābhrta ?)—the belief reflecting profound reverence of later ages toward the assumed mystical character of, and awe in which the long lost Purva-texts were held by, the later writers--the central fact remains that Sthūlabhadra had been deputed to Bhadrabāhu by the Pātaliputra Synod to learn the Destivāda that included the Pūrva texts. The BhadrabāhuSthūlabhadra connection may be inferred through an earlier reference,