Arya Bhadrabahu

Author(s): M A Dhaky
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M. A. Dhaky
Jambū-jyoti
The next source, which preserves a small piece of information on Bhadrabāhu, is the Uttarādhyayana-niryukti (c. A.D. 525). In this work it is reported that the four disciples of Bhadrabahu (the niryukti does not specify their names) died in peace in a cave at Vaibhāragiri near Rājagủha, having faced śīta parisaha, visitation of severe chillo3 :
राजगिहमि वयंसा सीसा चउरो उ भद्दबाहुस्स। वेभारगिरिगुहाए सीयपरिसया समाहिगया ।
-उत्तराध्ययननियुक्ति ९१ The Uttarādhyayana-niryukti's verse, in point of fact, clarifies the import of a relevant (and earlier) verse from the Maranavibhakti-prakirnaka (c. 2nd3rd cent. A.D.)44, which apparently alludes to this very incident although, like the Uttarādhyayana niryukti, it specifies no names of the friars involved : it does mention Rājagrha, but not the Vaibhāragiri cave there. Moreover, it does not specifically state that these four were the disciples of Bhadrabāhu :
रायगिहनिग्गया खलु पडिमापडिपन्नगा मुनीचउरो। सीत विहूय कमेणं पहरे पहरे गया सिद्धि ।
-मरणविभक्तिप्रकीर्णक ४८९ However, the combined information from the last two sources would lead to infer that, what was intended to be conveyed, is the death of the four disciples of Bhadrabahu due to the visitation of severe chill (on Vaibhāragiri) in Rājagrha. According to the Uttarādhyayana cürni (c. A.D. 675-700), these four disciples were of the Vanika (merchant) community and belonged to Rājag?ha45. But each one of them, according to this source, died at a different locale within Rājagrha46. These four disciples evidently were different, as will be shown, from the earlier four noted, beginning from Godāsa, in the Sthavinavali. We will look into other information in the post-niryukti literature as the discussion progresses.
Turning now to the Southern literary sources, the earliest two works which tabulate the spiritual lineage of Bhadrabāhu, namely the Trilokaprajñapti47 and the Sravanabelgola Inscription No. 148 are about five to three centuries and odd decades posterior to the relevant two earlier portions of the Sthavirāvalī of the Paryusana-kalpa cited in the foregoing discussion. And the two sources next in date, the Harivamsa-purana49 and the Dhavalä