Chanakya Explored in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Firodaya Prakashan

Page 72

keenly documented the floating legends of Cāņakya whenever they got the opportunity.
The other noteworthy thing is, when Jainas pictured Cāņakya or Kautilya as parama-śrāvaka, his treatise becomes a samyakśruta automatically.
Thus it is not proper to interprete the passages describing mithyāśrutas in the Anuyogadvāra and the Nandi on its face-value, but a deeper insight is necessary. [7] The Atura-pratyākhyāna (II) is an old Jaina Māhārāstrī text, enumerated under the old prakīrņakas. This anonymous text is probably included in the traditional 45 Ardhamāgadhi canons during the 5th century A.D.
The 23rd gāthā of the prakīrņaka mentions - एसो (एवं) सुहपरिणामो चाणक्को पयहिऊण नियदेहं ।
उववन्नो सुरलोए, पच्चक्खायं मए सव्वं ।। The religious minded person, who has accepted the willful death (sasthārā) exclaims, “Cāņakya allowed to burn his body, remaining in the pure state of mind (or soul). Due to this noble act, he was reborn in the heaven. Likewise, I will also abandone all my attachments.”
The prakīrņaka and mostly all of the old prakīrņakas deal with paņdita-maraņa (i.e. the death of wise persons). Cāņakya’s unpurturbed mental state, unparallelled power of endurance and detached view towards life at the last moment of his life are highly appreciated and praised in the prakīrņakas. The same regard is seen in one of the oldest Digambara text named the Bhagavati Ārādhanā.