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CHRONOLOGY OF GUJARAT
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have banished his son Vijaya, the latter of whom heard of Buddha's death on his reaching Lankā (Ceylon) from Bharukaccha. Vijaya is said to have landed and stayed for three months in Bharukaccha, while on his way to Ceylon.
By far the most important place mentioned by the early Buddhist literature is Bharukaccha, modern Broach.
In the Vinaya Pițaka (Oldenberg, III, p. 39) a story of a Buddhist Bhikṣu from Bharukaccha is told, who in a dream saw him self sleeping with another woman, and who accordingly thought himself to be guilty of the Parajika sin. Upali ruled out that he was blameless. (Buddha-ghoșa, Samanta pasadika. I, p. 283). In subsequent literature, this incident is referred to as 'Bharukaccha Vatthu'.
In the Jātaka literature, at least three references to Bharukaccha as a seaport are met with. In the Bharu Jātaka (Fonsball, p. 169, No. 213 ) it is told that Bodhisattva once went to the land of Bharu, with a caravan of merchants to buy salt and vinegar, from the Himva region. The Suppāraka Jātaka (No. 463, IV, p. 137-393) tells us that Bodhisattva was once born as a mastermariner of Bharukaccha. In the Sussondi Jātaka (No. 360, Jataka III, p. 188) regular trade between Suvarnna Bhūmi and Bharukaccha is mentioned; it also mentions a caravan-route starting from Benares and passing through the deserts of Rajputana, which terminated at Bharukaccha. Frequent trading activities between Suvarnna Bhūmi, Sopāraka and Bharukaccha are mentioned in Apadāna (II, p. 476), Mahā-Nidessa (I, p. 155), and Manoratha Pūram (I, p. 156). In the Suppāraka Jataka (IV, p. 137-39), Bharukaccha is stated to be within one night's journey by sea from Sopara.
The geographical interpretation of the word 'Bharukaccha' whose component parts Bharu and Kaccha mean a 'marshy land', according to Pāṇini ( Aştādhyāyi, 4. 2. 126, and 4. 2. 133 ), is suggested by a story in the Bharu-Jātaka to justify the geographic features which refers to the faction between two parties of merchants who came to reside in this city. They sought the help of king Bharu to settle their dispute. The king having decided in favour of the wrong party, the whole land of Bharu, about 300 leagues in length, submerged into the sea by the wrath of gods. According to Hindu Purāņas, the name of Bhrigu (and, or) Jāmadagnya is said to have been associated with Bharukaccha, which is said to have been sunk into the sea with the arrows of Paraśurāma. (Brahmānda Purāņa, III. 57, Vv. 47).
People from Bharukaccha are referred to in Atthasālini (p. 305) and Milinda-Panha ( S. B. E., p. 211).
Connected with Bharukaccha, in the same context, we find the name of another sea-port in Western India, Supparaka, which also belonged to
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