Comprehensive History Of Jainism

Author(s): Aseem Kumar Chatterjee
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd

Page 99

JAINISM IN ORISSA
73
not undertake any fresh military expedition, but we are told that he performed the Rājasūya24 sacrifice and spent a lot of money on this particular occasion. D.C. Sircar25 believes that as a Jaina, Khāravela could not have performed this sacrifice and therefore he suggests a slightly different reading for that word. We should not however forget that the demarcation line between the Hindu and Jaina religions was rather thin in those days and, as suggested by a passage of the Bhagavatī,26 even Mahāvīra did not hesitate to accept non-vegetarian food. The king Khāravela, as we will see elsewhere, is described as having repaired deva temples. There is thus not at all surprising to find an able military conqueror like him performing the Rājasūya sacrifice. 27 It is not possible to say anything regarding his achievements in the seventh year in view of a quite a number of missing or damaged words, but from those that remain it appears that he did not undertake any military expedition that year. In the eighth year however the Orissan monarch resolved to carry out some. ambitious military expeditions into the heart of northern and eastern India. Here too a few words are missing but, fortunately for us, a number of proper nouns are preserved. They are Goradhagiri (probably the Barabar hills), Rājagaha, Mathurā, and Yavana (king). It has rightly been conjectured that with a large army (mahatā senā) Khāravela himself first attacked Magadha and plundered Rajgir and the Barabar hills. Subsequently, emboldened by his success, he proceeded towards Mathurā which was under an Indo-Greek ruler at that time and succeeded in defeating him. The name of this particular Indo-Greek king has been read as 'Dimita' by Jayaswal, but he cannot be the king Demetrios who ruled in the first half of the second century BC, at least one hundred years before Khāravela. The passage of this inscription, however, strongly suggests that in mid-first century BC, Mathurā was under a later Indo-Greek ruler.
The Jaina commentaries, 28 tell us about a certain Yavana king of Mathurā who assassinated the Jaina monk Danda in Jauņāvamka park in the city. It is tempting to suggest that Khāravela wanted to punish this particular Greek king of Mathurā for his persecution of the Jaina monks. In any case, the expedition of the eighth year was a complete success and evidently enhanced the prestige of this valiant Orissan monarch. We are further told that after this expedition he satisfied the Brāhmaṇas by showering lavish presents on them. In the ninth year this victorious monarch celebrated his military success by building a pāsāda (palace) called Mahāvijaya which