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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAM
completely Jainised or the Jaina tradition has assimilated them and has depicted them as a cultured people. In the following lines an attempt is made to assess the probability of their historical existence.
Vidyadharas :-According to the Paumacariyam1 Nami and Vinami established the Vidyadhara dynasty. It was Rṣabha, the first Tirthankara who installed them as the first kings of the Vijayardha mountain. They were called Vidyadhara because they were gifted with supernatural powers (Vidyas). It is quite apparent from the study of the PCV that the Vidyadharas were not imaginary people. They had their own territories and kingdoms. In the Valmiki Rāmāyaṇa2, the Vidyadharas are mentioned but sporadically and those references do not give any solid information about their settlements and territories. The Jaina tradition always mentions the Vijayardha or the Vaitāḍhya (Vindhya) mountains as the place of their settlements. An ancient inscription refers to the Vidyadharas and on that basis the Vidhyadharas have been identified with the aboriginal tribes of the Vindhyas by Dr. B.C. law. It will be worthwhile to quote him who records, "In the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela the Rathikas and Bhojakas are introduced in such a manner as to have no room for doubt that they were ruling chiefs of the Vidyadhara settlements (Vijadharadhivāśa). The Jambudivapannatti connects the Vidyadharas with the Vaitaḍhya or Vindhya range and speaks of their eighteen settlements. When the Jatakas speak of sixteen Bhojaputtas, one may understand that they were the ruling chiefs of sixteen Vidyadhara tracts along the Vindhyas. From these references it may be inferred that the Vidyadharas were not mythical beings but some aboriginal tribes that settled along the Vindhyas". Even in the seventh cent. A. D. the princes of the Sīlāhāra dynasty are found to be tracing their origin to the Vidyadharas and the Navasahasankacarita vouchsafes to the existence of a Vidyadhara dynasty ruling to the south of the Narmada-i. e. the region of the Vindhyas or Veyaḍḍha1.
Rākṣasas:-The PCV states that Vidyadhara Meghavahana was made the first ruler of the Rākṣasadvīpa". He left his Vidyadhara brethren behind in the Vindhyas and carved out a separate territory in the south. The PCV further mentions twice that the Rākṣasas were
1. See Supra. 'Origin of various Vamsas'.
2. Ibid.
3. IDET BJ, pp. 106-106.
4. See Karakandacariu, Int. pp. 41,46,48 (ED. H. L. Jain).
5.
See Origin of Vidyadhara Dynasty Supra.
