Doctrine of Jainas

Author(s): Walther Shubring, Wolfgang Beurlen
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 46

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DOCTRINE or TIC JAINAS northern borough of Vaiśālī, the Besārh ofour days, callcd Kundapura (Āyır.) or Kundagrāma (Jinac ), the Basukund of to-day, It was here where the nobleman (khattıya) Nāya lived whose name is rendered in Pali by Nātika and in Sanskrit texts rightly by Jnātr The father belonging to this clan-and consequently also his children--were Kāśyapa acc. to thc Gotra, while the mother was a Vāsısthi Their names are Siddhattha and Tisalā with two more being added to cach, the latter being but sporadıcally referred to and probably so as to serve mcrcly thc uniformity with the three names of the son to be mentioned presently Tradition gave great importance to Mahāvīra's Kshatriya and not Brahman descent, and with the Svetāmbaras at least it did so to the degree that it adopted the legend of Baladeva's embryonal transplantation from Rohini into Devakia and represented Mahavira as being the physical son of the Brahman couple of Usabhadatta and Devānandā in the Brahman borough of Kundapura Acc to Viy 456a, however, Devanandā is acknowledged by Mahāvīra as being his true mother. In Viy. 218a he refers to the role of transplanter played by Hari Negamesi", but he does so without any relation to himself
The name of Mahāvīra is an attributc inspired by profound reverence and traced back to the gods The curtailed form is Vira samana, as he is said to have called himself, is as far from being a proper name as is, for instance, “the Son of Man” His civil name is Vaddhamana, “the prospering one", which in the texts, however, is interpreted as "the promoter" The verb vaddhai does not occur, 4 but only vaddhai leading up to the by far less frequent form of Vaddhamāna (Āyār II, 15, 12, Samav 151a). As a member of the clan of the Nāya Mahāvīra is called Nãya (putta) (Viy 323b), as a Kāśyapa Kāsava (a o Utt 2,
I Comp JACOBI, SPAW 1930, p 564f Scc before HOERNLE, Uvās II, p 3ff and Proceedings As Soc Bong 1898, 40, JACOBI, SBC 22, XI F
2 Comp JACOBI SBE 22, XXXI, ERE 7, 466b 6. 3 About him see WINTERNITZ IRAS 1895, 149ff
4 Only vaddhāvei “to congratulate”, comp PISCHEL, Gr § 291 F An historical mon of Vaiśāli was compiled by VIJAYENDRA sūri (BQ 1958, Guy )