Epigraphia Indica Vol 20

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 92

No. 7.]
THE HATHIGUMPHA INSCRIPTION OF KHARAVELA
and the kings of the dynasty founded by him. Therefore his mention in the Hathigumpha inscription proves definitely that Kharavela must have flourished in the first half of the 2nd century B.C.
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The compilation (upadayati) of the Amgas is described in line 16 as the crowning act of glory of Kharavela. This was undertaken and completed in the 13th year. Learned Jainas from all over India were assembled in a conference (samghayanam), evidently on the Kumari Hill of sacred associations, and they put together once more the scattered or lost sacred texts of Jainism. The Jaina tradition asserts that in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya a Jaina con ference was held at Päṭaliputra after the 12 years' famine was over but that no agreement could be reached as to the restoration of the texts. Kharavela's wide conquests from the Pandya country up to the North-Western Frontiers and from the Maratha country up to Magadha and his consequent political influence made it possible for him to have the texts recompiled. That the term Anga' denotes the Jaina canonical Angas is proved by the adjective consisting of 64' (choyathi), which is a very difficult and mysterious expression. The Jaina tradition says that 64 letters make up the Jaina sacred literature. The Jainas at present give a mystic interpretation, vide Mr. J. L. Jaini in his Introduction to the Jiva-Khanda of the Gommaṭasāra at p. 12. He says: The knowledge of Sruti, Śruta-Jñana, may be of things which are contained in the Angas (Limbs or sacred books of the Jainas) or of things outside the Angas. There are 64 simple letters of the alphabet. Of these 33 are consonants, 27 vowels and 4 auxiliary (which help in the formation of compound letters). The total number of possible combinations of these 64 simple letters into compounds of 2, 3, 4, or more up to 64 letters is: 24-1-1,84,46,74, 40,73,70,95,51,615.
These are the letters (simple and compound) of Śruta in its entirety. This number being divided by 16,348,307,888, which is the number of letters in a central foot (madhyamapada) of the Paramagama (Sacred Jaina Literature), gives us the number of padas of the Angas as 11,283, 58,005. The remainder 80,108,175 gives us the letters of that part of Śruta which is not contained in the Angas. This part is divided into 14 Prakīrņakas".
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In our opinion the Jainas had an alphabet of 64 letters several of which were not actual letters but symbols.
One school of the Jainas maintains that only 11 Angas were recovered after the loss. If we read "Anga-satika-turiyam" instead of "Amga satika(m) turiyam" we may get the meaning that the re-compiled Angas were in two groups, Satika saptika, group of seven texts, and Turiya turiya, a group of four texts. In any case the Jaina tradition about the loss and the recovery of the texts stands confirmed, and here we find another instance of the faithfulness of the Jaina tradition. The monks honoured at the Kumari Hill in the 13th year were Svētāmbaras as they were given pieces of China-cloth (silk) (china-vatani china-vastrani) and white robes (vāsa-sitāni). Kharavela, by his religious enterprise, was emulating Chandragupta and Asoka. But posterity has completely forgotten him.
Fortunately the majority of the names of places mentioned in this record can be identified. Kalimganagari is the ancient capital. Kalinga, a city which has now disappeared, lay close to Kalingapatanam, a place on the Bay of Bengal in the Ganjam district of the Madras Presidency. Kanha-bernna is Krishna-verna of the Rashtrakuta period and the modern Krishna. Musikanagaram was probably a city on the river Musi in its upper reaches near Golkonda-Hyderabad
1 On the occurrence of China in the Arthasästra and its connection with Shina the Gilgit tribe see Hindu Polity,' I, 212; cf. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. X, pt. 4, p. 5n.
[The Kannapenna or Kappabanna of Pali literature.-Ed.]
The confluence of the Musi and the Krishna is mentioned in a copper-plate, ante, Vol. VI, p. 209. [Muziris on the Malabar coast is suggested as a possible alternative-R. D. B.]