Book Title: Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela and Bhabru Edict of Asoka
Author(s): Shashi Kant
Publisher: D K Print World

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Page 152
________________ 126 The Hathigumpha Inscription and the Bhabru Edict Mahavira, the monks donning white robe got the nomenclature Śvetāmbara (the White Robed); later on some other colours were also added. In course of time the sectarian differences became so prominent that the Digambaras declared the first 11 Angas as lost because the Svetambaras claimed to preserve them, and vice versa the Śvetāmbaras treated the 12th Anga as lost because the Digambaras claimed to preserve its knowledge. Further, they made different life stories of the Tirthankaras so-much-so as altering the fact and place of birth, time and place of First Sermon and even the timing and spot of nirvāņa of Mahāvira; began spelling the names of holy places differently (e.g., Sammed-Shikharji and Sammet-Shikharji); started observing the parva (holy days) on different days and in different ways; and rendered even the mangala-sloka differently: the Digambara saying - Mangalam Bhagavan Viro, Mangalam Gautamo Gani. Mangalam Kundakundādyā, Jainadharmostu mangalam. while the Svetambara would say Mangalam Bhagavan Viro, Mangalam Gautamo Prabhuḥ. Mangalam Sthūlibhadrādyā, Jainadharmostu mangalam. Kalinga and Jainism According to the Jain puranic tradition, Rṣabhadeva, the first Tirthankara, is said to have named a region Kalinga after the name of one of his 100 sons to whom that region was bequeathed. But it is not possible to infer the geographical situation of that Kalinga. The coastal tract along the Bay of Bengal between the rivers Damodar and Godavari, has been known as Kalinga in the historical times. Its association with Jainism dates back to nearly 28 centuries. Karakandu, originally a prince of Campă (in Bihar) and later a king of Kalinga, is said to have been a follower of Pārsvanatha (nirvāņa circa 777 BC), the 23rd Tīrthankara. Thereafter, a sister of Siddhartha, the father of Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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