History of Jaina Monachism

Author(s): S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute

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S. B. DEO in unbelievable numbers, but also in a descending sequence which gives the whole an appearance of a deliberate planning of mythology rather than a sound historical chronology. JACOBI, therefore, rightly remarks that beyond Pārsva, everything is "lost in the mist of fable and fiction". Pārsvanātha:
Irrespective of the fact that even the longevity attributed to Parśva100 years—seems to be a part of the whole sequence, yet "the moderation of the Jainas upto the time of Pārsva is the most remarkable as after that they far outstrip all their compeers in the race of absurdity, making the lives of their Tirthankaras extend to thousands of years, and interposing between them countless ages, thus enabling us to trace with some confidence the boundary between the historical and the fabulous”. 9
Therefore, even though he is said to have flourished 83000 years after the death of the twenty-second Tirthankara, the gap of 250 years between him and Mahāvīra, and his longevity of a hundred years, do not seem to "transgress the limits of probability".10 The gap between him and Mahāvīra makes Pārsvanātha belong to the 8th cent. B.C.11 His Life-story:
Pārśva was born of king Āsasena of Vārāṇasi and his queen Vāmā. Leading his life for thirty years as a house-holder, he renounced the world. Undergoing a preliminary period of eighty-three days of hardships and bodily mortification, he led the life of a monk for nearly seventy years, and finally attained Nirvāṇa on the Sammeta Sikhara (in Bengal). His Field of Influence :
Among the chief cities which he is said to have visited were Ahicchattā, 12 Amalakappā,13 Hatthiņāpura,14 Kampillapura,15 Kosambi,16 Rāyagiha,17
7. See Kalpasūtra, SBE, xxii, p. 280; also Ibid., text, pp. 186-88. 8. Loc. cit.
9. Rev. STEVENSON, Pref. to the transl. of Kalpasūtra, p. xii, quoted by JACOBI, op. cit., p. 162.
10. LASSEN, 1. A., II, p. 261.
11. CHARPENTIER, CHI, i, p. 153; Prof. Hirālāl JAIN, says that the caves at Dhäräsiva belong to the Pārsva period, vide his intr. to Karakandu Cariya, ref. to by K. P. JAIN, J. A., IV, 3, p. 90, f. n. 7.
12. Acār. N. 335; see also Kalpa. comm., p. 167; mod. Rămnagar in Bareilly: CAGI, p. 413.
13. Nāyā. II, p. 222; along the way from Masār to Vaiśālī, in Shahabad Distt., GEB., p. 24ff.
14. Identified with an old place in Mawana Tahsil in Meerut: CAGI, p. 702. 15. Identified with mod. Kampil in Farrukhabad Distt., GEE., p. 18. 16. Nāyā, II, 10, p. 230; mod. Kosam near Allahabad, CAGI., p. 709. 17. Näyā; = mod. Rajgir in Bihar.