Indian Antiquary Vol 19

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 73

FEBRUARY, 1890.]
SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS.
All these legends, [302] the number of which will be materially increased by a special investigation of the contents, give us the impression of containing traditions which have been handed down in good faith. They offer, therefore, in all probability (especially as they frequently agree with the Buddhistic legends) most important evidence for the period of the life of Mahavira himself.
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Among those statements which may be adduced as witnesses for the first composition of the existing form of the text, an enumeration of foreign peoples asserts the chief place. The names of these peoples recur frequently in some castomary form in the remaining texts of the Siddhânta, though accompanied by numerous variations of detail.19 In 9, 33. 12, 2 there are enumerated the foreign female slaves and waiting-maids in the house of a rich mâhana (brâhmana); consequently the names are all feminine: bahûhim khujjâhim Chilâtiyâhim20 vâmaņiyahim21 vaḍahiyâhim22 Babbariyâhim23 Isiganiyâhim Vasaganiyâhim24 Palhaviyâhim Hlasiyâhim Lausiyahim Arabîhim Damilâhim Simhalihim Puliidihim Pukkalihim25 Bahalihim Muramḍîhim (Marumd Abh.) Samvarîhim (Savo Abh.) Parasîhim nânâdêsîvidêsa paripimdiyâhim. Of these names Palhaviyâ, [303] Arabi, Bahali, Muramdi, and Pârasi are of special interest, since they deal with a period from the second till the fourth century A.D., the age of the Parthian Arsacids and the Persian Sassanids; cf. on Pahlavas (Parthians), Nöldeke's remarks in my History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 338; on Muramda, Ind. Stud. XV. 280, on Bâhli, Bactria, Monatsberichte der Königl. Akad. der Wiss. 1879, p. 462. The Marundas especially appear together with the Sakas and the Shâhân Shâhi on the inscriptions of Samudragupta as tributary to him, the tribute consisting, among other things, of girls (Lassen, 2, 952). The mention of the Arabass can be explained by reference (cf. p. 237) to the flourishing state of trade with Arabia at this period. The name of a grain âlisamdaga, in 21, 21, points to commercial intercourse at this date, since it may be explained, as I think, as signifying "coming from Alexandria" or " proceeding from A."37 It is not explained by the commentary. Alexandria, or the Persian ports Apologos and Omana, carried on a brisk trade with India in mapbévo eveideis, as we learn from the Periplus (cf. Lassen, 2, 557, 957, 1159). Another point confirmative of this fact (see introduction to my translation of the Målav. p. 47) is that Yavanî girls appear in Kâlidasa in the immediate surrounding of the king. Here then we have direct evidence on the part of the Indian tradition. The great frequency of the appearance of foreign female slaves as waiting-maids and as nurses, which is regarded as customary [304] in the Jain texts, is very surprising, and may be regarded as a proof of national pride, called into existence by a few victories over some foreign peoples, which can be ascertained only with difficulty. This national pride permitted these foreigners to appear in these menial capacities alone. In the inscriptions of Samudragupta we find immediate confirmation of this conjecture, as has been remarked above. The origin of these customary lists takes us back to the period of the Guptas.
Besides the above-mentioned list of foreign peoples there is in 15, 17 an enumeration of native races. It contains 16 names:-Aiga, Vanga, Magaha, Malaya, Malavaya, Achcha, Vachchha, Kochchha (ttha ?), Padha, Lâdha, Vajji, Mâli, Kôsî, Kôsala, Avâha, Subhattara. This list has the stamp of considerable antiquity, especially if we compare it with the similar one, up. 4.
10 I do not propose here to enter into a detailed discussion of these variations; see anga 6, 1, 117 (Steinthal, p. 28) up. 1, 55 (Leumann, p. 60) etc. Besides this enumeration, there is another which occurs only in those texts which are characterized as younger from the fact that they contain this second enumeration. I refer to that of the Mlêchchhas, in which some fifty (not sixteen) names are quoted; see anga 10, up. 4.
21 Hrasvasartrabhiḥ Abh.
20 Chil&tadêáôtpanna Abh. cf. Kirâta.
22 Vadabhiyahim madahakôshthabhi Abh. (vakradhaḥkôshthâbhil Schol. on up. 1). 25 Abh. adds Vausiyahim.
25 Pakka Abh.
24 Varuganiyahim Abh. who adds Joniyâhim after this name. 28 In Brahman texts they occur only in the list of peoples in Vardhamihira 14, 17. 27 I would mention incidentally that in 22, 11 pilu is mentioned among the names of trees and in 29, 1 simgavera cinnamon among the spices.