Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 21
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 166
________________ 158 THE INDIAN ANTIQUABY. (KAT, 1892. follows: "After the time when the Jain Tirthankara) Mahavira attained parinirvana, there "was a certain Bhadrabahustamin, who belonged to a lineage that had been made illustrious " by a succession of great saints who came in continuous order from the venerable Paramarshi "Gaatama, and his disciple Lôharya, and Jambu, Vishṇadêva, Aparajita, Govardhana, Bhadra• babu, Visakha, Prosthbila, Krittikarya, Jayanâ man, Siddhartha, Dhritishêna, Buddhila, and "other Gurus. At Ujjayini, the Bhadrabihusvamin, thus introduced, mastered the science of "prognostication, became a knower of the past, the present, and the futare, and announced a “period of distress that would last for twelve years; and the entire sangha set out from the "north and migrated to the south, and, by the directions of the saint, came to a country "containing many hundreds of villages, and rich in people, wealth, gold, grain, cows, buffaloes, "and goats. Then, on the mountain Katavepra, the Acharya Prabhachandra, perceiving " that the end of his life was very near, and being much afraid of journeying any further, "dismissed the whole szivha, with the exception of one annamed disciple, and engaged in "sasinydea until he died." In interpreting this record, Mr. Rice made two important mistakes. (1) He took the Bhadrabahusvâmin who announced the period of distress, to be identical with Bhadrabahu I., the Sruta-Kévalin, who is mentioned in his proper place between Gôvardhana and Visakha. But, according to the inscription itself, seven of the Dusa-Pirvins, and after them a break of unspecified duration, intervened between the two Bhadraba hus, - in perfect accordance with the lists of Northern India. And (2), in conseqnence of a mislection in line 6, he translated the inscription as meaning that the Acharya who died at Katavapra, was Bhadrabåhusvâmite himself, i. e., as the result of his identification, Bhadrabihu I., the Sruta-Kérclin, and that the disciple who tended him was Prabhachandra ; to which he attached a note that Prabhâchandra was explained to him as the clerical name assumed by Chandragupta. Bat all this is distinctly not the case; the reading, in line 6, is, - not acháryyah Prabhuchandrénadmaavanitala", "the Acharya, with Prabhachandra ulan, (dismissed the saragha, and engaged in sarinyása till he died]," - but úcháryyah Prabhárhandrs nám=lranitala", "the Acharya, namely Prabhachandra, (dismissed the samgha and engaged in sannyása till he died]." In short, so far from recording that the Sruta-Kévalin Bladrabâhu died at Sravana Belgola, tended by a disciple named Prabhchandra, who might be assumed to be king Chandragupta of Pataliputra, the inscription simply states that an Achárva named Prabhschandra died there, during or shortly after a migration of the Jain commanity to the south, which was caused by an announcement of famine made, at Ujjain, by a certain Bhadrabahosvåmin who came after an interval of unspecified duration, - but plainly a long one, - after the Sruta-Kavalin Bhadrabahu. And thus the only possible substantial foundation for the fabrio reared up by Mr. Rice ceases entirely to exist. We may now proceed to examine the real historical bearings of this inscription. It Mr. Rice gives "Kshatrik Arya," I do not overlook the fact that the name occurs "Kshatriya" in No. 105 in Mr. Bioe's book, and in tho extract from the Maghanandi-Brdvakáchdra giren anto, Vol. XII. p. 22, and MA Kattiya," explained by "Kobatriya," in the pattavalt of the Sarasvati Gachohha (ante, Vol. XX. p. 348) But Mr. Rice's lithograph distinctly has the namo that I give. - Sipoo writing these remarks, I have seen im pressions of the inscription, which I owe to the kindness of Dr. Hultzsch. They shew that the name really is Kittikarya. The original saya," on this mountain named Katarapra": i. e. on the hill on which the itscription is engraved 1. e. on Chandragiri itself. 5 See also Introd. PP. 6, 7, where, however, be saya only that, "according to No. 1," i.e. the present inscripfron, Chandragapta" appears to have taken the naine of Prabhachandra on retiring from the world, in conformity with chatom. The passage was supposod' to include the word ans, in the sense of saha. The inscription was Arat brought to notice by Mr. Rice in 1874, in this Journal, Vol. III., p. 153 (see also Mysore Inscriptions, pp. lxxxvi., lrxxvii., 302) : and the first extract from the Rájávalikathe was also given. But Mr. Rice did not then find the name Prabbechandra in the inscription And in respect of the extract from the Rijavaltkathe, he then wrote - "This is a strsage story. How much of it may be accepted as historical is not easy to say."

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430