Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 16

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JANUARY, 1916
Bimbisâra abolished the ferry fee for ascetics. He was aslo a friend and relation of Vardhamana Mahavira. Jaina tradition 27 of Bihar represents Bimbisara as a devout Jain and credits him with the construction of many buildings in Bhagalpur and other places. In the same period we have the formation of other sects, the most remarkable of which was that of the Ajivikas founded by Gosala.
Traditions differ as to the last years of Bimbisâra. There is a story in the B. gha28 Nikdya to the effect that the king was murdered by his son Ajátaśatru. It was developed into an impressive legend by the fertile imagination of later Buddhists. In the introduction to one of the Jatakás, for instance, we have a fanciful derivation given to the name. Even in his womb Ajätabatru conceived a Jonging for his father's blood. Hence his name—"one who was a foe (to his father) while yet unborn !" The Burmese legend of Gaudama20 rounds off the story by saying that Ajâtaśatru killed his father by starving him in prison. But there is some doubt as to the authenticity of the Samaññaphala Sutta, wherein the story is embodied. The origin of the Sutta is given in the introduction to the Sanjiva Jataka, which says that the Sutta was in two sections, whereas the Sutta now found in the Nikaya has no such division. Perhaps, the sentence which refers to the parricide, was added to the Sutta later on, another addition, evidently spurious, being made by the author of the Jataka.30 Further, the Kullavagga31 distinctly states that Bimbisára handed over the kingdom to Ajátaśatru. Jaina tradition of Magadha ignores the accusation of parricide, and the popular Sanskrit derivation of the name is "one who had no enemy born in the world." The parricide seems therefore to be as false as Kalaśôka of the Vaišali Council, who likewise is not mentioned in the oldest account of the council in the Kullavagga. There is no reason for disbelieving that Bimbisâra lived 80 years, and resigned the throne to Ajátasatru a few years before his death. Deliberate resignation of the throne to a son is by no means a strange phenomenon in Indian History. Jainas believe that Chandragupta Maurya resigned the throne to Bindusara and went south with Bhadrabâh u.32
5. Aja tabatru and the foundation of the empire. Ajátaśatru was the most famous king of the dynasty. The Brihad- Aranyaka and Kaushitaki Upanishads have an Ajậtaśatru, king of Kasi, whom they speak of as a great king and as a patron of the Vedânta philosophy. The Brihad- Aranyaka is one of the oldest among the Upanishads. This king, therefore, should not be identified with Ajâtaśatru of Magadha who came several generations after him. Further, the Upanishads speak of him as king of Kasi and of Videha, but they do not mention Magadha. The Ajâtašatru of Kaši, belongs, in fact, to a time when Kåśi was the most prominent kingdom in Hindustan, The Buddhist records have vague traditions of such a time, The Guttila Jâtaka says, for instance, that Benares was "the chief city in all India."
Though our Ajátasatru cannot be identified with his celebrated namesake of Kasi, it must be remembered that both were kings of Kabi. The Purâņas are careful enough to state that Sisunaga was king of Kâği before he became king of Magadha, and there is no evidence of Káśî having been lost by the Magadhas at any later time before Ajâtaśatru. It is possible that members of the Saisunaga dynasty adopted some of the names of their
97 Ante, Vol. XXXI, p. 71.
28 In the Samanna phala Sutta. It had become an accepted tradision when the Jatakas were edited In the existing form.
9 Bigandet : op. cit. Vol. I, p. 261.
30 Mr. Chalmers, the translator of the Jataka, has these remarks: "The interpolation is interesting 88 suggesting the license with which words were put into the Master's mouth by Buddhist authors." (See Camb. Trans. Vol. I, p. 231 note). 31 Kullavagga VII. 3, 6.
32 Rice : Mysore and Coorg from Inscriptions, (1909). Sec. 1.