Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 48
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 127
________________ JULY, 1919) IS KALKIRAJA AN HISTOBICAL PERSONAGE? 123 IS KALKIRAJA AN HISTORICAL PERSONAGE? BY PROF. H. B. BHIDE, M.A., LL.B.; BHAVNAGAR. JAIN authors have referred to a Kalkiraja who according to some of them flourished about 1000 years after the Nirvana of Mahavira, and during whose reign Jain saints suffered persecution at his hands. Mr. Jayaswal and Mr. Pathak have called in aid this tradition while formulating their respective theories which are now known to the readers of this Journal. Their theories are quite different and I am not directly concerned with them at present. My immediate purpose is to show that the Jain tradition is not trustworthy from the point of view of history and that oonsequently their theories are weakened in so far as they are based upon it. I first deal with Mr. Jayaswal's argument. He relies mainly upon Jinasena, the author of the Hari-va viia. He says that Jinasena's date for Kalkirâja is presumably correct as he was removed from Kalkiraja by less than 300 years. Now if Jinasena's statements are to be taken as correct, we shall find on scrutinising them that they do not substantiate the conclusion at which Mr. Jayaswal arrives. The chronology as given by Jinasena is this: Palaka .. .. 60 years. Vijaya Kings .. 155 » The Purâdhas Pushpamitra Vasumitra and Agnimitra Râsabha Kings .. Naravahana The Bana Kings .. The Gupta Kings .. Kalkirâja .. .. .. .. .. 12 , Total .. 1000 years. 231 This shows that the 42 years of the reign of Kalkirâja were the concluding years of the 1000-year period which elapsed after the Nirvana of Mahavira ; that is, we must suppose Kalkirája to have died in A.D. 473 or A.D. 455 according as we nagign the date 527 B.C. or 545 B.o. to Mahavira's Nirudna. In either case the date is too early for Yabodharman of Malava with whom Mr. Jayaswal wants Kalkirâja to be identified. If we are to rely on Jinasena, we cannot then assert that Kalkirâja began to reign in A.D. 473 as Mr. Jayaswal seems to do. As a fact, however, I hope to show that the Jain traditions regarding Kalkiråja are conflicting and therefore possess no historical importance. Mr. Pathak attempts to determine the initial date of the Gupta era with the help uf Jain authors only. He proposes to identify Mihirakula with Kalkirå ja, mentioned by Jinasena, Guņabhadra and Nemichandra, and then to prove that the Gupta era commenced in the year 242 of the Saka era. I have no quarrel with him as regards the conclusion which can be proved on other grounds; I only wish to point out that the authorities he has put forward are not only in thomselves insufficient to prove his case, but are of an extremely doubtful character. I should like to bring to the notice of scholars, (1) that some of Mr. Pathak's arguments are vitiated by serious flaws in

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458