Jain Journal 1968 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 20

OCTOBER, 1968
65
Devadatta's disciple Upaka, the son of Mindika, after having discussions with the Buddha, came to Ajatasatru and condemned the Buddha. But Ajatasatru got enraged and asked him to get away. 25 The Atthakathā make further addition that Ajatasatru got Upaka turned out by his servants with neck-grip.26 This also is not a proof of Ajatasatru being a follower of the Buddha. A wise man deprecates those who speak low and unmannerly of others. Had Ajatasatru been a devotee of the Buddha, Upaka would not have dared to go to him and defile the Buddha. It was only because he took Ajatasatru to be his master Devadatta's well-wisher that he dared to do so.
There are certain references available in the later works which point to Ajatasatru's antagonism to Buddhism. According to Avadānašataka, king Bimbisara built a stūpa on tne Buddha's nails and hairs during the Buddha's life-time. Ladies of the harem used to worship this stupa with incences, flowers, etc. Ajatasatru put a ban on this worship immediately after his accession to the throne. When Srimati, a lady of the harem, still worshipped, she was awarded death penalty:27 According to Theragāthā Atthakathā, Ajatsatru even tried to get murdered his younger brother Shilavat who had become a Buddhist monk. 28
These anecdotes do not support the contention that Ajatasatru was a follower of Buddhism, but, on the contrary, they tend to prove that he was an antagonist of Buddhism.
Well-known scholar of Buddhism Rhys Davids clearly expresses :
“At the close of the discourse the king is stated to have openly
the Buddha as his guide in future and to have given expression to the remorse, he felt at the murder of his father. But it is also distinctly stated that he was not converted. There is no evidence that he really, after the moment when his heart was touched, continued to follow the Buddha's teaching. He, never, so far as we know, waited again either upon the Buddha, or upon any member of his order, to discuss ethical matters, and we hear of no material support given by him to the order during the Buddha's life-time.
“We are told, however, that after the Buddha's death, he asked (on the ground that he, like the Buddha, was Ksatriya) for a portion
25 Anguttara Nikaya, 4-8-188. 26 Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, p. 319. 27 Avadanasataka, 54. 28 Theragatha Atthakatha, gatha 609-19.