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JAIN JOURNAL
sacred and rare knowledge from him. Sthulabhadra acquired the knowledge of the thirteen Purvas, except the last one entitled Dșstivāda, and on the basis of this knowledge codified the sacred words in eleven Angas at the Council of Pataliputra which met under his chairmanship. This tradition of the Svetāmbara Jainas about his going to Nepal is, however, not accepted by the Digambara Jainas according to whom during the reign of Candragupta Maurya, Bhadrabahu, in anticipation of a twelve-year famine, led an exodus of Jaina monks to the South where he died. We have no intention to open a controversy here on this score but purely as an academic exercise it may be of interest to check, if possible, the incident as current in the Svetāmbara tradition from the Nepalese literature as to whether there is any reference to this therein ; and if any Nepalese scholar throws decisive light on this, that will not only set at rest the present cleavage between the two traditions as current among the Jainas but will forge a fresh link between India and Nepal, with its roots going several centuries before the Christian era.
There is another very interesting item of which there is mention at many places in the Jaina literature. This is about the ratna-kambala (jewel-blanket) whose mechanism kept one cool in summer and warm in winter. Now, this ratna-kambala was always imported into India from Nepal and it was so costly that even a monarch like Srenika (Bimbisara) of Magadha found it hard to purchase even one piece. But at that time in India, there were many merchant-princes, richer than even the kings, and in Srenika's own capital there was one who bought thirty-two pieces at a time. It will be of interest again to check, if possible, from the old Nepalese literature if there is any analogous reference to this curious item therein. If any scholar from India or Nepal can throw further light on these topics, we shall be happy to publish their contóibution in our Journal.
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