Jain Journal 1972 01

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

Page 32

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assigned to the 15th century B.C., and Krsna, the leading figure of that age, has been accepted as historical," there is no reason why Aristanemi should not be considered an equally historical personage. Apart from ancient Jaina works like the Tiloya-paṇṇatti, Agama-Sutras, Vasudevahindi, Harivamsa Purana, Ariṭṭha-Nemi-Cariu and the different version of the Jaina Mahāpurāṇa, many Brahmanical works, right from the Rgveda down to the Mahabharata and several Purānas, refer or allude to this Tirthankara by name, and a number of modern scholars have endorsed to the view that he must have been a real person.8
To quote a few: "Neminatha, the 22nd Tirthankara of the Jainas, who preceded Lord Parsvanatha, was a cousin of Lord Sri Krsna. If we admit the historicity of Lord Krsna, there is no reason why we should not regard his contemporary Lord Neminatha, the 22nd Tirthankara, as a real and historical person." 559
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"Neminatha was the cousin of Krsna. When the 22nd Tirthankara of the Jainas was a contemporary of Lord Krsna, the readers may well imagine the antiquity of the remaining 21 Tirthankaras."10
Prof. H. S. Bhattacharya goes a step further and establishes the historicity of Krsna himself on the basis of that of Neminatha, by observing that "Notwithstanding remarkable differences, the Krsna story in the Jaina Purāṇas is essentially similar to that of the Vedic Purāņas The appearance of the Krsna story in the Jaina sacred books shows that Krsna of the Mahābhārata may not be a purely imaginary being, but that in all probability he was a historic person, a high-souled powerful monarch." And, in the opinion of another scholar. "The Jaina traditions represent the oldest form of the Krsna legend."12 Yet another writer, P. C. Dewan, concludes that the Jaina books contain many
6 The Vedic Age, (HCIP, Vol. I, Bombay, 1957), p. 269; Jain, J. P. : Bharatiya Itihas: Ek Drsti, (2nd ed., Varanasi, 1966), pp. 35-36.
7 The Vedic Age, op. cit., Ch. XIV; Guseva, op. cit., p. 15 f.n.; Basu, N. N. : Harivamsa Purana, Introd.; etc.
8 Jain, J. P. Jainsm, the Oldest Living Religion, (Varanasi, 1951), pp. 20-24; Sramana, op, cit., pp. 13-17.
9 Basu, N. N. Harivamsa Purana, Introd., p. 6.
10 Karwa Bhagavad-Gita, Appendix. Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri also describes Aristanemi as a cousin of Krsna in his Ancient History of Vaisnavism.
'Heroes of Jaina Legends'-Jaina Antiquary, Vol. XIV, Part 2, p. 77; Lord Aristanemi, pp. 88-89.
12 Kennedy, Rev. J.: 'The Child Krsna, Christianity and the Gujars'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1907, pp. 951 ff.
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