Jain Journal 1977 01

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

Page 17

JAIN JOURNAL
the capital of Kosala Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri remarks. “Ayodhya seems to have been the earliest capital, and Saketa the next. The last capital was Sravasti. Ayodhya had sunk to the level of an unimportant town in Buddha's time, but Saketa and Sravasti were included among the six great cities of India. "'18 While Rama and Abhinandana belong to Ayodhya a legend tells that it was Sravasti where Gautama Buddha was offered honey by a monkey born later as the 'Honey-lad' Madhura-sachi or Madhu-Vasistha. The legend with its rare communion and distinctive appeal has been expressed by a relief at Sanchi as already mentioned. Symbolising wisdom and learning since time immemorial the cult of the ape is often associated with the Sun and Eternity. There are sculptures in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which envisage "The god Thoth, as a baboon (cynocephalus) adoring the rising sun."19 Hanumana is devoted to Rama who is an incarnation of Vishnu, one of the Vedic Adityas representing the Sun. The Bodhisattvas can be as great as Indra (Sakka) or Maghava in conformity with the Kulavaka Jataka and the Sakkapanha Sutta while the knowledge and realisation of Gautama Buddha, the Pratyeka Buddhas and the Tirthankaras have drawn them away from the cycle of rebirths and thereby far beyond the horizon of heavenly Vimānas.
I am gratefully indebted to Sri D. K. Chakravarty and Dr. S. C. Mukherji, Superintendents of the Directorate of Archaeology, West Bengal for kindly rendering their learned assistance in preparation of this article.
18 H. C. Ray Chaudhuri: Political History of Ancient India, p. 90. 19 Egyptian Museum, published by the Egyptian State Tourist Administration, Cairo,
1957, p. 37.