Jain Journal 1978 04

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

Page 28

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JAIN JOURNAL
and respect for the Jainas. Furthermore, Cellana, one of the seven daughters of king Cetaka, was married to Bimbisara, with the result that both of them became ardent Jainas.15 And the other six daughters of Cetaka who married to different kings are also said to have been strong supporters and followers of Jainism.16
Campa, the capital of Anga (modern Bhagalpur, a part of Videha in ancient times) was yet another important centre of Jaina activities where Mahavira spent three rainy seasons and where Vasupujya, the twelfth Tirthankara was born and died. There are signs of old and new Jaina temples of both the Digambara and the Svetambara sects built for Vasupujya and other Tirthankaras,17 We are told in the Uvāsagadasão and the Antagadadasão that there was a temple called Punnabhadda at Campa in the time of Sudharman, one of the eleven disciples of Mahavira who succeeded him as the head of the Jaina sect after his death.18 It is said that the town was visited by Sudharman, at the time of Kunika Ajatasatru who went there barefooted to see the Ganadhara outside the city which was again visited by Sudharman's successors.19 It may thus be rightly said that it was through the ruling dynasty of Vaisali or the Licchavis that Mahavira got solid support from all directions in his early days, and "it was through them that the religion of Mahavira had spread over Sauvira, Anga, Vatsa, Avanti, Videha and Magadha, all of which were the most powerful kingdoms of the time".20 The Buddhist works, therefore, do not mention Cetaka, though they have a lot to tell us about different aspects of Vaisali in general. Jacobi, therefore, rightly suggests that "the Buddhists took no notice of him as his influence...... was used in the interest of their rivals. But the Jainas cherished the memory of the maternal uncle and patron of their prophet, to whose influence we must attribute the fact that Vaisali used to be a stronghold of Jainism, while being looked upon by the Buddhists as a seminary of heresies and dissent."21
The Jaina sources also tell us that like the Videhans and the Licchavis, the Mallas were also devotedly attached to Mahavira. The Kalpasūtra says that the nine Mallakis or Malla chiefs, like the Licchavis also observed fast and instituted an illumination to mark the passing away
16 C. J. Shah, Jainism in North India, p. 88ff. 16 Ibid. 17 Dey, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, pp. 44-45. 18 Hoernle, ii, p. 2. 19 C. J. Shah, op. cit., pp. 94-95. 20 Ibid., p. 99; Dey, Notes on Ancient Anga, p. 322; Buhler, Sects of Jainism,
p. 27. 21 SBE., Intro. XIII; C. J. Shah, op. cit., pp. 99-108.