Jain Journal 1984 01

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

Page 34

JANUARY, 1984
107
The names of several Bhatas are mentioned in our religious literature. These Bhatas were both Hindus and also Jainas. To illustrate a few, they are Kumarila Bhata of Bihar, the noted Vedic scholar and Mimansaka ritualist, who committed self-immolation by burning himself to death in fire, in the presence of Adi Sankaracarya and Akalanka Bhata, the noted Jaina logician of Karnataka, who defeated several Vedic and Buddhist scholars and monks in debates held at Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu. A Bhata may be a layman or an ascetic either Hindu or Jaina. There are Bhatas among the Buddhists from the days of the
dha. Bhatas are mostly Brahmins and they lived in many parts of India both in ancient and modern times. In Bengal, they are known as Bhattacarya, who are Brahmins. In Maharashtra they are called as Bhatas and in Kerala Bhatathiri, who are also Brahmins. Only the upper classes of people among the Hindus are entitled to hold the name or affix of Bhata, while the Sudras are prohibited to have this privilege under the laws of Smộtis, the Code of Laws of Vedic culture controlling the Varņa Dharma, the Caste System prevalent even today in modern India.
We have another Aryabhata born in A.D. 950. He is also the author of a number of literary works on mathematics and astronomy. It is believed that Aryabhata II was a successor of Acarya Aryabhata and also a native of Kallil in Kerala, and was a Jaina ascetic. But there is no authentic evidence in support of this view.
According to historians Jainism was the preponderating religious faith of Kerala people in the early centuries of the Christian era. On the basis of an old inscription, Prof. Nilkantha Sastri, the noted Indologist, has stated that there were forty thousand Jaina Sadhus in Kerala during the time of Ilamko Adigal in the 2nd century A.D. Ilamko, which meant the young prince, was the brother of Ceran Senkuttuvan, king of Kerala, who had his capital city at Vanchi, the modern Kodumkaloor. Ilamko was a Jaina ascetic and author of Silappadikaram, the Tamil classic depicting the life story of Kannaki, a Jaina lady endowed with spiritual wisdom and super-natural attainments or occult powers. Kannaki's husband Kovalan who was also a Jaina, was beheaded at Madurai on the order of the Pandyan king, charged with stealing the anklet of his queen, when Kovalan was found in the market place with an anklet offering it for sale. This anklet belonged to Kannaki. After husband's tragic death, she plucked out one of her breasts and threw it over Madurai town, which was partly burnt to ashes. The king and his queen died from remorse for sentencing an innocent man to death. After burning Madurai, Kannaki, retraced her steps from Madurai to Kerala, probably to have