Jain Journal 1984 04

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

Page 10

APRIL, 1984
sāim viharittha. The normal meaning of the passage is that the two lived together at Paniyabhumi during the next six years. But this is in conflict with the statement in the Kalpa Sutra that Mahavira spent only one rainy season in Paniyabhumi. In order to reconcile this difference it has been suggested that the word paniyabhūmie should be taken as in the ablative and not in the natural way, as locative. But this is admitted to be an unusual construction. As according to the persistent Jaina tradition Mahavira led a wandering life except during the rainy season, the expression in the Bhagavati Sūtra evidently means that Mahavira and Gosala fixed their headquarters at Paniyabhumi, wandering about from place to place during the year, as described in detail, year by year, by Jinadasa.
The question of the location of Paniyabhumi is also beset with difficulties. The Bhagavati Sūtra seems to indicate that it was situated quite close to Nalanda. But this creates a difficulty. The Kalpa Sūtra is in full agreement with Jinadasa's list of places where Mahavira spent the rainy seasons, with the single exception of Vajjabhumi in Ladha. The commentator, Vinayavijaya reconciles this discrepancy by stating that Paniyabhumi, where according to the Kalpa Sutra, Mahavira spent one rainy season, is in Vajjabhumi. Curiously enough, A. L. Basham accepts this explanation and comments that 'thus it is evident that Jinadasa did not invent the whole story';' yet elsewhere he severely criticised Dr. B. M. Barua for having located Paniyabhumi in Vajrabhumi on the authority of Vinayavijaya's commentary, 'ignoring the clear statement of the Bhagavati that Paniyabhumi was near Kollaga which was a settlement near Nalanda."8
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We are thus placed in a dilemma. If we accept, on the authority of the Bhagavati Sūtra, that Paniyabhumi was near Nalanda and not in Vajjabhumi, i.e., Radha (West Bengal), the omission of this single name alone from the Kalpa Sutra list of places where Mahavira spent the rainy season which otherwise agrees with the list of Jinadasa, naturally creates some doubt about Mahavira's visit to Radha. On the other hand, the visit of Mahavira to Radha is authenticated not only by Jinadasa but also by the canonical text Acaranga Sutra, as stated above. We should remember also that the Bhagavati Sūtra merely refers in a casual way to the places where Gosala met Mahavira and it is possible to argue that the vicinity of Paniyabhumi to Kollaga and Nalanda need not be taken
• Sutra 122 (Jacobi's edition, p. 64).
7 Basham, op. cit., p. 46. • Ibid., p. 41.