Jain Journal 1984 04

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

Page 11

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JAIN JOURNAL
as a definite conclusion. Dr. Barua was evidently of this viewo when he stated, on the authority of Vinayavijaya, that Paniyabhumi was in Vajrabhumi, and held that probably it was river port in West Bengal.10
It would be evident from the above discussion that at the time when the Jaina canonical texts were finally drafted there was no clear tradition about the wanderings of Mahavira. Even his visit to Radha or West Bengal is not altogether free from doubt, though it rests upon the testimony of the Acāranga Sūtra and Jinadasa's Curņi, composed probably not earlier than the 7th century A.D. But these testimonies cannot be altogether ignored and we may accept as a provisional hypothesis that according to one line of Jaina tradition Mahavira not only visited Radha but fixed his headquarters for six or more years within its boundary
It may be argued against this last point that if Mahavira and Gosala settled down in Radha, Jinadasa's reference to their visit to Radha in the 5th and again in the 9th year of Mahavira's asceticism would be somewhat incongruous. But the same objection would remain if we accept the location of Paniyabhumi near Nalanda, as Jinadasa refers their visit to Magadha which includes that locality. Of course, this might be regarded as an argument against the view that they had any fixed headquarters at all, though this would be a very reasonable deduction from the statement in the Bhagavati Sūtra, as interpreted above.
According to Jinadasa's detailed itinenary, Mahavira, along with Gosala, visited Radha twice, as stated above. On the first occasion they were attacked by two robbers in a village called Punnakalasa. On the second occasion they spent the rainy season at Vajjabhumi, though they were put to great trouble and ignominy by the uncouth people of the locality, as has been described above on the authority of the Acārānga
Sutra.
Jinadasa refers to Radha as a non-Aryan country, evidently on the basis of an old tradition and with a view to explaining the rudeness of the people. But if we study the itinerary of Gosala and Mahavira as a whole, as described by Jinadasa, we must conclude that respect and reverence to the ascetics was not yet such an established virtue as we are apt to think today. For Jinadasa records numerous instances where Gosala was illtreated by the local people even in Aryan countries and sometimes
It may also be due to the fact mentioned above, that Barua disbelieves the whole
story of the conversion of Gosala by Mahavira (see f.n.5). 10 Barua, op. cit., p. 57.