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Jainism in Ancient Bengal
R. C. MAZUMDAR
The first recorded contact of Bengal with Jainism was marred by incidents which reflect great discredit on her people. We learn from the Acaranga Sutra that when Mahavira wandered as a naked mendicant in Ladha (i.e., Radha or western part of undivided Bengal) through its two divisions known as Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi, he was attacked by the people who even went to the length of setting dogs upon him.1 It appears that it was not due to any malice against Mahavira, but the people generally maltreated the ascetics. It was difficult to travel in Ladha which is described as duccara or pathless country. It is said that many recluses lived in Vajjabhumi where they were bitten by the dogs and cruelly treated in hundred other ways. Some of the recluses carried bamboo staves in order to keep off the dogs (laṭṭhim gahāya ṇālāyam). The Ajivikas habitually went about with a staff in hand, which was a matter of necessity with them.2
Of the peregrinations of Mahavira which brought him to Radha along with Gosala also called Makkhali, we get a full account in Jinadasa's Cūrṇī to the Avasyaka Sutra, and the Bhagavati Sūtra describes how these two, the founders, respectively, of the Jaina and Ajivika sects, settled down together before undertaking the annual journeys. As both these points have a great bearing on the history of Jainism in ancient Bengal it is necessary to discuss them critically.
The Bhagavati Sutra3 describes in detail how Gosala, after several unsuccessful attempts, was at last accepted as a disciple" by Mahavira at a place called Paniyabhumi. The story, put in the mouth of Mahavira, then proceeds: aham....gosāleṇam....saddhim paṇiyabhumie chavvä
1 S.B.E., XXII, p. 84.
2 Barua, B.M., The Ajivikas, p. 57.
3 XV, sutra 543.
For a summary, cf. A. L. Basham, The Ajivikas, pp. 39-41.
5 Barua (op. cit., pp. 17 ff.) denies that Gosala was ever a disciple of Mahavira and therefore disbelieves the whole account of the Bhagavati Sutra.
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