Jain Journal 1994 07

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

Page 14

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JAIN JOURNAL VOL XXIX, NO 1, JULY 1994
the basis of meter, and after the 3rd-4th centuries A.D. by R. Higata.8
As is well-known, the past 7 buddhas evolved from the stories of the Jātaka, that were originally used by the Buddha himself out of the then popular stock of stories to edify the public. Some Jātaka stories then found their expression in the sculptures at Bharhut and Sañci. The superhuman personality of the Buddha is said to have been thus sought in his karma that caused him to take birth in these persons in the past, which gave an explanation to the effect that the law established by such a superhuman being is universal and eternal.
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The past 7 buddhas and 24 buddhas, etc. came into being centering around the Buddha himself, for the concept of the past buddhas developed as the past birth stories of the Buddha himself. Here is therefore the raison d'être for the rise of the 24 buddhas on the side of the Buddhists.
In the Jaina school, many tirthankara images suddenly emerge upon entering the Christian era, which seems to have happened in connection with the frictions occurred between the Jainas and the Vaisnavas involving Mathura. Also the 24 tirthankaras make their sudden appearance in the canonical literature at the final canonical stage, endowed with the function of turning the Jaina dharma eternally, wherein no definite reason exists to have 24 as their number. Then, the Jainas must have adopted the number of tirthankaras from the Buddhist side. We would like to develop these topics in this paper, so that we can justify the said position that the 24 tirthankaras of the Jainas came into existence later than the 24 buddhas.
The names of the 24 tirthankaras who were born in Bharata in Jambudvipa in this present avasarpini are listed as follows in Nandisutra 20-21, Avasyaka II, Bhagavatisūtra XX.8, Samavāyānga 248 and Kalpasūtra, etc., which all belong to the 5th century A.D.11: 1) Rsabha (or Adinatha), 2) Ajita, 3) Sambhava, 4) Abhinandana, 5) Sumati, 6) Padmaprabha (or Suprabha), 7) Supārsva, 8) Candra
8. E. Maeda Ibid., pp.766-7, 774
9. H. Ui: Ibid., v.4, pp. 206ff; E. Maeda : Ibid., p.384
10. H. Ui: op.cit.
11. S. Ohira, A Study of the Bhagavalisūtra -A Chronological Analysis, Ch.I, "Canonical Stages" (Unpublished)