Jain Journal 1999 07

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

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 1 July 1999 traditions. It was at the time of Chandragupta, Bhadrabāhu I (433357 B.C.) lived and several works like Kalpasūtra and Niryuktis were generally ascribed to him. It was in the time of the Maurya Candragupta that there was a great famine in Pāțaliputra which lasted for 12 years, and that incident made the Jain monks disperse from Pataliputra to some other places in the South. As the Jain monks normally live on begging alms, it was not possible for them to seek food from door to door. As a result, Bhadrabāhu with a band of Jaina sādhus migrated to the south at Sravanabelagola, and ultimately Prakrit was introduced in the south. This incident later on in the 1st cent. A.D. divided the Jains into two schisms, known as Svetambara and Digambara.
Apart from this, the major Prakrit literature found in the Maurya empire is the inscriptions. The inscriptions of Asoka (3rd cent. B.C.) were numerous. These were scattered all over India from East to NorthWest as far as irnar, Shahbazgarhi and Manshera in both Kharoşthi and Brāhmi scripts. This inscriptional literature is very solid and form the major literary documents at the time of Asoka, one of the emperors of the Maurya family. Almost at the same time we have the Sutānukā inscription (Devadinna's Jogimara Cave Insription - 3rd cent. B.C.) found in the East of India. The inscriptions belonging to the 3rd cent. B.C. are - Mahāsthān Stone Plaque Inscription (North Bengal), Sohagaura Copper plate Inscription (Gorakhpur Dt. U.P.), Piprahwa Vase Inscription (Basti Dt. U.P.). Another very important inscriptional document is the Hatigumpha inscription of Khāravela, belonging to the 2nd cent. B.C.
The Gathāsaptasati of Häla might have been composed during the second phase of the Maurya empire, though the date of Hāla varies from the 2nd cent. B.C. to 2nd cent. A.D.
This, in short is a survey of the available literary documents at the time of the Mauryan empire which covers nearly 150 years beginning from Candragupta the Maurya (326 B.C.) down to Brhadratha (183 B.C.), the last emperor of the Maurya-kingdom.