Jain Journal 2005 01

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

Page 14

CHITTARANJAN PAL: POSITION OF THE JAIN
IN BENGAL
Like the Brahmanical Purānas, the book narrates in future tense, the past political events in the form of prophecy and the book is written in corrupt Sanskrit. According to Dr. R.C. Majumdar ............... "The most curious feature of the book is the peculiar way in which it refers to the kings either by the first letter of the name or by a synomym, but never by the full proper name." Though the book is based upon genuine Buddhist tradition, it is not regarded as a genuine hostorical account by historians. In spite of these draw-backs, historians of repute, had not hesitated to all back upon this much-maligned book to corroborate the evidence, they had gathered from other sources.
In this context, it is also to be pointed out that the emmendation of the corrupt passages as well as rendering of the stupendous book into English was not considered upto the mark by many scohlars.'" The śloka (687) quoted above itself is not free from mistakes original or copyist and the cursory translation of the couplet by the learned scholar, K.P. Jayswal, is not above criticism.
In the śloka (687) by Pāşandibhiḥ samākrāntam or Invested by Pāśandis, the Buddhist chronicler, meant invaded on all sides by the followers of heretical sects like the Nirgranthas (Jainas) and others like the Ajivikas, Kāpālikas etc. but not the Buddhists as the chronicler himself was a Buddhist. It is also to be remembered that the noted Buddhist writers who chose Sanskrit as their medium failed to create an exlusively Buddhist literary form of expression.20 So they culled imageries and similies from Brahmanical mythology and legends. It is also an irony of history that the Buddhist chroniclers sometimes used a few idioms and vocables which were specifically coined by the Brahmanical writers to denigrate them. Pāşaņņa or Päşaņī is one of such vocables.
If we explain the couplet to its context, we must admit that in this śloka (687) the chronicler wanted to tell us that during the reign of Gopāla, the followers of different Brahmanical sects were growing
18. 19.
R. C. Majumder, History of Ancient Bengal. Ibid