Jain Journal 2006 07

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

Page 29

30
JAIN JOURNAL VOL-XLI. NO. 1 JULY. 2006
cast his mortal body. All classed of Jainas whether monks or lay-devotees used to come to kottapura / kotitīrtha to worship the monument or the mausoleum of the great saint from far and near.
Some local chronicles and travelogues based upon history and legends too claim that Jaina Mahamuni Jambusvāmī attained liberation at Koṭṭipur and there was a memorial or mausoleum of the saint at this place and the place i.e. Kottapura/Devakotta has been identified with Gangarampur in south Dinajpur of West Bengal.
Some pious Jaina devotees of Medieval India, however, claim that Jambusvāmī had attained "Siddhi" or Omniscience at Chaurasia in Mathura. According to them, Jambūsvāmī also attained deliverance from the cycles of birth and rebirth at this place. So Chaurasia in Mathura is considered a Siddhakṣetra "7 by them.
17
In this context, it is to be noted that only the Digambaras divide and Tīrthakṣetras into two divisions Siddhakṣetras and Atisayakṣetras. Mathura, to the Digambara Jainas, is both a Siddhakṣetra and an Atisayakṣetra. It (Mathura) is a Siddhakṣetra because Jambusvāmī attained Omniscience and Nirvana at Chaurasia and it is an Atisaya kṣetra because at Kankhali Tila in Mathura many stupas and temples had been built during ancients and medieval ages for the worship of Supārsvanatha, Pārśvanātha, Mahāvīra and other Tirthankaras.18
But the Digambara claim of Jambūsvāmī's association with Chaurasia is not based upon strong historical foundation. Earlier Jaina patriarchs, ācāryas, philosophers and writers of repute had no knowledge of such claim. It seems that such claim was invented by later medieval writers.
The Kalpasūtra, the holiest book of the Svetambaras, states
16. Bānglāy Bhraman by Eastern Railway (1940) reprinted by Saibya Prakason. p. 222
17&18. Prabhudayal Mittal, Pracin Brajamandal me Jain Dharma kā Vikās. and J. C. Jain, Bharat ke Pracin Jain Tirtha.