Jain Legend Vol 1

Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

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these differences, readers should feel proud of the fact that on matters of the T rthamkara' parents, birth place, auspicious star at the time of conception, place, birth star, colour, cognizance, period of initiation, penance after initiation, time of mental training, nirva, etc the
vet mbara and Digambara traditions are common. Differences on name, place, date, etc have occurred due to differences in memory or on matters of arithmetic, but that does not make any difference to the original.
In the present text ‘T rthamkara' introductory note, introduction to their lives and where appropriate, points of differences are also shown. There are also some differences that are against the tradition and primarily debatable. For instance, all c ryas agree that K atriyaku da was the place of residence of king Siddh rtha, but crya SI mka believes it to be his resort. cr mga S tra, Kalpas tra mention Nand vardhana as the elder brother of Lord Mah v ra while crya S1 mka mentions him as the younger brother. Bhagavat S tra mentions the hurling of magical fire by Go laka on Sarv nubh ti and Sunak atra and of the death of two monks in Samava ara a, whereas crya SI mka in his Cauvana mah purisa cariyam does not mention the death of any monk by the impact of magical fire hurled at them by Go laka. He writes that Lord Mah v ra, in order to prevent the calamity that would be produced from the magical fire of Go laka and Sarv nubh ti, produced cooling power to extinguish it. Unable to bear with its strong power it fell on Go laka and started to burn him. Afraid of the extreme flames of the magical fire, Go laka fell at Mah v ra's feet. By virtue of the Lord's compassion, the flames died out. Go laka repented his bad deeds as a result of which he obtained a good fire and after death he was reborn as a deva in the Acyuta heaven. There must be some reason for a knowledgeable muni to write something against the traditional dictum. One cannot believe that such a great scholar could write something without forethought. This issue calls for deeper reflection on part of scholars.
Method of propounding in T rthamkara’ times
Despite having the support of gods and divine beings in the times of T rthamkara, why was Jain religion not widely propounded across countries? What was the method of propounding in the times of the T rthamkara that even under the rule of the powerful rk a and a flower like the Magadha King re ika, Jain religion was not widely
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