Jaina Culture

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi

Page 25

JAINA CULTURE
the sixth generation since Sudharman, lived in the third century B. C. He died 170 years after Mahavsra. He was the last śrutakevalin (possessor of knowledge of all the scriptures). Sthūlabhadra possessed knowledge of all the scriptures less four Pūrvas (a portion of the Drşțivāda). He could learn the first ten Pūrvas with meaning and the last four without meaning from Bhadrabahu in Nepal. Thus, knowledge of the canonical texts started diminishing gradually. There are still a good many authentic original scriptures preserved in the Svetambara tradition. Of course, some of the canons have, partly or wholly, undergone modifications. The Digambaras believe that all the original canonical texts have vanished.
Up to Jamba there is no difference as regards the names of pontiffs in the Digambara and Śvetāmbara traditions. They are common in both the branches. The name of Bhadrabahu is also common, thovgh there is a lot of difference regarding the events relating to his life. There is no unanimity with regard to the name of his own successor, too. The names of intermediary pontiffs are, of course, quite different. Judging from the total picture it seems that in fact there had been two different preceptors bearing the name of Bhadrabahu in the two traditions. Probably they were contemporary. The Svetām bara account mentions that the death of śrutakevali Bhadrabāhu occurred 170 years after the liberation of Mahāvīra, whereas the Digambara tradition maintains that Bhadrabahu died 162 years after Mahāvsra's emancipation.
According to the tradition of the Svetămbaras, Preceptor Bhadrabahu had been to Nepal and remained there engaged in some specific course of meditation. Sthulabhadra and some other monks went to Nepal to learn the Dşstivāda from Bhadrabāhu.
The Digambara tradition believes in a migration of Bhadrabahu and other monks to South India. It holds that