Jaina Monuments Of Orissa

Author(s): R P Mohapatra
Publisher: D K Publications

Page 54

Jaina Monuments of Orissa
But elsewhere both R.D. Banerji ard K.P. Jayaswal tried to identify this Kalinga Jina with the tenth Tirthankara, Sitalanatha who was born at Bhadalpur, which is probably the same as Bhadrachalam or Bhadrapuram in Kalinga country. This town is at present situated in Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. The mention of Nandaraja in Hatht-Gumpha inscription as having brought away the image of Jina from Kalinga is interesting from the point of view of the ancient culture of Orissa. Orissa had been a Jaina stronghold from the very beginning. The Jaina Harivamla Purana says that Mahavira Vardhaman had preached his religion in Kalinga. Another Jaina work, the Haribhadriya Vṛitti says that Mahavira Vardhaman went to Kalinga as the king of that country was a friend of his father. The Jaina tradition on the other hand does not assign any of the 24 Tirthankaras of the present age of Kalpa to Kalinga. Besides the identification of Bhadrachalam appears to be wrong for Bhadrilpura was the capital of the Malaya Janapada, which is included in the list of 25 countries enumerated in the Jaina literature.65 The Malaya Janapada lay to the immediate south of Nalanda and its capital city has been identified with Bhadiya a village in the Hazaribag district. Many Jaina images have been discovered at this spot.66
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It has also been identified with Ajitanatha, the second Tirthankara of the Jainas who had elephant as his symbol and Kalinga at one time was famous for its clephants."" Lord Sreyamanatha, the eleventh Tirthankara, is also associated with Kalinga Jina as his birth place Simhapura as mentioned in the Mahavastu was the capital of the Kalinga country. Parsvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara has been regarded by M.M. Chakravarty as the most venerable figure in Kalinga. Various episodes from his life are depicted in the long friezes of Rani-Gumpha of Udayagiri hill. We have earlier examined the veracity of the representations on the basis of medieval episodes from the writings of Bhavadeva Suri. Aranatha, the 18th Tirthankara is said to have received his first alms in the city of Rajpura, which according to Mahabharata was the metropolis of Kalinga. Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara visited the Kalinga country in the duration of his penances in the eleventh year and is said to have suffered great pains there. He was most prominently reverred in the north eastern Janapadas and also in Magadha. Memoirs of his visit to Kalinga country prior to his Enlightenment, may have been quite fresh in the minds of the people there, so that after his demise, the people of Kalinga probably made a lofty image of his for the purpose of worship. The same image was carried away by the Nanda king during his conquest of that country and the same was brought back by Kharavela after having subdued the people of Magadha later on."
Similarly Ṛsabhadeva, the first Tirthankara of the Jainas has also been regarded by some other scholars as the Kalinga Jina referred to in the Hathi-Gumphâ inscription.
64. R.D. Banerji, History of Orissa, Vol. I, pp. 60-61.
65. Avaś yaka Nirukti, 383, Qtd. A.C. Mital, An Early History of Orissa, p. 144.
66. District Gazetteer, Hazaribag, p. 202.
67. A.C. Mittal, An Early History of Orissa, p. 145.
68. Ibid, p. 145.
69. M.M. Chakravarty, Bengal District Gazetteer, Puri, LSSO'Malley (Ed.) p. 256. 70, A.C. Mittal, An Early History of Orissa, p. 146.