Jaina Monuments and Places First Class Importance

Author(s): T N Ramchandran
Publisher: Veer Shasan Sangh Calcutta

Page 10

JAINA MONUMINIS
1. RAJAGRHA
Of actual structures anterior to the Mauya cpoch, the only examples, known to have survived until the present day, are the walls and reinains ol dwellings in the old city oi Rājagrha, all built of rough cyclopean masonry. This city was 14 pulcd in antiquity to have been forsaken during the reign of king Bimbisāra, the contemporary of the Buddha, who removed the capital to New RājagȚha, but as to how long the walls or houses had then been standing, tradition is silent.
According to Jinaprabhasūri, the city which eventually came to be called Rājagyha was known from Lime to time by such earlier names as Kshitipratislıtlā, Chanakapun, Risablapura and Kušāgrapura, the first three of which are not met with elsewhere, in Buddhist or Brahmanic al literature. This capital of Magadha might be viewed from a distance from the Gorathagiri (modern Barābar hills) in Bihar.
According to the Jaina tradition recorded in Jinaprabhasüri's T'ividhati tha-kalpa, Rājagtha was not the first but the last name by which the capital of Magadha came to be known. Of the four carlier names, Kshitipratishthā, Chanakapura, Vrsbhapura, and Kuśăgrapura, one at least, namely, Kuśägrapura, is met with in the Si-yu-ki of Hiuen Tsiang and the Manjusri-mülakalpa.
The Jaina Vividha-tīrtha-kalpa speaks of Rājagrha as the residence of kings and princes such as Jarasandha, Sreņika, Kunika, Abhaya, Megha, Halla, Vihalla, and Nandişeņa. Jarasandha was no other than King Jarasandha of Epic fame, Sreņika was king Seniya Bimbisāra of Pali literature, Kūņika was King Ajātaśatru, son and successor of Bimbisāra. Abhaya was Abhayarajakumära, and Megha, Halla, Vihalla, and Nandisena were like Kūņika and Abhaya, sons of Bimbisāra, presumably by different queens. According to the Jaina Nirayāvaliya Sutta, Vihalla's mother was a daughter of Cetaka, the then king of Videha, while