Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 24

HISTORY OF JAINISM
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him. After twenty years of the liberation of Mahāvīra Sudharman also attained emancipation. He was the last of the eleven gañadharas to die. Jambu, the last omniscient, was his pupil. He attained salvation after sixty-four years of the liberation of Mahāvīra. Bhadrabāhu, belonging to the sixth generation since Sudharman, lived in the third century B.C. He died 170 years after Mahāvīra. He was the last śrutake valin (possessed of knowledge of all the scriptures). Sthūlabhadra possessed knowledge of all the scriptures less four Pūrvas (a portion of Dșstivāda). He could learn the first ten Pūrvas with meaning and the last four without meaning from Bhadrabāhu in Nepal. Thus, knowledge of the canonical texts started diminishing gradually. There are still a good many authentic original scriptures preserved in the Svetāmbara 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 Jambu there is no difference as regards the names of pontiffs in the Digambara and Svetāmbara traditions. They are common in both the branches. The name of Bhadrabāhu is also common, though 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 Bhadrabāhu in the two traditions. Probably they were contemporary. The Svetāmbara account mentions that the death of Srutakevali Bhadrabāhu occurred 170 years after the liberation of Mahāvīra, whereas the Digambara tradition maintains that Bhadrabāhu died 162 years after Mahāvīra's emancipation.
According to the tradition of the Svetāmbaras, Preceptor Bhadrabāhu had been to Nepal and remained there engaged in