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Ārya Bhadrabāhu
The Northern as well as the Southern Nirgrantha Church has preserved only small bits of information on Bhadrabāhu, some seeming reliable, some probable or plausible, some undoubtedly falling in the category of 'doubtful,' and still others that frankly are at variance with the other recorded facts as well as internal evidence present in his supposed works and hence clearly undependable. The present article intends to focus critically on the image of Bhadrabahu as it emerges through the light cast by the evidence preserved within the relatively earlier and more trustworthy sources, though later writings will not be neglected: This evidence, in point of fact, lead to some hitherto unsuspected angles and consequently to surprising implications and conclusions. Some among the available Northern Nirgrantha sources relatively are earlier than the known Southern : hence these will be noticed here first, followed by the Southern, and next the information gathered from both sources will be compared, evaluated, integrated wherever plausible, and used in the discussions to follow. And finally will be presented the conclusions that may flow therefrom.
II
Northern Nirgrantha literary sources on Bhadrabahu
The earliest extant source on Bhadrabahu is the Sthaviravali or hagiological list of pontiffs incorporated in the Paryuṣaṇā-kalpa. In its present shape, it was compiled partly from the preëxisting lists and partly completed in V.N.S. 980/993 or A. D. 503 or 5164. The Sthavirāvalī, in point of fact, is the result of a five-phase growth and correspondingly contains portions of different periods, the portion forming Phase I begins its statement, after a brief introduction, with the gaṇadhara-apostle Sudharma the direct disciple of Arhat Vardhamana alias Jina Mahāvīra—and next serially follow the names of four patriarchs as successors, the list terminating with the fifth pontiff Arya Yaśobhadra (c. B.C. 350-325) who, as we learn from the Sthaviravali's Phase 2 portion, was the preceptor/guru of Ārya Sambhūtavijaya and of Arya Bhadrabāhu. The Phase I portion, predictably, may have been composed in a still older linguistic form as well as, perhaps, a little more archaic stylistic mould, in Ardhamāgadhi, plausibly at the end of the first Synod convoked in Pataliputra (in or before B.C. 300) for the redaction, the first in recorded history, of the Nirgrantha śruta/scripture/ canon after the end of a long draught* in Madhyadeśa. The Phase 2 of
Its duration is reported, in some sources to be discussed, of 12 years.
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