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164
U. P. Shah
Jambū-jyoti
the pontiffs and monks whose names figure in the inscriptions and we must see what the traditional date for them is. Let us first take the instance of an inscription in the Son Bhandar Cave at Rājgir (Fig. 1). The inscription generally is interpreted as meaning : "Muni Vairadeva, the jewel among the ācāryas (and) of great lustre, caused to be made, for obtaining nirvāna, two auspicious caves which are worthy of ascetics and in which were placed the images of the arhats (i. e. tīrthankaras)."
There are two Son Bhandar caves at Rājgir, adjoining each other, the second seems to have been appropriated by the Vaishnavites in the Gupta period. The inscription under reference has been understood to suggest that Ācārya Vairadeva had both the caves excavated and images installed therein. A student of Jaina canonical literature and the pattāvalīs would immediately see that 'ācāryaratnam Muni Vairadevah of great lustre' can be none else than the great ācārya Arya Vajra, sthavira Arya Vaira of the Sthavirāvalīs. I had identified this pontiff as such in an earlier paper, and the terminal date of Vajra, according to the Jaina traditions, was shown to be around A. D. 57 According to Jaina tradition, Arya Vajra died in the 584th year after Mahāvīra's nirvāṇas. (According to Harmann Yacobi's corrected date for Mahāvīra's nirvāna, it should be A. D. 107).
The inscription, however, is assigned to the third or fourth century A. D. on paleographical grounds. But the cave's architecture, as shown by S. K. Sarasvati, essentially agrees with the earlier type of Barābar and Nāgārjuni caves and the learned authority had felt that the age of the Son Bhandar cave perhaps belonged to a date not far removed from them. The two Son Bhandar caves are more or less simple; the carved reliefs inside were added later as has been the case with several other early caves in India. The door of the Son Bhandar cave has sloping jambs with a taper of about six inches from the base to the top. The roof is cut into an arch, the arch has a rise of about 4ft. 10 inches and the height of the chamber is a little less than 12ft. It is clear that the caves are not later than the first century A. D. and that when the inscription was carved they were regarded as excavations originally done at the instance of Muni Vairadeva, and were in possession of those who belonged to the line of Muni Vairadeva.
S. P. Gupta has published a photograph of the still remaining traces of the Mauryan high polish of the wall of the rock-cut cave? This certainly suggests an early date for the Son Bhandar cave, not later than the first
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