Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Bool Chand
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

Page 92

( 84 ) the Licchavi sect of the Kshattriyas. Cetaka had seven: daughters, out of whom one preferred to be a nun and the other six were married in one or the other
royal family of Eastern India. Sreņika, the ruler of ... Magadha, was the husband of the youngest of these
princesses, Cellanā, who became à lay follower of Mahavira of the Sramanopasak variety. It is possible that there had been some connection between Magadha and the Jain Church of the age previous to that of Mahavira. The Jain text Uttarădhyayana mentions two early kings of Rajgriha named Samudravijaya and his son Jaya ; of these Jaya, the eleventh cakravartin, "together with thousands of kings, renouncing the world, practised self-restraint and reached perfection which has been taught by the Jinas.” But during the .. rule of the Saisunagas, right from the beginning there undoubtedly existed strong personal connections between Mahavira and the Magadha rulers. As many as fourteen rainy seasons are recorded to have been spent by Mahavira at Rajgriha, during the period of his preparation and after his attainment of the Kevala; and it is certain that at least during the later period he repaired to the city "not merely as an independent preacher but as one who had the State behind him to directly patronise and sympathise with him in his great mission
Videha : As with the rulers of Magadha, so with the other ruling houses in Eastern India, Mahavira had personal connections, and these connections must have inevitably helped him to gain followers for his order. · From Rajgriha, where he gained numerous followers, both monks and laymen, including the princes Megha Kumar, Abhaya Kumar and others, the Lord proceeded - towards Videha country. The capital of Videha was Mithila, which is identified by some scholars with the small town of Janakapura just within the Nepal border. The Videhans seem to have been an adventurous people, scattered as far as Vaisali itself. Mahavira's mother, who was a princess of Vaisali is