Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Boolchand
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

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spoken of in the Jain texts as Videhadattā ; and there is ample evidence to prove that Mahavira was closely connected with the Videhans. The Videhans had a living interest in the Jain Church. From Kalpa-sutra we know that Mahavira spent six rainy seasons at Mithila, the Metropolis of Videha,.
Vatsa : The capital of Vatsa, Kausambi, was also visited by Mahavira several times both during the period of preparation and after the attainment of the Kevala. The ruler of Kausambi was King Satānika to whom was married Msgāvati, the third daughter of Cetaka. Both the King and the queen were devotees of Mahavira and followers of the Jain order. The Jain tradition also affirms that the king's amatya (minister) and his wife were Jains by faith. Satanika's son and successor, Udayana, was a great king who made some conquests and contracted matrimonial alliance with the royal houses of Avanti, Anga and Magadha. The Jain literature claims him as a follower of the Jain order.
Avanti. Canda Pradyota the ruler of Avanti (Capital, Ujjain), had married the fourth daughter of Cetaka, by name Sivā. Pradyota was called 'Canda'. or fierce, for he was temperamentally very excitable and was also the possessor of a large army. There is. a story which says that he was fond of Mrgāvatī, the elder sister of his wife, who had been already married to King Satanika of Vatsa, that he asked for Queen Mrgāvati from Satanika, and that on the refusal of the latter he declared a war against him. Satanika appears to have died before actual hostilities could start; and when Mahavira visited Kausambi a little later, he induced Canda Pradyota to give up his feeling of revenge and to allow Mțgāvati to become a nun. Thereupon Satanika's son, Udayana, become the king of Kausambi. Between this Udayana and Pradyota's daughter, the peerless Vāsavadattā, there developed a long romance, round which a large cycle of sanskrit stories