Lord Mahavira and His Times

Author(s): Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 69

Mahāvīra and His Life
than modern Benaras. Kampillapura is identified with Kampil in the Farrukabad District.1 Polasapura has not been identified, but at the time of Mahāvīra, it was within the kingdom of king Jiyasattu, the ruler of Kośala.
The Āvašyaka Niryukti,2 the Āvašyaka Chūrņi,3 the Āvaśyaka Bhashya, 4 the Avašyaka sikā, the Kalpa Shira ?īkā,5 and the Mahāvīra Charitras written by Nemi Chandra, Guna Chandra and Hema Chandra somehow give us a detailed account, with chronological succession of Mahāvira's itinerary. Though based on tradition, these are still very late works and cannot be wholly relied upon. Their motive was sometimes to glorify Lord Mahāvīra and present him as a superhuman being, rather than as an ordinary mortal. One important conclusion may be drawn that Jainism had penetrated to far-flung areas so that at the time of composition of these works, their authors expressly mention the visit of Lord Mahāvīra to these places in order to impress the masses, but actually the spread of Jainism during the time of Mahāvīra there seems to be quite impossible.
When Malāvīra was thirty years old, he renounced the world with the permission of his elder brother, Nandivardhana, and his relatives. With people pursuing him, he set out from Kundagrāma in the dark of Mārgasirsha on the tenth day in winter by simply putting on a divine garment (Devadussa). He came to the garden of Nāyasaņdavaņa situated in the northeast direction on the outskirts of Kunçaggāma. At this place, the renunciation ceremony of Mahavira was celebrated with great rejoicings. He is said to have given the first half of his garment to a Brālimaņa. FIRST REAR
In the evening of the same day, Malāvīra left Nayasanda for Kumāragama. There were two routes by which this journcy was perforined, one by water and the oulier lose 1. GEB, p. IS. 2. Ara. Nir, 458-527. 5. Ara, Chi, pp. 269-333. 4. Ida, Bhă, III. 6. Kalba, Ti, 5.121.