Mahavira his Times and his Philosophy of Life

Author(s): Harilal Jain, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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consequently to bring warmth in his body he was doing like this. The king full of sympathy for the monk enquired how his ailment could be removed.
The minister suggested the remedy, namely, when this poor man comes to the town for alms, the slab of stone on which he sits might be fully heated so that the hot stone might remove this prabhañjana-vāyu when he sits on it. The king ordered accordingly, and his order was duly carried out. The result was, when the saint Gaja-kumāra returned from the town after seeking his alms and sat on that stone, he suffered terrible burning. He patiently bore this suffering and attained liberation. Later the god arrived there; and the minister, the king and thousands of other persons accepted the Jaina way of life.
(f) Satānika, king of Kauśāmbi, and Udayana and Candapradyota of Ujjaini
It has been already noted in the biography of Candana that Mrgāvati, one of the seven daughters of Ceṭaka, king of Vaiśāli, was married to Śatānika of the Somavamsa, ruling at Kausāmbi. This Kauśambi is identical with the presentday Kosam, a village, at a distance of 35 miles to the southwest of Allahabad. When Mahāvīra reached Kauśāmbi and Candană offered food to him, Mrgavati came there and felicitated her younger sister on her piety. It is the same Udayana, the son of Śatānīka, that was married to Vasavadattā, the daughter of Canda-pradyota, the king of Ujjaini. According to the Buddhist literary tradition, Udayana and Buddha were born on one and the same day. And there is also a well confirmed Jaina tradition that the very night when Palaka, after the demise of Pradyota, was coronated, Mahāvīra attained nirvana. These references prove that both these great persons, namely, Buddha and Mahāvira were contemporaries and shed useful light on the then political conditions.
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