Mahavira his Times and his Philosophy of Life

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

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capital where seals were issued by three classes of guilds, namely, Bankers, Traders and Artisans. When Fa-Hien visited India (A.D. 399-414), it was an important religious, political and commercial centre; but its fall began in the next three centuries, and what Hiuen-Tsang (A.D. 635) saw there was more or less in ruins. And today it is a neglected village. The Indian Republic of today has inherited a great deal from the spirit of Vaishali, and the Vajjian concord is the pedestal of our Democracy, apart from the fact that ahimsā with its corollaries, viz., Padñca-śīlas, is the bed-rock on which our policies are built. By eucouraging the state languages, our Central Government is only carrying on the policy of Magadhan Governments which gave more importance to the language of the masses than to that of the classes. The inscriptions of Asoka are all in Prakrit. The late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru used to say that he can find time to meet the humblest in the country even in preference to his big officials. This reminds us of Asoka, the priya-darsin, who has a similar dictum. Thus it is but natural that Vaishali can no more be neglected. Thanks to the vigilant eye of the Central Government, patronage of the Bihar Goyernment, princely gifts of enlightened industrialists like Shri Shantiprasadji and the active efforts of the Vaishali Sangh with its able workers like Shri J.C. Mathur, Vaishali is rising up again. The Bihar Government has been running a Post-graduate Institute there for Prakrit and Jaina studies. Through the ravages of time and tide, and due to political vicissitudes Vaishali fell into ruins; and we had nearly forgotten its identity. But you will be pleased to hear that Vaishali has not forgotten its worthy sons. Among the Jaina and Buddhist relics, the most important remnant is a plot of fertile land, owned by a local significant family of Simha or Nátha Ksatriyas, which is never cultivated, as far as the family memory goes, because for generations it is believed in the family that on that spot Mahāvira was born and hence it is too sacred to be cultivated. It is a remarkable event in
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