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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
262
OLD BRĀHMI ÎNSCRIPTIONS
(satadisānam yatinam tāpasa-isinam leņam kārayati). Here the yatis, hermits and sages must be taken as representatives of the fourth and third Brahmanical stages of effort (āšramas), that is to say, of the orders of Brahmanical ascetics. It is somewhat difficult to decide whom the king actually meant by referring to them as sakata-samana-suvihitā," the honoured recluses of established reputation."
Mr. Jayaswal contends for the reading sukata-samaņa-suvihitā, taking sukata to be the same word as sukrta,“ virtuous." Kata-samaņa occurs indeed in the Upåli-Sutta, Majjhima-Nikāya, as a Jaina mode of praise applicable to a recognized recluse teacher. Buddhaghoșa explains it as meaning "a recluse who has fulfilled the aims of recluse life." I Taking sukata to be the correct reading, it is easy to tend to equate it with Sugata, which is a well-known epithet of the Buddba. But it would be risky enough, in the absence of clear evidences, to suggest that the Buddhist teachers gained a foothold in Kalinga either during the reign of Kbāravela or before. We bave reasons to think that by sakata-samaņa-suvihitā or sukata-samaņa-suvihitä the composer of Khāravela's inscription rather kept in his view the Jain recluses who, as occasional visitors, had to be distinguished from those who permanently resided on the Kumari hill, Anyhow, the thirteenth year's record of Kbāravela's reign (I. 14) says that 117 caves on the Kumārī bill were excavated to serve as resting places of the Jain saints who resided there (Kumārā-parate arahato parinivāsato hi kaya-nisidiyāya). In the edicts of King Asoka, notably in his P. E. VII, the Jains (Nigamthā), the Ājivikas and the Buddhists (Samghathā) have been mentioned as typical representatives of the orders of the recluses as distinguished from those of the Brahmanical ascetics, while in Khāravela's inscription, the yatis, tāpasas and isis are mentioned as representatives of the Brahmanical orders, and, as regards the representatives of the śramaņas, the. Buddhists and the Ajivikas are passed over in silence. The eighth year's record of Khāravela's reign (I. 9) says that His Majesty feasted all the inhabitants (gharavāsi), all the royal servants (rājabhatakā), all the householders (gahapatayo), all the Brahmins (bamhanā), as well as the Jain recluses (arahata-samaņā) once in Mathurā and subsequently in Kalinga. It will be noticed that in the above enumeration, the royal servants have been
1. Papañca. ûdani, Siamese ed., Part III, pp. 92-93 : kata-samarassđti kata-sämaññassa, samana.dhainmassa matthakampattassa.
2. Barua's Religious Policy of Adoka' in the Maha Bodhi Journal, Vol. XXXV, No. 11, pp. 349.650.
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