Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

Author(s): Pranabananda Jash
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India
was a centre of trade in the suburb of Vaiśāli.
Rajagṛha (modern Rajgir) was the ancient capital of Magadha. As it was surrounded by five hills called Isigili, Vebhara, Pandava, Vepulla and Gijjhakuta (according to the Mahabharata, the name of these hills are--Vipula, Vaibhāra, Varaha, Vrsabha and Rṣi), it was also known by the name of Girivraja. According to Jainas, these five hills are-Vipulacala, Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, Svarnagiri and Vaibharagiri. Archaeological excavations have revealed a large number of Jaina antiquities of different periods. The Sonbhāṇḍāra cave at Rajgir containing an inscription of two lines in characters of the early centuries of the Christian era at the right side of the door leading into the cave refers to one Muni Vairadeva, who died in the 584th year Mahavira's demise, as Jewel among the teachers who caused the excavation of two caves for the Jaina ascetics with images of Jinas installed therein. The inscription reads as follows:27
Line 1 Nirvāṇa-lābhāya tapasvi-yogye, Subheguhe-rahat-pra (ti) ma-pratisthe
Line 2 Acaryya-ratnam muni-Vairadevaḥ, Vimuktaye=kārayad= dirgha (?) -teja(ḥ).
In this cave we also find a standing figure of Sambhavanatha, which of course belongs to a later period. The Vaibhāra hill temple also contains a seated figure of Neminatha, head much mutilated, with a fragmentary inscription in Gupta characters and with two small Jinas seated below in Padmasana on the two sides of a standing figure 28 Even the lower half of a small naked male figure, doubtless an image of one of the Jaina tīrthankaras, still can be seen cut out of the rock, close to the inscription." Moniyār matha is also deemed to be a sacred place to the Jainas for the shrine on the top of an artificial brick mound. In 1851-62 General Cunningham, without destroying the matha at the top, went down to the depth of 21 feet in the well and recovered three small figures. One of the figures was a naked standing figure with sevenheaded serpent hood which looks like of Pārsv natha.
Nālandā which is described in the Kalpa-sutra as a suburb (bāhirika) of Rajagṛha was situated on the highroad from Rajagṛha of Vaiśāli, at a distance of one yojana," or half of a yojana.31 It is the present Bargaon, seven miles to the north-west of Rajgir in