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SOME JAINA CANONICAL SUTRAS
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invited king Hammira to come to his aid. Vallabhi was conquered and the king was slain by Hammira.1
Avanti 2: The caitya of Abhinandanadeva, son of king Sambara, was in the village of Meda in Malava. Once a host of Mleccha troops invaded the place and broke the temple along with the image of Abhinandanadeva. After many days a merchant named Vaija came here from Dharada. He was a very pious man who would not eat anything until he finished worshipping the deity. The Medas showed him the broken figure of Abhinandanadeva. He began to worship it, and resolved not to take any meal until it became an unbroken entity. Then as per injunction received in a dream, he anointed the image with sandal paste, in consequence of which it became an unbroken whole. He installed it on an altar under the Pippala tree.
Arbudadri (Arbuda Mountain): A king named Ratnasekhara reigned in the town of Sriratnamala. Grieved at the state of childlessness, he sent out a number of augurs. Seeing Durga on the head of a distressed female carrying fuel, they intimated to the king that her son would be reigning in his place. At the behest of the king, they threw her down into a pit at the dead of night with a view to killing her with child. But as good luck would have it, she somehow managed to come out of the pit. Seized with fear, she gave birth to a son and left him in a forest. The augurs brought her back to the same pit and put her to death. The child left was taken care of by a doe who nourished it with milk, day and night. King Ratnasekhara at first tried to do away with the son, but later he adopted him as his own son. The latter was named Śrīpuñja. His daughter, Śrīmātā, was one who could recollect the condition of her previous existences. Śrīpuñja had built a temple on the top of the Arbuda mountain. A naga, named Arbuda, used to live at the bottom of this mountain. Formerly this mountain was called Nandivardhana. Later, it was named Arbuda, being the habitat of the serpent Arbuda. Here are twelve villages around. Here flows a river, Mandakini by name. Here are many
1 Amir of Afghanisthan.
2 Avanti roughly corresponds to modern Malwa, Nimar, and adjoining parts of Central provinces (B. C. Law, Geography of Early Buddhism, pp. 22-23).
3 It is the Mount Abu in the Aravalli Range in the Sirohi State of Rajputana. It contains the hormitage of Rsi Vasistha and the famous shrine of Amba Bhavani. According to Megasthenes and Arrian the sacred Arbuda or Mount Abu is identical with Capitalia which attaining an elevation of 6,500 ft. rises far above any other summit of the Aravalli range. (McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 147.)
