________________
55
Early History of Jainism and Migrations....: 9 CE." Although they do not mention the specific inscription number, it is clear from the context that they are alluding to the famous 'Bhadrabahu inscription' discovered by L. Rice in. 1874.5% According to Rice, the translation of the inscription is as follows:
Bhadrabahu-svāmin, of the illustrious line of this regular order of great men, who by virtue of his severe penance had acquired the essence of knowledge, having, by his power of discovering the past, present and future, foretold in Ujjayini a period of twelve years of dire calamity (or famine), the whole of the sangha, leaving the northern regions, took their way to the south. And the rishi company arrived at a country counting many hundreds of villages... Whereupon, at a mountain with lofty peaks, whose name was Katavapra, an ornament to the earth; the ground around which was variegated with brilliant hues of the clusters of gay flowers fallen from the beautiful trees...the achari, with Prabhachandra also perceiving that but little time remained for him to live and fearing on account of the road (or journey), announced his desire to do the penance before death and having dismissed the entire sangha, he with one single disciple, worshipping on cold stones covered with grass, quitted his body and in this manner attained to the state (or, gained the adoration) of the seven hundred rishis...57
Whether or not this inscription supports the story of the Jain migration as depicted in the Kannada Rājāvali-kathe (19 century CE) has been a subject of some debate. Rice felt strongly that this inscription supported the veracity of the legend that Bhadrabahu, the last of the śrutakevalis, came to Śravana Belgola and died there, along with his disciple king Chandragupta Maurya. Rice reasoned that the Prabhachandra in the inscription was Chandragupta under a new name, presumably taken after he received dikṣa and became a monk. However, after examining the Rājāvalī-kathe more carefully, Dr. J.F. Fleet highlighted some important differences between the text and the inscription: "And, when we examine it [Rājāvalī-kathe], we find that it really indicates, not Chandragupta, the grandfather of Asoka, but an otherwise unknown Chandragupta, son of Asoka's alleged son Kunala; that he abdicated in favour of an otherwise unknown son named Simhasena and that the Bhadrabahu who figures in it is not the Sruta-Kevalin of that name, but quite a different person, probably the Pontiff Bhadrabahu II."
Moreover, Fleet argued that Rice had incorrectly translated the inscription to suit his own theories. According to Fleet, the description of Prabhachandra in the inscription clearly reads "The acarya by the name Prabhachandra" not "the ācārya along with Prabhachandra."" Fleet also disagrees with Rice's estimate for the age of the inscription and claims that it dates to the medieval period c. 8th century CE. Therefore, Fleet argues that Rice is quite mistaken in attempting to correlate the Chandragupta Maurya with the southern migration.
The rest of the inscriptions on Chandagiri hill" do not include any references to a migration." Chandagiri hill derived its name from the local history that claims that Chandragupta lived there. The hill has seven inscriptions that refer to Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta, but not of any migration from the north. For example, the earliest inscription noted by Narasimhachar, No. 31, c. 650 CE, "refers to the pair of the great sages Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta and states that the Jaina religion which had greatly prospered when they shed lustre on it, having become a
