Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 494

Sec. 1]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATÍ SUTRA
469
Lord Mahāvīra was also known to the Buddhist works as Nigantha Nātaputta? but they do not explain why he was attributed with the name Nātaputta'.
It is apparently clear from the study of these conflicting evidences of the BhS and the other sources that the Master belonged to the Jhātkra Ksatriya clan. But the solution of the problem of his parentage hinges upon the reconciliation of the evidences of his Brāhmaṇa and Ksatriya origins, as recorded in the BKS and the Kalpa Sūtra respectively.
So there are two traditions of his birth, running side by side in the Svetāmbara Canons. It may be an effort of some authors to reconcile these conflicting traditions by introducing the story of the transfer of the embryo and tracing the origin of Lord Mahāvīra to a Brāhmana family in later times when the social distinction and rigidity between the Brāhmaṇa and Ksatriya castes became well-marked.
Taking the facts of Nature into consideration, several explanations to the problem of the parentage of the Master are possible to be made in this regard.
It may be associated with the Krşņa-legend to magnify his personality, as recorded in the Purāņa” that Lord Krşņa, though born of Devakī, was transferred by Vāsudeva to the family of Nanda and Yasodā, just after the moment of his birth to be brought up there, having apprehended the danger of the destruction of his life by Kassa.
The views of some scholars that Lord Mahāvīra was adopted by the childless Trisalā as son do not agree with the fact, because he had his eldest brother named Nandivarddhana."
i Digha Nikaya, 1. pp. 47 Foll; Samaññaphala Sutta ;
Sāmagāma Sutta, M. N. II, pp. 243, Foll: Vinaya texts,
S. B. E. Vol. XVII, pp. 108, Foll. · Bhāgavat Parāra, pt. II, 3rd Adhyāya, 10th Skandha,
vv. 48-53, pp. 137-39. * Mrs. Stevenson's 'Heart of Jainism'; Bühlar : The Indian Sect of the Jainas.
4 Kalpa Sūtra.