Book Title: Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra
Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 503
________________ 478 STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA [Cc. VIII Besides these, there are other places which were well known to Lord Mahavira, such as Kasi, Kosala, Prācīnajanapada, Vindhyagiri, Punḍra. Šatadvāra, Tāmralipti, etc. Of all these places Rajagṛha appears to be the main centre of his religious activities, where he appeared more than sixty times to deliver his sermons and to expound the Law in the assembly of his followers on different religious and philosophical problems raised by his first disciple, Gautama Indrabhūti and others. Next in importance comes Vanijyagrama which was visited by him four times in the course of his religious tours, while Campā stands next to Vanijyagrama in regard to his sacred visit to this city where he passed time thrice at the Purnabhadra Caitya. He paid two visits to each of these cities, viz. Srāvastī, and Alabhika and one to each of these places, viz. Brahmanakundagrama, Moya, Kajangala, Mithila, Nālandā, Hastinapura, Kausāmbi, Vitibhaya, Kampilyapura, Visakha and Mendhikagrāma. It is not possible to construct an itinerary of Lord Mahāvīra in a successive and systematic order on the basis of the scattered geographical data provided by the BhS except in one or two cases. His activities as religious teacher among the people at different places as revealed in the Bhagavati Sūtra Lord Mahāvīra's visit to Alabhikā Lord Mahavira paid two visits to the city of Alabhika where he stayed at the Sankhavana Caitya. On the first occasion he settled the religious dispute between Rṣibhadraputra and other Sramanopāsakas over the celestial state by approving the explanation given by Rṣibhadraputra on this subject.1 While on his second visit to this city the Master converted Poggala, a Parivrajaka to Sramana Dharma on his express desire by explaining to him the question of the duration of the life of the gods in Brahmaloka. 1 Bhs, 11, 12, 433. Jain Education International Ib, 11, 12, 436. For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686