Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

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

Page 521

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STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
[Ch. VIII
Late Dr. H. C. Ray Chaudhury also has tried to show that Seniya-Bimbisara did not belong to the Saisunaga dynasty but to that of Haryanka-kula of Asvaghosa."
So the view of Dr. H. C. Ray Chaudhury may safely be accepted by taking into consideration the above facts, though the statement of the Puranas that Šiśunāga was an ancestor of Bimbisara remains uncorroborated by independent evidences.
It is stated in the Mahavamia that Bimbisāra was anointed king by his own father at the age of fifteen.
This statement cuts across the view of Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar who inferred from the epithet "Śreņika' that he was previously a general probably of the Vajjis, having sway over Magadha and later on he carved out a kingdom and founded his own dynasty.*
It should also be observed that he is known to the BhS, as king Seniya (Śreņika), while in the Buddha Carita he is called Śreņika-Bimbisāra. It is to be noticed that the Mahāvamia does
not mention the name of his father at all.
According to Turnour and N. L. Dey the name of his father was Bhatiyo Bhattya," while the Tibetans call him as Mahāpadma.
This new king endowed with political sagacity and foresight launched the small state of Magadha to the career of conquest and aggrandizement by following a policy of expansion in regard to the inter-state relation which has been dealt with by late Dr. H. C. Ray Chaudhury and other scholars in great details on the basis of the evidences furnished by the Jaina and Buddhist sources about his political career and political achievements.
1 Political History of Ancient India, Dr. H, C. Ray Chaudhury, Fifth Ed., p. 115.
Buddha Carita of Asvaghosa, XI, 2, P.H.A.I., p. 115 f. etc. 3 Mahāvamsa (translated by Geiger, p. 12).
4 Carmical Lecture 1918. 1.67 ff. See Dynasties of Kali Age: Pargiter pp. 68-9 for the purăṇic account.
5 Turnour, Mahavamsa 1. p. 10; J. A. S. B. 1872, i. 298, 1914, 321; Essay on Gunadhya p. 173. The Purāṇas name Hemajit, Ksemajit, Kṣetroja or Kṣetraujā as the father of Bimbisāra. Refer to P. H. A. I. p. 117 f. n. 5. P. H. A. I. pp. 205-209,