Tirthankaras of the Future

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Z_Aspect_of_Jainology_Part_3_Pundit_Dalsukh_Malvaniya_012017.pdf

Page 11

Nalini Balbir
(iv) Parallel versions occurring in dana-collections show the existence of
disagreements as Revati becomes the 17th F. T. named Samadhi 2. "In contrast, may be by chance all the evidence I could trace is consistent in the case of Sulasā, also a laywoman of Mahāvira's time : she is a F. T. according to Thān Ț (p. 433a), the 15th F. T. Nimmama in the Prakrit Akhyānakamaņikoga (p. 97, gā. 52) or in the Apabhramsa version of the Mūlasuddhiprakaraņa63. Thus :"
(tatto) cavittu āgāmiņie Titthayaru bhaviss' ussappiņie panarásamau nāmiņ Nimmamattu, apparimiya-ņāņa-caritta-sattu
(p. 56. 5-6). Statements presenting heroes as F. Ts. were available from the tradition; they could freely be used by the Mediaeval popular literature if necessary to fulfill the requi. rements of the preaching monks : Revati is a F. T. in works praising charity, but not in biographies focussing on Mahāvira; Ambada is the 22nd F. T. in a story where he is the main figure 4, but not in the verisons mentioned above where he appears as a co-hero together with Sulasā.
In most cases, however, narrative sources are too fragmentary to allow any conclusion regarding possible discrepancies as they do not mention the T's name or serial number;65 e. g. Baladeva is only a. F. T. in the Digambara Uttarapurāņa and Mahāpurāņa (cf. 4.).
1.2.2. Narrativa sources about F. Ts' careers.
All the stories which have been considered in 1.2.1 end with the F. Ts' name and/or serial number, at most, I now come to the F. Ts' lives in the utsarpiņi age.
Descriptions are available in the case of the Ist. F. T. Sreņika-Mahāpadma. They are found in Țhān 9 (S. I, 299, 13-302, 17), and Titthogali, gā. 1025-1112.06 The Lokaprakāśa (552b, 22-553b. 19) is a late Sanskrit version which does not provide any new information 87; the Prakrit account of the Apāpābşhatkalpa is reduced to a few lines; hence they will generally be omitted here.
The Thân episode in the usual stereotyped Canonical prose is told by Mahivíra himself and presented as a prophecy :
esa ņam, ajjo, Serie rāyā Bimbhisāre....uvavajjihiti (299, 13-14). It fixes the pattern of all future Ts' biographies and includes the following ele. ments68; in the coming utsarpiņi, rebirth in the country of the Pundas in the city Satadvāra at the foot of Mt. Vaitādhya as Mahapadma, the son of the kulagara Sammuci and his wife Bhadra!; birth-festivities and the ceremony of name-giving; coronation and life as a king also known as Devasena and Vimalavāhaņa; visit of