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166
The Unknown Pilgrims
- on the base of an image:
In the year 50 (?), the 2nd month of winter, the Ist day: dedication of an image of Vadha (māna] (Vardhamana) by Vijayasiri (Vijayaśri), daughter of Bubu, first wife of Rajyavasu (Rājyavasu), mother of Devila, (and) paternal grandmother of Vişnubhava, who fasted for one month [and] is fulfilling the request (paņatihara) of A[yya)...ghakaraba [?], the disciple (sisini) who is fulfilling the request (panatidhărita) of Aryya Jinadasi (Arya Jinadāsi), the disciple (fisini) of Samadi ... va Dinara...89
Certain inscriptions give us information on the social milieu of the śrāvikās; mention is made of the wives of a carvan-leader, a dyer,90 and a danser, of the daughter of a goldsmith, 91 and of the mother and daughter-in-law of a perfumer, 92 just to give a few examples. It is from this middle-class milicu, of businessmen and artisans, that the Aryas, äryikās or sadhvis also came. 9 3
mother of the dealer in perfumes. Both refer perhaps to the same person, and it is possible that between the time of the Ist inscr. dated the year 15 and that of the 2nd dated the year 35 śrăvika Kuināramitrā became a widow or abandoned the world and joined the sadhvis.
89 Ibid., inscr. 50 (Vol. II inscr. xxxvi). Paņatihara (Sanskrit: prajñaptidharā), panatidhārita (Sanskrit: dhāritaprajñapti): the person who fulfills a request, carries out an instruction; cf. Bühler, EI, vol. II, p.209 (ns.14; 13). The names at the end of the inscr. are partially effaced.
90 Cf. Ibid., inscrs. 30; 32.
91 Cf. Bühler, El, vol. II, inscrs. v; xxiii.
92 Ibid., inscr. xvi; Lüders, ibid., inscr. 76.
93 The title Arya (Aryya) is used for both men and women ascetics. Further investigation into the names of the gaņas, kulas, and säkhās might help us to discover whether in this epoch the definitive schism between Digambaras
d Svetämbaras was already in existence and whether the ascetics whose names are mentioned belonged to the one tradition or the other.
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