Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 100

THE SRAMAN TRADITION AND VAISALI
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from a comparison of the Buddhist and Jaina scriptures it appears that Kundagrāma the birth place of Mahavira was a suburb of Vaišali.14 Mahavira's mother Trišala was a sister of Chitaka one of the Rajas of Vaišāli. The Jain Kalpasutra speaks of the connection of Mahavira in the Videha country and its capital Vaisali.15 The Ayaränga Sutra informs us Mahavira's parents were worshippers of Parsva and followers of the Śramanas 16-a faith which was afterwards developed by Mahavira. His religious discourses at Vaišāli are vividly depicted in the Jaina works like Uttaradhyayana, Sutrakṛitänga and Acharanga and also in the Buddhist texts, Mahāvagga aud Anguttara Nikaya. We are told that Mahāvira spent no less than twelve rainy-resorts out of 42 of his ascetic life, in Vaišali.17 And as a result, a good number of people embraced his faith. Some of his influential followers in Vaišāli were Ananda, Saccaka, and Siha Senapati. Vaiśāli was thus a Chief Centre of Nirgranthas in the Buddhas time.
The esteem in which Mahavira was held by Vaišalians (Licchavis) is indicated by the fact that after his death at Pāvā, the nine Mallakis (Mallas), the sine Licchakis (Licchavis) and the eighteen Ganarājās of Kāsi, Kosala instituted an illumination, for they said, "Since the light of intelligence is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter". 18
The link of the Buddha with Vaišali was no less close. We are told that his quest of the teacher led the unknown Buddha, the Bodhisattva, to proceed towards Vaišāli which was then renowned for its abundance of spiritual teachers. It was here that Alāra Kalāma, a native of Vaišāli (Mahāvastu, II, 118), who was so advanced in his meditation that sitting on the road he did not find any rattling (MPNS, IV, 35).19
We don't know precisely, as to how many visits were paid to Vaišāli by the Buddha, but the Buddhist texts lead us to infer that they were several. His first visit to Vaisali is dealt with at length in the Mahāvastu and the Atthakathas.20 The account says that the Vaišalians were under Jocobi, H.-Jain Sutras, S. B. E., Vol. XXII, pp. X-XI. Ibid
Vol. I, p. 256. (Kalpasutra, Para. 110-111 Part I, Vol. XXII, p. 194.
16.
Ibid
17.
Mishra, Y. (op. cit.) An Early History of Vaisali, p. 238. Ibid pp. 239-40. 19. Chaudhary, R. R.: Bihar-the
18.
pp. 29-30.
20.
14.
15.
Homeland of Buddhism,
Malalasekera, G. P. (op. cit.) Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, Vol. II, p. 940.
(a) Buddharamsa Attha p. 3 (P. T. S.)
(b) Khuddakapāṭha (c) Sutta Nipāta (d) Dhammapada (e) Mahāvastu
33
99
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"3
160 ff (P. T. S.)
i, 278 (P. T. S.)
iii, 436 ff (P. T. S.)
i, 253 ff, ed. Senart.