Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

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

Page 99

90
VAISHALİ RESEARCH BULLETIN No. 3
were really the true Brāhmaṇas.5 This thesis is upheld not only by the Jain and the Buddhist canonical texts, but by the accounts of Megasthanes as well. To quote him "the Indian sages were divided into two sects Brāhmaṇas and Sramaņa, among the latter the Hylobioi (living in woods) were honoured most.?
The school of Sramaņas was particularly prevalent and popular in the N. Eastern parts of the country, and modern Bihar happened to be their stong hold. Several kinds of ascetic practices and ideologies grew amongst them, so that they split up into numerous branches.8 Some of the most important leaders of these sects were Nigantha Nātaputta, Pūrana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Pakudha Kaccāya na, Ajeta Keskambali, Sanjaya Bilathiputta9 etc. But, however, it was the two dominant personalities viz. Mahävira and the Buddha who gave a very difinite shape to the Sramana ideology, practice and organisation, each in his own way. 10
It is heartering to note that Vaiśāli had the privilege to nourish and uplift both these faiths, and as such no wonder that it has been eloquently spoken of in the respective literature of Jainism and Buddhism.
Vaišāli claims the historical founder of Jainism as 'son of the soil'. In the Sutrakṣitanga11 and the Uttaradhyayana 12 he has been referred to as “Vesālic or Vaiśālika' i.e. a native of Vaišāli, just as Risabhadeva, a native of Kosala has been spoken of as "Kosalic'. Moreover Abhayadeva in his commentary on the Bhagawati Sutra (2.1.90) explains Vaišālika' by Mahāvira as Mahavira Janane' i.e. the mother of Mahāvira18. Besides,
5. Dhammapada (Mabā Bodhi Society of India) XXVI, 34, 416.
यो'ध तण्हं पहत्वान अनागारो परिब्बजे।।
तण्हाभवपरिक्खीणं तमहं ब्रू मि ब्राह्मणं ।। . 6. Anguttara Nikaya, IV, p. 35., I, p. 157. 7. McCrindle-The Invasion of Alexander the Great, p. 358.
8. Jain, H. L.-Contribution of Jainism to Indian Culture, J. B. R. S. . Vol. XLIV-Parts I & II, p. 2.
9. Digha Nikāya-Sāmaññaphala Sutta. 0. Jain, H. L.-Contribution of Jainism to Indian Culture,
J. B. R. S. Vol. XLIV, Parts, I & II, p. 2. Jacobi, H.-Jain Sutras, S. B. E., Part II, p. 261. एवं से उदाहु अणुत्तरणाणी अणुत्तरदंसी अणुत्तरणाणधंसधरे । अरहा नायपुत्ते भगवं वेसालिए वियाहिए।
Su. Kr. I, 2. Ž2. 12. Jacobi, H.-S. B. E., Part II, (Uttarādhyayana Lect. VI, 17, p. 27.
'एवं से उदाहु अणुत्तरणाणी अणुत्तरदंसी अणुत्तरणाणदंसणधरे अरहा । णायपुत्ते
भयवं वेसालिए वियाहिए'। 13. Abhaydeva, Bhagavati Sutra (2.1.90).
'विशाला महावीर जननी, तस्या अपत्यमिति वैशालिकः'
1.