Jain Legend Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa Author Ācāryaśrī Hastī Mala Jī M.S Editors (English Version) Shugan C. Jain P. S. Surana VOLUME 2 ABRIDGED Relating to Omniscient lords and knowers of the prior canons (Part relating to Kevalīs & Pūrvadharas) 1 Editorial Jain Legend is the verbatim English translation of series of four volumes Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa (abridged) in Hindi edited by Sh. Gajsingh Rathod. The original voluminous Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa was authored by venerable Ācāryaśrī Hastīmala Jī M.S., the foremost ācārya of Sthanakavasi tradition of Jain congregation. We have been extremely careful in maintaining the content of Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa (abridged) as it is without any changes / or adding comments by us so as to retain the authentic writings of Ācāryaśrī Hastīmala Jī M.S. Thus the English translation carries his scholarship and research over an extended period of over twenty years. In this English edition, we have tried to keep some of the definitive terms of Jainism as they are and give their English equivalent (as much representative as possible) on the first occurrence and also listed at the end of this note. To appreciate their understanding and pronunciation, we have used diacritical marks for legendary names of persons / texts / places and the definitive Jain terms e.g. aṃga meaning the limb or part and commonly written as anga, etc. We express my thanks to following translators and other support staff members for their contribution to bring out Jain Legend 1. Dr.(Ms.)Uma Maheshwari Translation Volume I 2. Mrs. Prasanna Kumari Translation Volume II & IV 3. Dr. Shugan C. Jain Translation Volume III 4. Mrs. Niti Jain Diacritical marks editing 5. Ms. Chanchal Jain Word Processing, Composing 6. Mr. Sushil Jana Word Processing, Composing We request you, the august reader of this series Jain Legend, to please bring out any errors (spelling and the texts) and suggestions for improvement in language and choice of words to our notice for improving the next edition of this book. Given below are the abbreviation, diacritical marks and some Jain definitive terms used in the books to enable the reader understand and enjoy the content and comprehend the same better. 2 Abbreviation: V.N. Vira Nirvana: Calendar, starting after the liberation of Lord Mahavira. M.S. Maharaja Sahib: Suffix used by Jains after the name of their preceptor / monk as a sign of respect / veneration. Diacritical marks used Ā ‘vk’ ‘a’ like in dark Ī ‘bZ’ ‘ee’ or ‘ii’ like in steel Ū ‘Å’ ‘uu’ or ‘oo’ like in school or you Ś ‘’k~’ ‘Sh’ like in Shine d ‘M~’ ‘D’ like in band Ņ ‘.k~’ ‘N’ like in hand Ṃ ‘ka vuqLokj’ Short n, nasal Ţ ‘V~’ ‘t’ like in tea Ş ‘"k~’ ‘S’ like in shut ŗ ‘_’ ‘Ri’ like in Rishi Jň ‘K~’ ‘Gy’ like in Vigyan Kş ‘{k~~’ ‘Sh’ like in kshama h ̣ ‘% folxZ’ ‘h’ Jain definitive words used frequently Ācārya Preceptor monk and leader / head of a Jain congregation / group Āgama Scripture Avasarpiņi Half time cycle in which the happiness keeps on decreasing; the other half, Utsarpini has happiness increasing Bhaţţāraka Administrator monk; Yati and Śrīpujya are other words used by Svetambara Jains. Caityavāsī Temple dweller 3 Caitya A place / thing having venerable sign / representation, e.g. footprint, name, idol, photo, auspicious sign like flag etc. generally a holy emblem / place. Dwādasāṃgi Twelve limbs of the scriptures bead on Lord Mahavira’s sermons and composed by his chief disciples (Gaņadharas) Ekādaśāṃgī Eleven limbs of above accept the 12th called Dŗştīvāda (very voluminous and comprehensive). Gaņa Group. A group of monks and sub division of congregation Gaccha Sub group. Sub division of Gaņa. Kevalī Omniscient Kalyāņaka Auspicious event in the life of a ford maker (five in number namely conception, birth, renunciation / initiation, omniscience and liberation) Lokāntika deva A type of celestial beings who will attain liberation after one more birth, i.e. whose worldly existence is almost at the end Mokşa Salvation / liberation; Pure soul without any material karmas and body Nirvāņa Liberation / salvation; Attainment of bliss Pūrvas Fourteen in numbers; Canons prior to Lord Mahavira; Contained in the 12th limb as well. Śrāvaka Votary (male); Believer and practitioner of Jain ethical-spiritual code; Householder / laity are other synonyms used. 4 Śrāvika Votary (female); Similar as votary Saṃgha Congregation Samavaśaraņa Religious congregation / assembly of a ford maker Tīrthaṃkara Ford maker, Rejuvenator of the Jain creed 24 in present time cycle’ Mahāvīra is the 24th Tīrthaṃkara. Upādhyāya Holy teacher, Monk, teaches scriptures to fellow monks. Varşa Year /Annual P.S.Surana Shugan C. Jain, Ph.D President Director Samyakjňāna Pracāraka Maņdala International School for Jain Studies Email: [email protected] Email:[email protected] Date: January 18th 2011 (Birth centenary of Ācāryaśrī Hastimala Jī) 5 INDEX S. No Subject Page. No 1. From Publisher’s desk 7 Graphical representation of formulas for 2. 10 conversion of years 3. Foreword 12 4. Golden era 39 5. Era of the omniscient Lords (Kevalī era) 41 6. Kevalī Era / Era of omniscient 42 7. Indrabhūti Gautama 44 8. Ārya Sudharmā 59 9. Introduction to Dwādaśāṃgī 64 10. Ārya Jambū 77 11. Era of all canons knowing (ŚrutaKevalī) era 103 12. Śrutakevalī era 104 13. Ācārya Prabhava Swāmī 105 14. Ācārya Sayyaṃbhava 129 15. Ācārya Yaśobhadra Swāmī 136 16. Śrī Saṃbhūtavijaya 138 17. Ācārya Śrī Bhadrabāhu 140 18. Era of ten prior canons knowing monks 155 19. Era of ten prior canons knowing monks 156 20. Ārya mahāgiri and ārya suhasti 187 - - 21. Ārya Balissaha and Group ācārya & discourse 205 ācārya of Mahāgiri Tradition 22. Kālakācārya (second) 215 23. Ācārya Vŗddhavādī and Siddhasena 221 24. Ārya Khaputa 228 25. Discourse-ācārya Ārya Maṃgu 231 26. Epochal-ācārya Ārya Vajra Swāmī 247 Opinion of Digambaras about knowers of ten 27. 264 prior canons 28. Era of partial knower of prior canons 267 29. Sectarian differences in Jain order 280 30. Devārdhigaņī Kşamāśramaņa 319 Tradition of Female monks (female ascetics) 31. 329 from omniscient era to Pūrvadhara era 6 From Publisher’s desk Historical Contribution During the past several decades, the absence of multifaceted and full- fledged series of authentic Jain History was much felt by the Jain community. With his strong determination, Jain Ācāryaśrī Hastī Mala Jī M.S., the great spiritual Guru of this century, had shouldered the responsibility of fulfilling this void. To successfully complete this task, he travelled extensively and collected various valuable scriptures, from different libraries, historical manuscripts and treasures of information on Jain Culture. Besides carrying out his daily duties as a monk and preceptor (ācārya), this diligent Yogi had spent his time in writing a series of scriptures depicting the historical significance of Jainism. Deeply inspired by him, the Jain History Committee started publishing these volumes since 1969-70. During this period, the History Committee published the following: 1 Paţţāvalī Prabaṃdha Saṃgraha; 2 Ācārya Caritāvalī (History of Jain ācāryas); 3 Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa (Vol.1) Tīrthaṃkara Khaṃda; and 4 The three historical Tīrthaṃkaras (concluding part of Tīrthaṃkara Khaṃda). These four books were published and presented to enlightened readers. The committee is ever indebted to ācāryaśrī for accomplishing the herculean task of compiling the Jain history, during which he had to face a lot of obstacles. While releasing the Second Volume of the “Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa” to the readers, the committee feels that it would not have been possible for us to successfully complete the responsibility of publishing this Volume, but for the divine blessings of ācāryaśrī. Besides, the financial and hearty support rendered by the well-wishers relieved us from half of our burden. The first Volume details the history right from the first Tīrthaṃkara Vŗşabha Deva up to the latest Tīrthaṃkara Mahāvīra. The third and fourth Volumes, depicting the history of about 1500 years are under publication. (Since published) While going through the manuscripts of these two volumes, one feels that ācāryaśrī has magic spell not only in his speech but also in his 7 writings. We really wonder how he could have made a dry and complex subject like history, so simple, interesting and elegant. His works would definitely change the opinion of the readers who consider history a dry subject. The very presentation by ācāryaśrī makes the reader spell-bound and once started reading, he would not feel like parting with it. The salient features of the present volume are as follows: 1. Narration of the prominent religious, social and political events and facts between V.N. years 1 to 1000. 2. Chronological History of Jain Saints. 3. The Analytical treatise about the gradual decline and degeneration of the twelve fold scriptures (Dwādaśāṃgī). 4. Subjective presentation of contemporary Religious Practices and History of Royal Dynasties. 5. Clarifications on complex issues of Jain history; Protest against the deep-rooted superstitions besides giving new interpretations on certain somber issues on Indian history 6. Magnificent description of unparalleled contribution of women folk as female monks (Śramaņīs) and female votaries (śramaņopāsikās) to Jain Tradition. 7. Presentation of an abstract and dry subject such as history in a simple, fluent and an easy-to-understand language. And finally we sincerely express our inner gratitude with deep respect to worshipful / reverent Gurudeva Ācāryaśrī Hastī Mala Jī M.S., who, besides exceptionally contributing to the growth of the religion, made an everlasting contribution to the Jain society, by writing this great work on History. Owing to the long time demand from enthusiastic readers, Samyagjňāna Pracāraka Maṃdala had come out with an idea to publish abridged versions of the four volumes of “Jain Dharma kā Maulika Itihāsa”. Subsequently, after the abridged version of the first volume, we now take immense pleasure in presenting the readers the abridged version of the second volume of the Series.