BHADRABAHU AND THE SRAVANABELGOLA KSETRA ROBERT J. ZYDENBOS

If we believe together with Jacobi that the story of the Migration to the south is essentially true, then the tradition that Bhadrabahu met his death at Sravanabelgola gains credibility. And this tradition is very persistent indeed. Inscriptions from the 7th century AD mentioning Bhadrabahu and the Migration are found at Sravagabelgola. P. B. Desai writes that the earliest epigraphical record that testifies to the eminence of Sravana Belgola as a Jaina holy place is approximately assigned to the 7th century AD. S.B. Deo says that inscriptions testify to the sallekhana-s of numerous people at Sravanabelgola as early as the 7th and 8th centuries.

When the Jainas suffered persecution at the hands of the Srivaisnava-s in the early years of the Vijayanagara period, king Bukka Raya I had this stopped and ordered the Vaisnava-s to place a guard of 20 men to watch over the Gommatesvara statue at Sravagabelgola. The fact that so many inscriptions concerning not only Sravanabelgola itself but also other places and events in the history of Jainism in the south are found at Sravanabelgola seems to stress the importance the ksetra had for the Jaina community in South India. Another feature of the tradition is that the emperor Candragupu Maurya abdicated the throne to become a monk and follow Bhadrabahu in the Migration, and again the evidence adduced consists of inscriptions and literary sources, which mention Bhadrabahu and Candragupta together.

At a first glance, this bringing together of two celebrities in one story sheds suspicion on the whole tradition, and that the last Srutakevalin would have died in the presence of only this emperor from the north-east of India, while the other 12000 sadhu-s apparently had dis-appeared completely, seems too romantic to be true. But concerning the last years of Candragupla's reign and the end of his life we know extremely little. The British historian V. A. Smith wrote: "The evidence cannot be described as con-clusive, but after much consideration I am disposed to accept the main facts as affirmed by tradition...... His (Candragupta's) abdication is an adequate explana-tion of his disappearance at such an early age. Similar renunciations of royal dignity are on record, and the twelve years' famine is not incredible. In short, the Jain tradition holds the field, and no alternative account exists." There is no evidence, but neither is there any evidence that the essentials of the tradition are wholly untrue. Some controversy has arisen over whether Bhadrabahu brought Jainism to the south, ie. whether Jainism was not present in the south prior to his arrival.

Desai believed Juinism was there earlier, and gives three main reasons for his view : a) Bhadrabahu had to be sure he and his followers would be welcome in the land of their destination : hence there already were Jainas in southern Karnataka and Tamilnadu the Buddhist chronicle Mahavamsa mentions the presence of Jainas on Ceylon in the 4th century B. C., and this suggests that Jainism had already spread throughout the south by that time; c) Jainism reached Tamilnadu before the Vedic faith did, as is suggested by early Tamil works such as the Tolkappiyam and the Tirukkural. Desai furthermore argues the historicity of a certain Jaina King in the Andhra Desa, basing his unconvincing reconstruction

 

Acknowledgement : Gommateshvara Commemoration Volume - Mastakabhisheka 1981 - Sharavanabelagola