EARLY HISTORY OF SRAVANA – BELAGOLA

(5) Sravana-Belagola Inscriptions :

(i) Among the inscriptions at Sravana-Belagola itself, Inscription No. 31 of about 650 A.D., refers to the pair of the great sages Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta, and states that the Jaina religion, which had greatly prospered when they shed lustre on it, having become little weak, the sage Santisena renovated it.

(ii) Again, Inscription No. 67 of 1129 A.D., mentions Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta who, through the merit of being his disciple, was served for a long time by the forest deities.

(iii) Further, Inscription No. 64 of 1163 A. D., speaks of Bhadrabahu, the last of Srutakevalis, and of his disciple Chandragupta, by whose glory the sages of his ‘gana’ i. e., section, were worshipped by the forest deities.

(iv) Moreover, Inscription No. 258 of 1432 A. D., after extolling the lord of ascetics Bhadrabahu, says that his disciple was Chandragupta, who was bowed to by the chief gods on account of his perfect conduct and the fame caused by the greatness of whose severe penance spread into other worlds.


(6) Literary Evidences : (I) A Sanskrit work entitled ‘Brihat-Kathakosha’ written by poet Harishena in 981 A. D. says that :Bhadrabahu, the last of the Srutakevalis, had the king Chandragupta as his disciple. It gives a detailed account of the life of Bhadrabahu.

(ii) Another Sanskrit work, named ‘Bhadrabahucharitra’, by Ratnanandi, which appears to belong to about the 15th century, also gives an account of Bhadrabahu’s exodus to Karnataka and states that Visakhacharya, the disciple of Bhadrabahu, led the Jain Sangha at the instance of his guru to the Chola country. It also refers to the penance practised and the foot-prints of Bhadrabahu worshipped by Chandragupta Muni.

(iii) The Kannada work ‘Munivamsabhyudaya’, written in 1680 A. D. by poet Chidanandakavi, gives incidentally same information about Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta.

(iv) Another Kannada work ‘Rajavalikathe’ written by poet Devachandra in 1838 A. D. furnishes the details regarding the migration of Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta to Mysore region and tells us that Bhadrabahu, at the time of his death, nominated his disciple Visakhacharya as the leader of the assemblage of monks and instructed him to proceed still further to the Chola and Pandya countries. Accordingly Visakhacharya repaired to those regions and propagated the tenets of the Jaina Law among their inhabitants who were already familiar with the Jaina doctrine.

Further, on the strength of these epigraphic, archaeological and literary evidences pertaining to the last days of Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta, the eminent historians fact this association of Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta with Sravana-Belagola.

(i) Mr. B. Lewis Rice has shoutly maintained the credibility of the tradition in many publications. (vide ‘inscriptions at Sravana-Belagola and Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, pp. 3-9).

(ii) Mr. R. Narasimhacharya, the well-known archaeologist directly concerned with the archaeological survey of Sravana-Belagola, clearly states: “A dispassionate consideration of the above mentioned facts leads one to the conclusion that the Jaina tradition has some basis to stand upon. The evidence may not be quite decisive, but it may be accepted as a working hypothesis until the contrary is proved by future research” (vide “Epigraphia Carnatica”, vol. II, p 42).

(iii) A similar conclusion has been put forward by the famous historian Vincent A. Smith, after a careful consideration of all the points bearing on the subject, in the following words : “In short, the Jaina tradition holds the field, and no alternative account exists” (vide oxford History of India’, pp. 75-76).

(iv) On the same lines Mr. Vincent A. Smith makes his stand very clear in another book of his, Early History of India, in the following terms: “in the second edition of this book I rejected that tradition and dismissed the tale as ‘imaginary history’. But on reconsideration of the whole evidence and the objections urged against the credibility of the story. I am now disposed to believe that the tradition probably is true in its main outline, and that Chandragupta rally abdicated and became a Jaina ascetic. The traditional narratives, of course, like all such relations, are open to much criticism, and the epigraphical support it far from conclusive. Nevertheless, my persent impression is that the tradition has a solid foundation on fact.” (vide Early History of India, Fourth Edition, p 157)

(v) The Celebrated authority on Ancient Indian History and Jainology, Dr. A. L. Basham, affirms the strong Jaina tradition which maintains that Emperor Chandragupta was a patron of Jainism and that he abdicated the throne, became a Jaina monk and fasted to death in the manner of Jaina saints at the great Jaina temple and monastery of Sravana-Belagola in the modern Mysore. (vide The Wonder That Was India, pp.52-53, and Sources of Indian Tradition, p 46).

(vi) Prof. H. C. Raychaudhari, the well-known historian of ancient India also confirms the Jaina tradition and states as under : “It is also affirmed that when Magadha was confronted with a famine of 12 years Chandragupta abdicated in favour of a son named Simhasena and retired to Sravana-Belagola in Mysore with Saint Bhadrabahu. There he starved himself to death in the Jaina fashion. Several inscriptions in Mysore dating from about 900 A. D., refer to the pair (yugma) Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta”. (vide Age of the Nandas and Mauryas, p 165).

(vii) Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji, the great authority on Mauryan and Ancient Indian History, accepts in detail the Jaina tradition. As regards the religion of Chandragupta Maurya, he states that “There is also no evidence to disprove the fact taken for granted without the need of any agrument or demonstration by all Jain writers that Chandragupta became a convert to their religion. The atmosphere of Jainism had already penetrated into Pataliputra in the time of the Nandas who had Jain leanings and Jain ministers”. (vide “Chandragupta Maurya And His Times”, p 41). Again regarding the association of Chandragupta with Sravana-Belagola, Dr. Mookerji affirms : “There is also the unanimous Jaina tradition that Chandragupta in his old age abdicated the throne and followed the Jain Saint Bhadrabahu to the south and settled down at a place known as Sravana-Belagola in the State of Mysore where he lived till death. The place is full of traditions, monuments and inscriptions testifying to the life of Chandragupta as an ascetic in association with Bhadrabahu”. (vide Ancient India, p. 150). Further, as regards the last days and the end of Chandragupta, Dr. Mookerji states, “According to very late Jain traditions, Chandragupta, in his last days, renounced the word and followed the Jain migration led by Bhadrabahu to a place in Mysore, known as Sravana-Belagola, where some local inscriptions still perpetuate the memory of Chandragupta and Bhadrabahu living together as saints. The hill where he lived is still known as Chandragiri, and a temple erected by him as Chandragupta-Basti. It is said that Chandragupta, in the Jain fashion, fasted unto death in this place.” (vide History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. II, The Age of Imperial Unity, p. 61).

In this way the known history of the sacred complex of Sravana-Belagola begins from as early as the 3rd century B.C. and that too with the meaningful association of the highest dignitaries of the period like Bhadrabahu, the eighth and last ‘Srutakevali in succession from Lord Mahavira and Chandragupta Maurya, the first Emperor of India.