Aspects of Brahmanical Influence On Jaina Mythology

SR No.: 011037
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shaktidhar Jha
Publisher: Bharat Bharti Bhandar
Publication Year: 1978
Total Pages: 315
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 124

106
Aspects of Brahmanical Influence on the Jain Mythology
seen with regard to only the Adityavamia which is represented as the main line of the former through Bharata and his son Adityayasas But the setting forth of the Somavamsa displays a substantial discord among different authors who may be said to have represented roughly two schools according as they treat the line either as connected with or separate from the Ikşoāku race
Nevertheless, the representation of the Adityavamşa and Somavamsa as sub-lines of the Iksvaku dynasty may be said to have at its root the influence of the Brahmanical epic-Puranic tradition which in a bid to unify the solar and the Lunar dynasties had already bound them to a common ancestry by ascribing the origination of the two distinct dynasties to Ikşvāku and Ila, concurved as Vawasvata Manu's son and daughter respectively 4 However, the seeming disagreement between the traditional representation and its Jaina counterpart as well as the inversion in the order of succession is too superficial to come in our way of treating these lines as the modified versions of the Suryavamsa and Candravamsa of the Brahmanical school.
93 The term 'school', of course, is used here very loosely, for among the authors who connect the Somavamsa with the Ikstāku dynasty as the derivative line of the latter, none is in agreement with the other with regard to the relationship between the Somavam'sa and Kuruvamsa, as will be seen below
84 विशिष्टतरमन्विच्छन् मनु पुत्र तथा पुन ।
मित्रावरुणयोरिष्टि चकार कृतिना वर ॥
यत्र चापहृते होतुरपचारान्महामुने ।
इला नाम समुत्पन्ना मनो कन्या सुमध्यमा ।
Marka P. 111 6-7, Vayu-P chap 85, Matsya-P 11 40 to 12-15, according to which Ila was originally Ila, the eldest son of Valvasvata Manu, but on account of his entrance into Siva's forbidden grove Saravana, he got transformed into a woman and so acquired the feminine name lla on whom Budha, son of Soma begot Purilranas who became the father of the Atlas. This Purana expressly makes Ila the chief progenitor of both the Somavamsa and the Arkavamsa सोमार्कवंशयोरादाविलोभून्मनुनन्दन । ......
Ibid 12 14b, also Brahma-P 3 60 4-8; HV 10 615-22, Viş IV. 16-8ff for details, ATHT, pp 253-257.