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After his death
The Janavasab ha Sutta of the Digha Nikāya gives a description of Bimbisāra's life after death. Said Ananda,
"Bhante! You have narrated the life after death of many a follower from many lands. Sreņika Bimbisara was a pious man, who was under the protection of the Buddha, the spiritual king. Will you kindly state which life did he attain after death, in which world was he reborn"?---
On hearing this .request from Ananda, the Buddha went into a trance. He concentrated his soul power and strove to decipher the joys and sorrows Bimbisāra was then passing through. Thereon a Yaksa appeared and said,
"I am Janayasabha, I am Janavasabha. I am Janavasabha. I am Bimbisara".
Then the Buddha came to know all about him and said to Ananda,
"Bimbisāra has become a Yaksa named Janayasabha".
According to the Therī Gāthā, Queen Khemā, wife of Bimbisāra, joined the Buddha's order as a nun, and she was named by the Buddha as the wis est among the wise.
In the Agamas
All the above accounts are clear in themselves. If we have to arrive at a conclusion exclusively on their basis, we have to accept that Srenika Bimbisara was a follower of the Buddha. But when we penetrate into the world of the Agamas, we have a much more vigorous and forceful evidence on hand to suggest that King Bimbisara was a Jaina.
In touch with Mahavira
It has been stated above that King Srenika got a direc tion from the nirgrantha monk Anāthi about religion. The
ruatksand ha contains a brilliant account of his direct
