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as a god, where he will live as long as 22 sāgaropamas, on completion of which he will be born in Mahāvide ha and from there, he will attain the status of Liberated Souls (187).
Gleaning carefully through the two accounts, one may be left free to wander why Abhayakumāra and Abhayarajakumat should not be taken as two separate persons. Leaving aside the only fact that they had a common father, all other evidences would support the suggestion that they were two distinct persons. According to the Buddhist tradition, Abhayarajkumāra was the name of the father of the royal physician, Jivaka Kaumārabhrtya, but the Jaina tradition gives no hint to that effect. Coming to other differences, while the mother of one is the daughter of a merchant, that of the other is no more than a prostitute woman; while one is the chief minister of Magadha, the other is only an expert charioteer; while one is initiated by Mahavira, the other is initiated by the Buddha. Abhayo. arājkumāra is stated to have given up the nirgrantha religion and too shelter in the religion of the Buddha, Had Abhayarājkumāra been the same person as Abhayakumāra, how could there be an account of his initiation by Mahavira? Srenika Bimbis ara had many sons, and it should cause no surprise if two of them bore similar names.
'Indeed, if all the discussions in the two traditions refer to a single person, then it is worthwhile to note that the Jaina account of his initiation in the nirgyantha religion is a part of the Agama named Anuttarovavayiyadasa, which is one of the 11 fundamental texts. It must have been written prior to the second century of the preVikrama era (188).
The Buddhist account of his initiation is contained in the Atthakathā andThera Apadāna(189).
The Atthakathā is a posterior construction, and even Apadana of the Tripitaka literature is considered to belong to a later period(190).
'Udrayana' is one of the names of a king that figures in the list of those initiated in both the orders. According to the Budahist work, Avadā nakalpalatā, (191), the name
| SR No. | 022804 |
| Book Title | Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Nagaraj Muni |
| Publisher | Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers |
| Publication Year | 1986 |
| Total Pages | 804 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 19 MB |