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Acharya Bhadrabahu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acharya Bhadrabahu (433 B.C. - 357 B.C. ?) was a Jain monk. He is more famously known as a spiritual
teacher of Chandragupta Maurya and author of several texts related to Jainism, including some of the most
important works, Upsargar Stotra and Kalpasutra.

Bhadrabahu was born in Pundravardhan, (now in Bangladesh). During this time, the secondary capital of the
Mauryas was Ujjain. While there Bhadrabahu was able to foresee through his nimitta jnan (subtle cognition of
causes and effects) that there would be a 12-year famine across North India. He decided the famine would make
it harder for monks to survive and migrated with a group of monks to South India, bringing with him
Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan Empire[1] turned Jain monk[2].

While Bhadrabahu was away the monks staying in the North

realized that the sacred scriptures were being forgotten. A
monk named Sthulabhadra convened a council to recompile
the Purva scriptures. However, because Sthulabhadra’s own
knowledge of these texts was imperfect, he went to
Bhadrabahu to study the sections missing from his memory.

Bhadrabahu taught Sthulabhadra, but forbade him to teach

the Purvaa to others upon witnessing a demonstration by Folio from a Kalpasutra (Book of Sacred Precepts),
circa 1450, from Collection of LACMA.
Sthulabhadra of certain extra corporal powers, which
suggested that with time these sacred scriptures would
become corrupted. Thus, the 14 Purvas in their original form perished with these two men.

Bhadrabahu remains an exemplar of dedication to first principles at any cost. After him, the Sangha split into
two separate teacher-student lineages of monks. Digambar monks belong to the lineage of Acharya Vishakha
and Shvetambar monks follow the tradition of Sthulabhadra. Bhadrabahu composed some new texts as well. In
the Shvetambar tradition, Brihatkalpa, Vyavahara, and Nisitha are considered his works.

Bhadrabahu is considered to be the last expert of 14 Purvas, of 12th Anga called Dristivaad, one of the
scriptures of Jainism. Of these, 10 Purvas were passed on to Sthulibhadra, his chief disciple. Bhadrabahu went
to Nepal for twelve years to perform the "Mahaprana Sadhana" a tantric exercise.

According to the Digambaras, he died after committing Sallekhana.

Acharya Bhadrabahu had a brother named Varahmihir. Both were in the same kingdom. When a son was born
to the king, Varahmihira declared that he would live for a hundred years but Bhadrabahu declared that he would
live for only seven days, and that he would be killed by a cat. On the eighth day the prince died because of a
door's anklet falling on his head which had a picture of cat drawn on it. Due to this humiliation Varahmihira left
the kingdom and died after some time.

According to the story Varahmihira became evil and tortured and terrorized the Jains, especially disciples and
followers of Bhadrabahu. Acharya Bhadrabahu then formed a mantric prayer to 23rd Jain Tirthankara
Parshvanath called the upsarghar stotra (now known as Uvassagaharam Stotra) and called upon Dharnendra,
the divine follower (a "devta") of Parshvanath. As an effect of it, Varahmihira was defeated and Jain society
was relieved. That mantric prayer is still famous among the Jains and they chant it with due respect and faith.

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Acharya Bhadrabahu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya_Bhadrabahu

And that prayer had made Bhadrabahu's name immortal among Jain ascetics.

References
1. ^ Chandragupta Maurya and His Times By Radha Kumud Mookerji, Published 1966 Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
2. ^ The Sacred ʹSravaṇa-Beḷagoḷa: A Socio-religious Study By Vilas Adinath Sangave, Published 1981, Bharatiya
Jnanpith

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Categories: 433 BC births | 357 BC deaths | Jain Acharyas | Indian Jain monks and nuns | Sallekhana |
Sakaldwipiya | Sakaldwipiya people

This page was last modified on 25 June 2008, at 13:40.

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