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The Republic of the Nāyas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

J. P. Sharma
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Extract

If it were not for the birth of Mahāvīra amongst the Nāya-Khattiyas of Kuṇḍapura, we should probably never have heard of this people. It is mainly in connexion with the last Tīsrthaṅkara of the Jainas and the doctrine of severe asceticism which he expounded that we find a few references to the Nāyas and some scanty allusions to their political institutions in the sacred books of the Jainas, the Pāli Canon, the commentaries on these texts, and some later epigraphic records. No study of their political institutions has yet been undertaken, but the scattered data collected from these sources do present a fairly cohesive whole; though some points remain vague owing to the dearth of material.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 100 , Issue 2 , April 1968 , pp. 144 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1968

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References

1 Save for a brief discussion by Mishra, Yogendra, An early history of Vaiśāli, Delhi, 1962, 112–113Google Scholar. For a general treatment of these peoples see Law, B. C., Some Kṣatriya tribes in ancient India, Calcutta, 1923, 114–122Google Scholar; Tribes in ancient India, Poona, 1943, 243–244.Google Scholar

I am grateful to the University of Hawaii's Office of Research Administration for rendering financial support in conducting initial research for my book on Mahāvāra and Jainism.

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12 For brevity and clarity we shall refer to them simply as Nāyas.

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21 Ācā. Sū., II, 15, 4.

22 Hoernle, op. cit., I, sec. 7.

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31 Uvāsagadasāo, I, sec. 3.

32 ibid., II, 4 n.

33 Sec. 100.

34 II, 5 n.

35 op. cit., II, 5 n.

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41 Sūtra Kṛtāṅga, I, 2, 3, 22.

42 CHI, I, 157.

43 Jacobi, Jaina Sūtras, xi.

44 Ed. Jacobi, secs. 21, 26, 30, 47, 59, 65–7, 69, 72, etc.

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46 Sūtra Kṛtāṅga, II, 1, 13.

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53 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, ed. Waldschmidt, E., I–II, Berlin, 1950–1951, pp. 432–442Google Scholar. The Licchavis and the Mallas, keen followers of the Buddha, instituted a festival of lights to honour Mahāvīra's death.

54 Ācārāṅga Sūtra, II, 15, 16.

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56 Kalpa Sūtra, secs. 149–69.

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62 ibid., II, 15, 17.

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