The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c18.48

v1.c18.48

Out of the eleven *gaṇadharas* 'heads of the school,' or apostles, of Mahāvīra only one survived him, viz. Sudharman, who became the first pontiff of the new church after his master. Absolutely nothing is known concerning the fate of the community for more than 150 years after the death of its founder beyond the very scanty conclusions which may be drawn from the legendary tales related by later Jain writers, above all by the great Hemachandra. According to these authorities, Ajātaçatru was succeeded by his son Udāyin, a prince, who may have reigned for a considerable time, and who was a firm upholder of the Jain religion. But the irony of fate was visible even here; for the very favour which he had bestowed upon the Jains proved to be the cause of his ruin: a prince whose father he had dethroned plotted against his life; and, aware of the welcome accorded to the Jains by Udāyin, he entered his palace in the disguise of a Jain monk, and murdered him in the night. This happened 60 years after Mahāvīra's decease. The dynasty of the nine Nandas, somewhat ill-famed in other records which call its founder the son of a courtezan and a barber¹, then came to the throne of Magadha. However, the Jains do not share the bad opinion of these kings which was held by the Buddhists. This fact seems to suggest that the Nanda kings were not unfavourably inclined towards the Jain religion; and this inference gains some support from another source, for the badly mutilated inscription of Khāravela, king of Kaliṅga and a faithful Jain, mentions, apparently, in one passage 'king Nanda' in unmistakable connexion with 'an idol of the first Jina'². But the reign of the Nandas is one of the darkest even of the many hopelessly dark epochs in the history of ancient India.