The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c18.55

v1.c18.55

Except the long lists of teachers, often more or less apocryphal, which have been preserved by the modern subdivisions of the Jain community, there exist practically no historical records concerning the Jain church in the centuries immediately preceding our era. Only one legend, the *Kālakāchārya-kathānaka*, ‘the story of the teacher Kālaka,’ tells us about some events which are supposed to have taken place in Ujjain and other parts of Western India during the first part of the first century b.c., or immediately before the foundation of the Vikrama era in 58 b.c. This legend is perhaps not totally devoid of all historical interest. For it records how the Jain saint Kālaka, having been insulted by king Gardabhilla of Ujjain, who, according to various traditions, was the father of the famous Vikramāditya, went in his desire for revenge to the land of the Çakas, whose king was styled ‘King of Kings’ (*sāhāṇusāhi*). This title, in its Greek and Indian forms, was certainly borne by the Çaka kings of the Punjab, Maues and his successors, who belong to this period; and, as it actually appears in the form *shaonano shao* on the coins of their successors, the Kushāṇa monarchs, we are perhaps justified in concluding that the legend is to some extent historical in character. However this may be, the story goes on to tell us that Kālaka persuaded a number of Çaka satraps to invade Ujjain and overthrow the dynasty of Gardabhilla; but that, some years afterwards, his son, the glorious Vikramāditya, repelled the invaders and re-established the throne of his ancestors. What the historical foundation of this legend may be, is wholly uncertain—perhaps it contains faint recollections of the Scythian dominion in Western India during the first century B.C. In any case, it seems undoubtedly to give further proof of the connexion of the Jains with Ujjain, a fact indicated also by their use of the Vikrama era, which was established in the country of Mālwa, of which Ujjain was the capital.