Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s1.25

c8.s1.25

We are therefore not without warrant for assuming that Chandra Gupta was a Jain by creed. At the period when he becomes associated with Bhadrabāhu, he was much troubled in mind on account of sixteen dreams with which he had been visited. These are mentioned in many narratives relating to him. Bhadrabāhu in the course of his travels having come to Pātaliputra, the capital, the king consulted him as to their interpretation, and was dismayed at the coming troubles which they portended, including the twelve years of famine. He seems consequently, impressed by Bhadrabāhu’s exhortations, to have resolved to retire from the throne, and to place himself under the guidance of this the most distinguished Jain teacher then living, for the right performance of penitential acts in view of the impending calamities. He was, as Mr. V. A. Smith has pointed out,¹ not fifty years of age at the time. He is not expressly stated to have died, and no special reason appears for his death at this early age. Had he fallen in battle, or his life been cut short by accident or disease, the circumstance could not fail to have been mentioned. But if he retired from the throne in order to devote himself, in accordance with the dictates of the Jain religion, to an ascetic life in the last stage of his existence,² and accompanied Bhadrabāhu to the South, this affords a reasonable explanation of his early disappearance from public notice and of the silence regarding his further career, for absolute renunciation of all earthly ties was of the essence of the vow he had taken. On the other hand, the southern accounts represent him as living an ascetic life at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa for twelve years after the decease of Bhadrabāhu.³ His death then occurred when he was about sixty-two years of age, which seems more natural and so far entitled to credence.