History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c16.s1.19

c16.s1.19

Doubts as to the historicity of the Mahāpaüma of the *Bhagavatī* are strengthened by the fact that there are several other figures of the same name and similar description in Jaina mythology.⁴ The first *tīrthaṅkara* of the coming *Utsarpiṇī* will also be named Mahāpaüma, a reincarnation of the Magadhan king "Seṇiya Bhimbhisāra", will be a prince of the same titles, kingdom, and parentage, and will only differ from the reincarnation of Gosāla in his later career. Other Mahāpaümas are the ninth *cakravartī* of the coming *Utsarpiṇī*, and the ninth of the current *Avasarpiṇī*. Furthermore, Jaina tradition, unlike that of the *Purāṇas*, is generally favourable to the Nandas; Hemacandra’s *Pariśiṣṭaparvan*⁵ praises an unnamed Nanda king and repeats several favourable legends about him, none of which suggests that he was an enemy of Jainism.