Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c23.4

c23.4

The Jaina verdict on the fate of Kūnika’s ten half brothers is rather hard and partial. No remark is made on the action of king Cedaga evidently for the reason that he happened to be the maternal grandfather of Mahāvīra himself. King Kūnika of Campā passes in Jain literature as an ideal king quite contrary to the picture given of him in the Pali canon.¹ It seems that all the historical legends as met with in many of the Jain books were invented with a theological motive from which the Buddhist legends too are not absolutely free.