The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c6.9

c6.9

The following period "bad-good" (dūsama-susamā) contains all Baladeva and Vāsudeva (Jambudd. 164b) or dasāra (Thāṇ. 76a ; 123a f. ; Samav. 72b). The former, dressed in dark, is characterised by the palmtree, the latter, dressed in yellow, by the Garuḍa in the banner; other attributes of the baladeva are the ploughshare, the club and the arrow, whereas of the vāsudeva they are the shell, the discus, the club, the spear, and the sword, so that the description (Samav. 152b f. )² closely follows the epic pattern. They both are masters of half the Bharaha. We come to know (also Thāṇ. 447a) their names in their pre-existence, their fathers and mothers, their teachers, the towns where they first came to wish for a certain form of existence (niyāṇa-bhūmi), the cause for this wish (n.-kāraṇa), and their 9 opponents, padisattu, later called prativāsudeva. Since these informations are for the most part given in the way of popular verses we may well suggest the general knowledge of certain legends marked with regard to content. In the Canon, however, the individual baladeva and vāsudeva scarcely appear at all (Samav. 63a). It is only Kaṇha Vāsudeva who in Antag. 5⁴ plays an actual part, and in the Jain version of the epic Draupadī legend in the Nāya 16 of the 6th Anga¹. Here in Kavila (Kapila) we come to know a vāsudeva contemporary with Kaṇha, though pertaining to a different continent (see above).