Death of Jaina and Buddha

3.6 Death of Jaina and Buddha

Both Buddha and Mahavira gave the intellectual fight to the ritual ridden Brahmanism faith and thus reforming the society of eastern Aryavrata in a great way. Towards their end, they raised the historical importance of Malla territory and made it a pilgrimage site for future generations. According to Samagama-sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya, the message of nirvana of Mahavira was brought to Buddha by one of his novice disciples, named Cunda, when he was staying near the lotus pond in Samagama area of the Malla republic. According to Jaina Kalpasutra and Parisista-parvam, Mahavira attained nirvana in the courtyard of King Hastipala Malla of Pava (Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh). The last rite was attended by the nine Malla Rajas, nine Lichchhavi Rajas and others including the ruling classes of Kosala and Kasi. The moment has been recorded in Kalpasutra as [5]

Kasi Kosalaga, Navmallai, Navlichchhavi
Attharas ganarajyon, amavasaye posdhopawas parita.’

As an honor to the great sage, four beautiful Jain temples were built by the rulers at the spot where Mahavira left his mortal existence [6]. Nearly after 1-2 years of the nirvana of Mahavira, Buddha gave his last sermon to the Lichchhavis of Vaishali and proceeded towards Kusinara. On his journey, he took a halt at Pava and it was the 14th day nearing full moon. In the evening, he gave discourse to the people. During that, he got request from Chunda metal smith to take next day’s meal at his house. On the day of full moon (poornima), after taking the morning food at the house of Chunda, he started feeling sickness due to internal bleeding. Yet he continued with his journey towards Kusinara. On the way he sat near a small river and asked Ananda to make arrangement for some drinking water. Ananda arranged the same from the nearest river Kukkuttha. After some time, Prince Pukkusha Malla passed by the same road and seeing Buddha stopped there. He took some discourse on peace and offered golden colored cloth to both Buddha and Ananda. After Pukkusha left, Ananda gave his golden cloth to Buddha. He tied one cloth along his waist and the other kept on his shoulder. Ananda witnessed the Buddha’s body soon shining with the glow. He informed him about the same. The Buddha replied that first time his body glowed when he was enlightened and the glow this time indicates that now the time has come to leave this body. He told Ananda that this night he will pass away so they should go fast to Kusinara. B0y evening Buddha along with Ananda and other monks reached to the outskirts of Kusinara. After crossing the river Hiranyavati, Ananda made arrangement under two Sal trees in the Salavana. The vana was situated to the north side of Kusinara town. The Buddha being very tired lay down on the prepared bed by his head pointing towards the north. That time Buddha was 80 years old and as per English calendar, it was the 8th or 15th day of February. He asked Ananda to meet Malla Kings and to inform them about his passing away this night. That time, Malla kings were assembled in their town. After hearing the news, they wept and expressing their grief in various ways reached to the spot with family. There Ananda introduced each Mallian family to Buddha while touching his feet. After clearing some more doubts of monks, Buddha attained his mahaparinirvana.

For the next six days, people from far and wide came to pay their obeisance to the mortal remains of Buddha. During this period, as a respect to Buddha, the Mallas of Kusinara offered garlands of flowers, cloth, perfumes, music, dance, lights and so on. On the 7th day, eight Malla Kings (attha malla pamokha) from both Malla republics laid the body of Buddha by procession to the north of the town, going through the center of town and placed it on the mukut bandhan chaitya situated on the northeast of Kusinara town. On the 8th day, the body was wrapped in layers of cloth having fragrances and placed on the pyre composed of fragrant woods. The funeral pyre was lighted by Mahakashappa. The relics (dhatu) were collected by the Malla Kings who kept it in their santhagara for the next seven days to honor it. Hearing Buddha’s passing away, the neighboring kings sent their ambassador to get a share in the relics to which Mallas of Kusinara refused. A war like scenario was almost created and looking at the worsening situation, Brahmin Drona intervened. He convinced the Mallas of Kusinara and divided the relics in eight parts. Each group was then given one part who built stupa over it. The eight parties were – 1. Malla of Kusinara, 2. Malla of Pava, 3. Koliya of Ramagrama, 4. Shakya of Kapilvastu, 5. King Ajatshatru of Magadha (Rajgriha), 6. Lichchhavis of Vaishali, 7. Bulis of Allakappa and 8. Brahmins of Vethadvipka. The Mauryas of Pipphalivana arrived late at the site and thus they were given ashes (ember). Brahmin Drona who distributed the relics, took the relic jar (kumbha). Thus 8 Stupas, 9th Kumbha Stupa and 10th Angara (Ember) Stupa were built on the remains of Buddha.

3.7 Society after Buddha and Mahavira

During the lifetime of Buddha, Buddhism was concentrated in and around republics. The area stretched from Kapilvastu in the north, Sravasti in the west, Kasi in the south and Gaya and Patiliputra in the east, though its followers were also from the western areas like Avanti, Samkassa, Gandhara etc. Jainism too, was limited mainly in the Magadha and Anga Kingdoms but with fewer followers due to strict rules of nirvana. It is a general perception that both sages were social reformers who tried to raise the social status of the lower strata of society. However many Buddhist historians do not accept Buddha as a social reformer opposed to the caste system. The distinguished scholar of Buddhism, Richard Gombrich (1988:30), writes that ‘Buddha’s concern was to reform individuals and helps them to leave society forever, not to reform the world. Life in the world he regarded as suffering and the problem to which he offered a solution was the otherwise inevitable rebirth into the world. Though, it could well be argued that Buddha made life in the world more worth living and that surely was an unintended consequence of his teaching. He never preached against social inequality, only declared its irrelevance to salvation. He neither tried to abolish the caste system nor to do away with slavery. [7]’ The other Buddhist scholar Joseph Kitagawa says ‘It was taken for granted by Buddha that the transformation of society, which significantly included all living beings, would come only as a by-product of the religious transformation of the individual beings in this world. ….Contrary to the popular notion that the Buddha was a crusading social reformer for the common man against the establishment of his time, there is no evidence that he attempted, directly at any rate, to change society. He seems to have accepted the various forms of social-political order known to him. [8]’ The way Buddha debated the superiority of Kshatriyas over Brahmins with Brahmin Ambattha and wished to reborn as Kshatriya in another event, it is clear that he was soft corner towards the social fabric in which Kshatriyas were at highest position. However, he made sure that such things become irrelevant in Buddhist sanghas and one such example is pravajja of the barber Upali before the Kshatriya Shakyans. Since Buddha never tried to disturb the prevalent social fabric outside the periphery of the sanghas, it became a strong factor for both Brahmins and Kshatriyas leading a normal worldly life to become the follower of his teachings. Even though it can be said that Buddha’s own view might have been different and thus debatable, but his followers who were mainly Kshatriyas in the early stages, believed in hierarchy and worked for re-instating themselves to their original position [9].

Although there was no major change in the social structure of these regions after the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, still the society of republics and adjacent monarchies got fully divided into followers of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivika, Shaivism coupled with animism and so on due to spurt of so many spiritual leaders. The texts preserved of that era clearly talks about strong sentiments in followers of each cult against each other and that extended to even spiritual leaders. The story of Kusinara chief Vajrapani Malla, an ardent follower of Buddha, who issued warning to fine the families in the Malla territory if they failed to receive Buddha in the town points towards this sentiment. Similarly, the story of visit of the Buddha to the house of Siha, a Kshatriya and military commander in Vaishali, is also significant. The Mahavagga text states that Siha and his family members were followers of Jaina and always arranged alms for Jaina monks. After hearing about the Buddha, he thought of meeting him. He wanted permission from Mahavira but the latter opposed his move saying that many times Buddha converts people through his nice talks. Siha, however, could not resist himself and went straight to meet Buddha. There he enquired about his doubts and being extremely satisfied, he joined the sangha. Buddha instructed him to remain helpful to Jaina and his followers as his family remained helpful to them since long back. On hearing this, Siha could not resist himself from inviting Buddha and his monks for a meal at his house. On the day of the visit, he procured some materials from the market to make food. When the news spread in densely populated Vaishali, having the majority of Jaina followers, about the arrival of Buddha in the house of Siha, one Jain follower ran across the city shouting that Siha has killed an ox to make the meal for the Buddha and Buddha knowing this also, is going to eat that. When Siha heard it, he went frustrated on the wrong news getting spread in Vaishali as he himself was earlier a Jain follower and therefore had strong sentiments against killing of any animal. Another story goes for Sachchhak Brahmin who aggressively invited some five hundred assembled Lichchhavis to witness a debate between him and the Buddha. Later he too, joined the Buddhist sangha and became bhikkhu. Most of the time, the hostilities extended to even establishing any social relations between them including matrimony. Such hostilities are also preserved in the Brahmanical texts. In such environment, the followers of both Buddha and Jaina from Kshatriya and Brahmin class became distinct than their counterparts following Brahmanism. As both sages criticized the Vedic rituals, most population of both occupational classes left the route of yajna and other rituals of Vedism, an act clearly offending their Brahmanic counterparts residing in these regions including that of Kuru-Panchala. The development led to their tagging as Vratya (impure); evident from the texts of Manusmirti composed after this period. Though these groups were seeded around 5th century BC in and around republics, the same division could have spread across subcontinent when Buddhism became a major religion of the masses around 3rd century BC and Jainism also spread its wings.

In its initial phase, the faith based division in society could have been distinct in the republics than in the distant areas as they were directly associated with both sages. Thus Kshatriyas of republics could have been segregated broadly into the following groups:

- Buddhist Shakyas who confined themselves within the same tribe (the nastikas)
- Buddhist Kshatriyas from the tribes of Malla, Koliya, Lichchhavi and some from Maurya-Shakya of Pipphalivana and other clans (the nastikas)
- Brahmanic and Shaivite Kshatriyas from the tribes of Malla, Maurya, Lichchhavis and other clans (the aastikas or orthodox)
- The Malla, Lichchhavis and other Kshatriyas following Jainism (the nastikas)
- The Kshatriyas from all tribes following other heterodox cults (the nastikas)

Similar segregation could have taken place in Brahmins and other classes of republics too. On dietary habits of Brahmins till the Buddha period, except those following Jainism and other cults which prohibited non-vegetarian diet, others continued with their mixed diet. Since priestly populations belonging to all orthodox cults including Shaivism were merged into each other after Gupta Period and thus evolved as one class, the society of this region in present time had left with only two groups of Brahmins – the priestly or orthodox Brahmins and non-priestly Brahmins (Bhumihar Babhans) who were mostly Buddhists and distanced by orthodox Brahmins due to their atheist view. Similar to priestly populations, the legacy of warrior groups in present time can be seen in the form of communities like Shakyas, Malla-Santhavara, Bisva-Sena and Mauryas. The legacy of the fourth group of Kshatriyas and other classes following Jainism can be seen in form of the Jain population of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar whose population is very less. This way after the Buddha and Mahavira period, the Indo-Aryan and aboriginal human population of republics was divided into numerous religious groups with strong sentiments against each other. As the majority population of Indo-Aryan group residing in these regions moved towards nastika traditions and many of them established relations with aborigines of the same profession, their counterparts living in the regions of Kuru-Panchala termed them Vratyas or degraded race of Brahmins and Kshatriyas.

3.8 Decline of Republics

The society of republics, which was already divided into numerous cults, became highly sensitive to the political developments taking place in their area as well as in neighboring. The time immediately succeeding the Buddha and Mahavira witnessed fall of the republics in front of powerful monarchical states like Magadha and Kosala. Two years before the death of Buddha, Shakya republic of Kapilvastu was already devastated by King Vidudabbha of Kosala. After the death of Buddha, Malla republic was conquered by King Ajatshatru of Magadha. Ajatshatru continued his aggression and took war on the Lichchhavis of Vaishali for nearly 16 years in which the latter were finally defeated. As Lichchhavis got support from the Malla of Pava in the war, meaning Pava as a republican state too lost its power to Magadha. This way, the three main pillars of republics became weak soon after the death of Buddha. The reason behind the fall of republics as independent state was the same which was earlier their strong point i.e. governance through discussion. The secrets which are must to run any government could not have maintained due to republic’s democratic nature. They were vulnerable to internal dissension, especially when faced with aggressive monarchs. There were internal clashes between its members due to non-hierarchical nature of their assembly. The entire scenario was aggravated by rise of numerous faiths in republics as it resulted in weakening of cohesive forces between the Kshatriya populations. The Lalitavistara records these internal clashes in the form of a myth where the future Buddha is described as sitting in heaven, thinking of his impending birth. One of the questions raised is; which family should he bear in? The other Bodhisattvas and gods discussed and rejected the candidature of the Lichchhavis of Vaishali. They said that these people do not speak to each other in a proper manner, do not follow the dharma, do not preserve the ranks of social status and age, do not become anybody’s disciples, and each one thinks, ‘I am king, I am king’. This legend clearly points towards weakness of the Lichchhavis to maintain their supremacy through democratic structure of governance. Broadly the factors behind the decline of republics can be given as [10]-

- Lack of military consciousness
- Meager resources
- Dissensions
- Mutual jealousies and stripes
- Existence of mighty monarchies like Kosala, Magadha etc in their neighborhood and their greedy and ambitious desire
- Useless discussion on unimportant matters
- Lack of confidentiality

Although the republics were conquered by their neighboring monarchs, it seems that an arrangement was made whereby the local administrations were still in the hand of these Kshatriya tribes and in return they paid tax or revenue to their respective monarchs. The same is evident in Arthshastra, composed by Chanakya of Magadha Empire nearly after 150 years of the Buddha’s death. It records that the Sanghas are unassailable and advises the king to win over friendly ones. After the decline of republics, the biggest political development was the rise of Magadha as the center of power in the Indian subcontinent. From the period of 600 BC till 600 AD i.e. for nearly 1000 years except a few centuries in between, Magadha remained a center of spiritual and political significance for entire subcontinent. It will be, therefore, necessary to understand the rise of various powers on Magadha throne and its subsequent effect on the society of Magadha as well as the subcontinent with respect to changes in its socio-religious structure.

4. Rise of Magadha empire

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References:

Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

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