Article: Jain Mahābhāratas

Nemi’s renunciation
Image by Wellcome Trust Library © Wellcome Library, London

The boy who will become the 22nd Jina, Nemi or Ariṣṭanemi, is the son of Samudravijaya and younger cousin to Kṛṣṇa. Nemi grows up to become a man of unequalled power. Noticing this, Kṛṣṇa becomes worried for his own sovereignty. He arranges for Nemi to marry.

Just before the wedding, the young prince wanders around the park and is struck by the wailing animals which have been lined up to be slaughtered for his wedding banquet. Filled with disgust, he renounces the world.

The monk Nemi achieves omniscience and becomes a Jina. He roams the land preaching to his followers, including Kṛṣṇa and his other relatives, until he achieves final emancipation on Mount Girnar.

Pāṇḍava brothers and Draupadī
Image by Vaticanus – Bob King © CC BY 2.0

One day in Dvāravatī, Kṛṣṇa receives a visit from five men, the Pāṇḍavas or sons of Pāṇḍu. Their rivalry with their 100 cousins, the Kauravas, has led to several attacks on their lives and years in exile.

The tale of the Pāṇḍavas’ adventures commences. When the eldest of the Pāṇḍavas is seduced into gambling away all their possessions in a game of dice, the five brothers spend years in exile in the forest. They then spend one year incognito at the court of King Virāṭa. They are accompanied throughout their exile by Draupadī, who, according to the Jains, is the wife of one Pāṇḍava brother, Arjuna. In Vyāsa’s Mahābhārata, Draupadī is considered the wife of all five brothers. After this period of exile, they all return to their ancestral city but again have to flee to avoid war.

When they arrive at Kṛṣṇa’s court in Dvāravatī, the brothers form an alliance with him and assist him in the fight against Jarāsaṃdha.

According to the Jains, the great clash between Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas that is the centrepiece of the Hindu Mahābhārata is in fact the battle between Kṛṣṇa and Jarāsaṃdha. These latter are the ninth Vāsudeva and Prati-vāsudeva, and the Pāṇḍavas are among Kṛṣṇa’s many allies, whereas the Kauravas fight on the side of Jarāsaṃdha. Ultimately, Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas are victorious over Jarāsaṃdha and the Kauravas.

Mahāvīra preaching to his universal gathering
Image by Wellcome Trust Library © Wellcome Library, London

As part of Jain Universal History, the Jain Mahābhārata is typically told in a Jain Purāṇa, introduced by a narrative setting of Mahāvīra’s samavasaraṇa attended by King Śreṇika. Some episodes from the Jain Mahābhārata are present in the Śvetāmbara canonical texts, suggesting an early date for their assimilation into Universal History.

The first complete Jain Mahābhārata is the Harivaṃśa-purāṇa – Purāṇa of the Dynasty of Hari – which Jinasena Punnāṭa finished in 783. Its title clearly echoes the appendix of the Mahābhārata with the same name. In the Jain context it refers to the dynasty to which the main characters belong, the cousins:

• Kṛṣṇa
• Baladeva or Balarāma
• the 22nd Jina Neminātha or Lord Nemi.

A second title under which the Jain Mahābhāratas also often come is Biography of Nemi. An example is the Riṭṭhaṇemi-cariu by Svayambhū-deva, composed in the 9th to 10th century. Even though this title may give the impression of focusing on the life of Nemi, this is not the case. In fact, this Apabhraṃśa epic is the first Jain Mahābhārata proper. This is because the great majority of the composition deals with the story of the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, and the great battle between them, dwarfing the other three topics. The choice of the name Biography of Nemi for this and other compositions is considered to be due to the relative higher status of Nemi, as a Jina, compared with Kṛṣṇa or the Pāṇḍavas. It does not indicate a particular emphasis in the composition.

From the 13th century onwards, a third title came to be used for the same narrative material. This is the Pāṇḍava-purāṇa or Pāṇḍava-carita. These versions tend to focus on the conflict between the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, but still include the other three topics.

The 5th-century Vasudeva-hiṇḍi by Saṅghadāsa appears to be unique in its concentration on the Bṛhat-kathā material. It reduces the other three topics to subsidiary episodes to the main narrative of Vasudeva and his adventures.