Acharya Bhadrabahu

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Acharya Bhadrabahu was a Jain Acharya. He is more famously known as a spiritual teacher of Chandragupta Maurya and author of several texts related to Jainism, including some of the most important works, Upsargahara Stotra and Kalpasutra. He was born in a Brahmin family.

Events and Works

Folio from a Kalpasutra (Book of Sacred Precepts), circa 1450, from Collection of LACMA.

Folio from a Kalpasutra (Book of Sacred Precepts), c. 1400 CE

Folio from a Dispersed Kalpasutra (Book of Rituals), ca. 1465, depicting "The Fourteen Auspicious Dreams of the Jina's Mother". Jaunpur, India

Bhadrabahu was born in Pundravardhana, (now in Bangladesh) during which time the secondary capital of the Mauryas was Ujjain. While there Bhadrabahu was able to foresee through his nimitta jnan (subtle cognition of causes and effects) that there would be a twelve year famine across North India. He decided the famine would make it harder for monks to survive and migrated with a group of monks to South India, bringing with him Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan Empire turned Jain monk.

While Bhadrabahu was away the monks staying in the North realized that the sacred scriptures were being forgotten. A monk named Sthulabhadra convened a council to recompile the Purva scriptures. However, because Sthulabhadra’s own knowledge of these texts was imperfect, he went to Bhadrabahu to study the sections missing from his memory.

Bhadrabahu taught Sthulabhadra, but forbade him to teach the Purva to others upon witnessing a demonstration by Sthulabhadra of certain extra corporal powers, which suggested that with time these sacred scriptures would become corrupted. Thus, the 14 Purvas in their original form perished with these two men.

Bhadrabahu is considered to be the last expert of 14 Purvas, of 12th Anga called Drstivada, one of the scriptures of Jainism. Of these, 10 Purvas were passed on to Sthulibhadra, his chief disciple. Bhadrabahu went to Nepal for twelve years to perform the "Mahaprana Sadhana" a Yogic/meditative exercise.

He is well known for composing four Chedda sutras, for his commentaries on ten scriptures and writing Bhadrabahu Samhita and Vasudevcharita.

According to the Digambaras, he died following Sallekhana.

Stela: Bhadrabahu as the last Kevali in Digambar tradition

Creation of Upsargahara Stotra

See also: Upsargahara Stotra

Acharya Bhadrabahu had a brother named Varāhamihira. Both were in the same kingdom. When a son was born to the king, Varahmihira declared that he would live for a hundred years but Bhadrabahu declared that he would live for only seven days, and that he would be killed by a cat. On the eighth day the prince died because of a door's anklet falling on his head which had a picture of cat drawn on it. Due to this humiliation Varāhamihira left the kingdom and died after some time.

After his death Varāhamihira became a Vyantar(a type of deva or demigod who are mostly evil) and tortured and terrorized the Jains, especially disciples and followers of Bhadrabahu. Acharya Bhadrabahu then formed a mantric prayer to 23rd Jain Tirthankara Parshvanath called the Upsargahara Stotra (also known as Uvassagaharam Stotra) and called upon Dharnendra, the divine follower (a "devta") of Parshvanath. As an effect of it, Varahmihira was defeated and Jain society was relieved. That mantric prayer is still famous among the Jains and they chant it with due respect and faith. And that prayer had made Bhadrabahu's name immortal among Jain ascetics.

Legacy

Bhadrabahu remains an exemplar of dedication to first principles at any cost. After him, the Sangha split into two separate teacher-student lineages of monks. Digambar monks belong to the lineage of Acharya Vishakha and Shvetambar monks follow the tradition of Sthulabhadra. Bhadrabahu composed some new texts as well. In the Shvetambar tradition, Brihatkalpa, Vyavahara, and Nisitha are considered his works.