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Contribution of Jainism to Indian History
- Dr. A.K. Chatterjee
Jainism is one of the World's major religious systems and it is older than either Buddhism and Christianity. Its contribution to the progress of our civilization is immense and there is no aspect of Indian history, which has not been enriched directly by the religion of the Jinas. For the purpose of discussion, let us divide the entire topic into five main divisions namely, religious, cultural, social, economic and political.
We have already said that Jainism is older than Buddhism and I have shown elsewhere that the first historical prophet of Jainism was Pārsvanatha, who probably flourished in the 9th-8th century B.C. A few earlier Tirthankaras like Adinatha and Neminatha, also probably were actual historical figures, but unfortunately we do not have much historical evidences about their religious. system.
Both Jainism and Buddhism, as well as the Lokayatas were against the Brahmanical religious system which was based on sacrifice or Yajña But the three religious systems, which we have just mentioned, being anti-Vedic, were dubbed as Nästika by the Brahmanical philosophers. The word Nästika does not necessarily mean an atheist, but that which is anti-Vedic or in other words, anti-Brahmanical. The Jaina philosopher Pārsvanatha, who probably had invented the word nirgrntha, it is quite significant to note, was born at Varanasi, the great citadel of Hinduism and had the courage to challenge the ancient Brahmanical philosophical system, and his teaching based on fourfold. truth or vows (C aturyama), was quite simple, yet practical and was readily acceptable to the poor and common people. It should further be remembered that the Vedic form of sacrifice, was very expensive and majority of the common people could not afford the expenses connected with those elaborate sacrifices and only the kings and rich householders could perform these sacrifices. Another factor, which made this new religious system, very popular, was its emphasis on non-violence or Ahimsa, which was also. advocated by the Upanishadic Rishis, whose emphasis was on Jñana (knowledge) and not Karman.
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Another factor which should be considered as a definite contribution of the Jainas in the progress of civilization in this sub-continent, was the importance, which it gave, to the role of women in religious practices. It is however, true that even in the Vedic period, women used to participate in religious ceremonies and in the Bṛhadaranyaka Upanisad we find Maitreyi accompanying her husband the celebrated Yajnavalkya to forest, when the latter wanted to renounce to worldly life. Lord Parsvanatha was the first non-Brahmanical saint to permit women to renounce the worldly life and thus paving the way for the actual emancipation of women. It is significant to note, in this connection that even Lord Buddha himself was against admitting women into his order. And only after he was requested by his favourite disciple Ananda, that he allowed the entry of women in his order. Therefore we can, say without hesitation, that Lord Parsvanatha was a truly rational philosopher Since he had to popularise his teachings in a place, which was considered to be the chief seat of orthodox Brahmanism, we can easily comprehend the nature of his success.
Lord Parsvanatha gave India the doctrine of Ahimsa and Lord Mahavira taught his countrymen, the doctrine of chastity (Brahma-carya). He never cared for royal patronage and lived in absolute penury, It was because of his towering personality that Jainism became an all-India religion, even in the pre-Mauryan period.
The present writer is of the opinion that the Yakşapūjakas of Eastern India were first to accept the religious system, propounded by Parsva and Mahavira; and these Yakşa-worshipers belonged to the lower strata of the society and the deva-pujakas were the upper caste Brahmins and Ksatriyas. It is however true that all the immediate disciples or Gaṇadharas of Lord Mahavira were Brahmins by caste, but most of his followers were common people and this is also proved by early Jaina epigraphs, found from Mathura and other places.
From the cultural point of view also, Jainism has left its contribution on all aspects of the great Indian civilization. The Jaina Agamic texts, often refer to 72 Kalas and 64 ganiyagunas and there is no doubt that all types of Arts and crafts received tremendous patronage from the devoted Jainas. As a matter of fact the Jaina narrative literature contains hundreds of stories about ladies, who were well-versed in all these Arts and the dramatic Art was particularily popular from the earliest times among the Jainas.
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If literature is considered to be an intergral part of culture, then we must say that the literature of Jainas is extremely rich and extensive. The Agamic texts themselves have great literary value and the works like the Bhagavati, Jñatadharmakatha, Vipakasruta, Uttaradhyayanasūtra and Daśavaikalika are great and original literary products and the last one, composed by Brahmin Sayyambhava at Campa, around 400 B.C. can be compared with the Bhagavadgita and the Dhammapada.
The story literature of the Jainas can be compared with the literature of the Hindus. Even the Agamic texts are extemely attractive story-texts and the Jnatadharmakatha, Vipakasruta and the Antagadadasa etc., have innumerable stories and even love-stories are also abundant. The two epics and the missing Bṛhatkatha have deeply influenced the Jaina narrative literature and hundreds of Svetämbara and Digambara works were composed in imitation of the above mentioned Brahmanical texts.
The earliest non-Agamic Jaina literary work, is the Paumacariyam of Vimala, composed in all probability, in the 1st century A.D. It is, in our opinion. the earliest Prakrit work of India and probably somewhat earlier than the missing Bṛhatkatha of Gunadhya. It is the Jaina version of the Ramayana and the poet has shown considerable originality in his treatment of the Rama-story. Although Vimala has not cared to mention Valmiki by name, he has scrupulously followed the original work; however, everywhere there is at Jaina bias. Later Jaina Ramayanas like those composed by Ravisena. Svayambhu, Hemacandra etc., are all based on Vimala's admirable work.
The Mahabharata saga also has influenced the Jainas, and we have in the Vasudevahindi, the Harivamsa (by Jinasena II) and the later Pandavapurānas, the stories from the Mahabharata and even Hemacandra, the great Kalikālasarvajña was influenced by the original Mahabharata in his celebrated Trişaṣṭisalakäpuruṣacaritra. The Bṛhatkatha literature has left its mark on the works like the Vasudevahindi, the Harivadas, Bṛhatkathakosa etc. However, in all their literary works, the Jaina writers have shown great skill and maturity.
However, the most original among the Jaina writers of the medieval period was Somadeva, the celebrated author of the Yasastilakacampu, written in the middle of the 10th century A.D. It is a great novel, composed by a writer, who was probably a native of Bengal. In some respect, we can call him the Banbhatta of the Jaina literature. He has wit and a keen sense of human and
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His
his knowledge of human character is unsurpassed in Sanskrit literature. Nitivakyamrta proves his knowledge of the science of polity. It is the third great work on political science offer the Arthasästra and Kamandakiya Nitisara. We have also Jaina writers, who have written on Astronomy, Mathematics and other branches of science. They have surely enriched our knowledge of different branches of science.
The Jaina writers have surely contributed to our knowledge of Indian society in different periods. One great advantage of Jaina works, is that, they are mostly dated. This enables us to know the state of society in different periods. For example, the Paumacaryam, written 530 years after the Nirvana of Lord Mahavira, gives us invaluable details regarding Indian Society the caste system, the family life etc. of the first century A.D. It also proves that cousin-marriage was quite popular and particularly the marriage with the daughter of maternal uncle. This particular type of marriage, though censured by the authors of Madhyadesa, was unusually popular in Deccan, the whole of Gujarat, Maharastra and the Far South and even the Hindu Vedänga writers have taken note of this. The Vasudevahindi, a unique Prakrit work, written in the Gupta period, as Alsdorf has shown, throws welcome light on the society. of this golden period of Indian history. Again, the Padmapurana of Ravisena, a dated work of the 7th century A.D., also throws welcome light on the social life of the post-Gupta period. The Varangacarita of almost the same period, the Harivamsa of Jinasena 1, written in 783 A.D., the Kuvalayamala of Udyotana, written five years earlier in Rajasthan, the Upamitibhavaprapancakatha of Siddharşi written in 906 A.D., the Dharmopadesamala of Jayasimha, written in the third quarter of the 9th century, the 10th century texts like the Tilakamañjarī and the Yasastilakacampu all give us invaluable information regarding the Indian society of the early medieval period. We get details regarding, social customs, popular festivals, the family-life, and above all, datails regarding the position of women, the high degree of freedom, they enjoyed in life.
The Jaina authors have at the same time, supplied us information on economic life of ancient India. We have also information on various aspects of economic life in the Angavillä, a third-century text, written in Maharashtri Prakrit. It is indeed impossible to overemphasise the great importance of this wonderful Jaina work. A number of ancient coin-names, not found elsewhere are preserved in this text. The two names here are paritucularly interesting, namely Ksatrapaka and Sateraka. The first is the type of coins, introduced by
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the Ksatrapa kings of Ujjayini and the second, refers to the Indo-Greek coins of stater-type. There are very interesting references to the names of ships like Kottima, Țappaka and Sanghada, which are first mentioned in the Periplus, a Greek work, written by an unknown sailor, in the second half of the first century A.D. The Angavijjā also gives details regarding the economic activities of that period. Other Jaina works like the Nisithacūrni, written in the 7th century, the Harivaṁsa, of the 8th century and the Yasastilakacampū of the 10th century, throw a flood of light on the economic activities of the post-Gupta and early medieval periods. The extremely interesting text the Dravyapariksa, written during the time of Ala-Ud-din Khilji by Thakkura Pheru, is undoubtedly the only Indian work dealing exclusively with coins of the Guptas, but also of various early medieval dynasties like the Pratihāras, Candellas, almost all Caulukya kings of Gujarat and also the coins of the Tomares of Delhi. The coins of the Tomara king like Anangapāla, Madanapala etc., are particularly interesting, because not much is known regarding these kings except that given in Pheru's work and the Kharataragacchabrhadgurvavali, another valuable Jaina work.
But the most important contribution of the Jainas was in the field of historical studies and they have produced a number of first-class historians like Hemacandra, Merutunga, Rājasekhara etc. and other writers of Prabandhas. Hemacandra (12th century) Dvyasrayakavya is one of the greatest works on Gujarat history and it is the earliest. The first twenty chapters, written in Sanskrit are on Kumārapāla's predecessors and the last eight chapters, in Prakrit are on Kumārapala's activities. Welcome light has also been thrown on great kings, ruling outside Gujarat, like the Malavā king Bhoja, Cedi king Karma, etc. Being a contemporary and guru of Kumarapala, the author has given us minutest details regarding the religious and political activities of that great Jaina emperor. Much more comprehensive, in scope, is the history of Merutunga, called Prabandhacintamani, written in 1305 A.D. It is undoubtedly a great historical work after Kalhana's Rājatarangini, although its worth has often been underestimated. The account of earlier kings like Vikramaditya of tradition, is somewhat fanciful, but from V.S. 802, which is the accession date of Vanarāja, his history is authentic and is confirmed by other literary and epigraphic sources. The name of Muñja's minister, namely Rudrāditya, given by him, is confirmed by contemporary epigraphs and the details on the struggle between the Mālavas and Caulukyas Kalyāna are also fully confirmed by epigraphs. The tragic end of great Munja has been recorded
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by him. Another interesting information is regarding the Bengal king Lakṣamaṇasena and his poet-minister Umapati, whose name is found in the famous Deopara Prasasti of the Senas. The defeat of Paramardin by Pṛthviraja has been mentioned by him and is confirmed by epigraphy. However the date of the destruction of Valabhi has been incorrectly given by him as V.S. 375, the actual date V.S. 845, has been supplied by another Jaina work, namely the Vividhatirthakalpa of Jinaprabha. His account of the Caulukya and Vaghela dynasties is flawless, and so is his account of the two great ministers, namely Vastupala and Tejapala. The Prabandhakośa of Rajasekhara, written in 1347 A.D., is another interesting work of history, although its author does not stand in comparison with either Hamacandra or Merutunga. There are some fanciful details. However, interesting light has been thrown on the political relationship between Jayacandra of Kanyakubja and Laksamanasena of Bengal. It however incorrectly makes the great Bhadrabahu, the son of a Brahmin of Pratisthana, the correct information is found in much earlier work, namely the Bṛhatkathākosa, written in 931 A.D., which represents this savant as the son of a Brahmin of Devokotta in Bengal.
A very interesting work, which is actually a geographical treatise, is the Vividhatirthakalpa of Jinaprabha, written between V.S. 1364 and 1389. great importance has been discussed by the present speaker in the second volume of his comprehensive history of Jainism. It is of great significance to note that Jinaprabha was honoured by even the Muslim emperor Muhammad Bin Tughlaq. Some dates, given by him are absolutely correct, namely the date of the destruction of Valabhi, of Somnath and of the date of Prthviraja's defeat and death has also been correctly given and because of the information supplied by him, that we have been able to correctly identify the ancient city of Mithila.
Another medieval Jaina work, namely the Kharataragacchabṛhadgurvavali is of supreme importance, for both the students of history and geography and it also yields the details regarding the activities of some little-known kings and it also tells us about the atrocities, committed by the Muslim rulers in Northern India and the details regarding them given in this and other Jaina text, fully tally with those given by the Muslim historians themselves. Those modern historians who have tried to whitewash these Muslim invaders, must go through these contemporary Jaina accounts and only then they will be able to comprehend the enormities committed by those perfidious Muslim conquerors.
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________________ The Jaina epigraphs also contribute not a little to our knowledge of ancient and medieval India. We have Jaina inscriptions from the days of Kharavela (1st century B.C.) to the days of Akbar, the great, and even afterwards. Among the important Jaina inscriptions, we may mention the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela, the Mathura inscription, Paharpur Digambar inscription, from Rajsahi district, Bangladesh, the Aihole Prasasti of Ravikirti etc. More than five thousand Jaina epigraphs have so far been published and nearly 100,000 epigraphs still remain unpublished. In the field of Art also, the Jainas have contributed a lot. The earlier temples have almost disappeared, but thousands of medieval Jaina temples still exist with all their glory in Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of other states of Northern India. in South India, we still have many standing Jaina temples, especially in Karnatak and Tamilnadu. We have Jaina scluptures from the 1st century B.C. upto the present time and a few thousand such sculptures are preserved in different museums of India. The present-day Jainas have still maintained their separate identity and fortunately the two warring sects, namely the Digambaras and the Svetambaras have come closer to one another. Their relationship with the Hindus is also quite warm and cordial. The present speaker wishes them a very bright future. * Professor, Dept. of A.IH & C., University of Calcutta, Calcutta 163