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Jainism
Prof. Pran Nath Vidyalankara says, “The names and - symbols on plates annexed would appear to disclose a connection between the old religious cults of Hindus and Jainas with those of the Indus people. It may also be noted that the incription on the Indus seal no. 449 reads according to my decipheraent, Jineśvara or Jinesa (Jin.i-isarah)”. He is also of opinion that the Indus people worshipped such Tântric deities as Śri, Hri, Kiin etc. which incidentally are important female deities of the Jaina pantheon. Further he says, “It is interesting to note that the Purāṇas and the Jaina religious books both . assigo high places to these gods (of the Indus people)”.?
There are numerous other evidences of the presence of Jainism in the Indus Valley, in that remote age, such as figures of hooded saints which could be the representations of the seventh Tirthankara Supārsva3 and so on. "The Indus civilization of C.3000-2500 B.C.”, says Prof. S. Srikantha Sastri, "with its cult of nudity and yoga, the worship of the bull and other symbols, has resemblances
1 Ind Hist. Quarterly, VIII-supplement p. 18,
2 Mohenjodaro Antiquities and Jainism ---J. A., XIV 1, p. 1-7.
3 Supārsva who is also mentioned in the Vedas, is represented as hooded with Nāgas, and his symbol is Svastika, about which Sri Hatit Krishna Deb (in the Svastika, .and the Omkāra – JPASB, XII, 1921, p. 231-244) says, “The Svastika has long been a favourite emblem with the Jainas whose traditions represent it as having been the special sign of Supārsvanātha, a Tirtharkara who is said to have flourished considerably anterior to the period of Mahāvira ( died 28 B.C.)". It would be interesting to note that svastika was much in use in Mohenjodaro itself-even the roads and streets were designed on the svastika pattern.
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