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Jainism
According to Gustav Oppert, Jaica Missionaries were the first preachers and religious teachers devoted to the indigenous population. This is perhaps why a temple more particularly of the Jainas is called a Palli.1
Lastly to quote one more erudite scholar, Sir Sanmu. kham Chetty, “It has occurred to me as a very interesting historical speculation as to what must have been the real genesis of this great religion in India ............looking at this great religion from that point of view, I am tempted to believe that Jainism was probably the earliest religion prevalent in India, and that it was the flourishing religion when the Aryan migration came in India and when the religion of the Vedas was being evolved in the Punjab. I think it was the tremendous force let loose by Lord Mahāvīra that really created Lord Buddha. There is a very deep Significance in that Lord Mahāvīra and Lord Buddha were contemporaries. The standard of revolt set up by Lord Mahāvira must have been taken up Lord Buddha. The very fact that the great Hindu saints who wanted to revive Hinduism in South India had to resort even to cruel methods to exterminate Jainism is proof of the hold that Jainism must have had on the people of South India. recent historical researches and archaeological discoveries have led scholars to believe that in the pre-Aryan period there flourished a very great civilization in India, which, for the sake of convenience I shall call “Dravidian civilization'. I casually use the word for the sake of convenience because in these days unnecessary heat is generated when we use such phrases as 'Dravidian Civilization and the like,
1 On the original inhabitants of Bhāratavarşa (Westminister and Leipzig, 1893), p. 100, also p. 62.
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