History of Jaina Monachism

SR No.: 001727
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute
Publication Year: 1956
Total Pages: 616
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Principle, & History
File Size: 12 MB

Page 132

HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
Reign of Vijayaditya II (806-846 A.D.):
This king was a devotee of Siva and he erected several Saiva temples,421
Calukya Bhima I:
Built temples of Siva.4
Amma II:
Patronised both the Hindus and the Jainas for he gave grants to the Śaiva monks of the Kālāmukha sect as well as Jaina ascetics of the Nandi and the Adḍakaligaccha.
Vimaladitya:
He was probably converted to Jainism in his later age.424
127
Rājarāja I:
Devoted to the worship of God Siva, but not narrow-minded, hence liberal to all sects.425
Regarding the religious conditions under the Eastern Călukyas, VENKATARAMANAYYA remarks that of the three sects, viz. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, "Buddhism at one time dominant throughout the land was already decadent. Its monasteries once teeming with thousands of busy monks, were practically deserted when Hiuen Tsiang visited the country in the first half of the 7th cent. A.D.; and a few that still lingered within the old walls remained there more on account of their love of the sacred relics enshrined in the holy stupas than for the propogation of the Dharma... No wonder that the numerous records of the period do not even remotely allude to the religion of the Buddha.
"......The Jaina monks were very active......The deserted images met with in the ruined village sites all over the country show that the Jaina settlements were numerous, and an appreciable section of the people paid homage to the Arhats and Tirthankaras......Several inscriptions of the Eastern Cälukya monarchs and their subjects record the construction of basadis and temples and register the gift of lands and money for their maintenance. Jainism, however, never attained the position of the state religion.
421. Ibid., p. 90.
422. Ibid., pp. 142-43.
423. E. I., VII, p. 177 ff; ix, p. 47 ff; xii, p. 161.
424. ECV., p. 216. 425. Ibid., p. 239.