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 141

136
S. B. DEO
Jehangir drew orders for the protection of Satruñjaya, and conferred the title of Mahātapā on Vijayadeva Sūri.477 Another Jaina monk called Jinasimha Sūri was given the biruda "yugapradhāna" by the same emperor.478
The successors of Jehangir, Shah Jehan and Aurangazeb though least enthusiastic about non-Islamic sects, seem to have maintained at least the previous grants. The former drew a farmán for the protection of Satruñjaya479 while the latter granted the region around Satruñjaya together with its revenue to śāntidāsa, the Jaina jeweller at his court.480
With all these cases of royal patronage, it should be noted that this courtesy was fickle and ever-changing. An inscription of Akbar's period refers to the damage done by the armies of the emperor to the pinnacle of a Jaina temple, and says further that it was repaired some twenty years afterwards. The very gap required for repairs shows that the Jainas were possibly not sure of the vagaries of the emperor.481 In the reign of Jehangir, we find that a peculiar practice--in a few cases-was started regarding the writing of the name of the emperor on the head of Jina images.482 NAHĀR483 adds a note regarding this which says that "some people told emperor Jehangir - that the Jainas had written his name under the feet of their sacred images. The emperor got angry to hear this. So the Jains in order to please him wrote his name on the head of the images!" No comment is necessary on this incident!
Effects of Muslim Rule on the Jaina Church :
Terror of Muslim aggressors, loss of countrywide contact with co-religionists, widespread events of forced conversions, and the era of destruction and demolition under the Muslims had a weakening effect on the Church organisation of the Jainas. The disintegration of the Church followed and small groups called Mandalas under the authority of a Mandalācārya were formed.
These Mandalācāryas later on turned despotic and the sense of unity and integrity was lost. This tended to introduce regional changes in monastic practices, and various discrepancies crept into it.
477. NAHAR, op. cit., i, 750, 772, 837; ii, 1460. 478. E.I., ii, pp. 61-64; NAHAR, op. cit., i, 771, 787. 479. GLASENAPP, op. cit., pp. 68-69. 480. Ibid. 481. NAHAR, op. cit., ii, 1782. 482. Ibid., 1578-84. 483. Ibid., p. 131, f.n.