History of Rastrakutas of Malkhed and Jainism

SR No.: 006719
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 374
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 104

The Raṣṭrakūtas Monarchs - B/43
gospel of ahimsa in its extreme was not intended for laymen, but only for monks and nuns, because the Raṣṭrakūta rulers and their generals were continuously participating in their sanguinary battles even though they had embraced Jainism" [Jawaharlal, G: 48].
2.9.2. Jainism is by no means just pacifist. With its thrust on ahimsā, non-violence, Jainism did not strongly denounce militarism. Sōmadēvasūri endorsed worldaffirming philosophy in harmony with Pan-Indian tradition of political thinking. Jaina kings have executed their worldly duties of shielding their kingdoms, their subjects, and their faith. Jainism has produced not merely pious and strict adherents who could perform the orthodox duties and gain for themsleves liberation by the rite of self-mortification, but valiant generals of armies. Those warriors were simultaneously sincere Jainas and also freed their countries from its hostiles. Jaina faith was not an impediment to nation's liberation. Instead, it was an adjunct to active freedom both in the field of religion and in the field of politics. Bankēśa, Śrīvijaya, Būtuga, Mārasimha and Camuṇḍarāya, Sankaraganda, great celebrities of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa age illustrate the synthesis of war and peace, and reconciliation of himsa and ahimsa. They were powerful and at the same time faithful. The king was prabhusakti and these men of valor and wisdom were utsäha-śakti and mantraśakti. The Rāṣṭrakūṭa monarchs were lucky to get loyal Dukes who served and sacrificed their might with honesty to the core.
2.9.3. Jaina seers did not live in utopia. They participated in the wordly affairs, like the drop of water on the lotus-leaf, maintaining the distance and striking a via media between the delicate boundary of ahimsa and himsā. Involvement of the Jaina abbey in the political fortunes of the nation echoes true in the instances of Simhanandin, Sudattācārya, Jinasēnācārya, Sōmadēvasūri, Nemicandra