History of Jainism

SR No.: 006741
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: U K Sharma
Publisher: D K Print World
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 304
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 171

Jainism in Mathurā
We learn from an inscription excavated from Kaňkālī ļīlā that Dhāmghoşā (Dharmaghoṣā), a female disciple of venerable Jayasena, made a donation in the form of a temple (pāsāda).225 Another inscription speaks of the donation of an image of Mahāvīra, and of a shrine (devakula) by a lady named Ujhatikā. 226 An inscription incised on a sculptured slab,227 which forms part of the collection of Government Museum, Mathurā,228 reveals that a courtesan named Vāsu, daughter of courtesan Loņasobhikā (Lavaņasobhikā), together with some of her relatives, made a donation in the form of a shrine (devakula), an āyāgasabhā, a reservoir and stone slabs (šilā-patta) to the arhat temple of the Nirgranthas for the worship of the arhats.229
The Jaina inscriptions excavated from Kankālī Tilā contain some unusual female names like Ujhatikā,230 Okhārikā,231 Okhā,232 Oghā233 and Akakā.234 The occurrence of such names suggests that some foreigners, too, had converted to Jainism.235 Jainism stands for the salvation of all men – considered high or low.236 It opened its arms even to those aliens who were despised as the mleccha in India.237 Jainism had in its fold many foreigners, too, and they had been mainly converted from among the Scythian immigrants.238 The spread of the Digambara sect in an island in the Indian Ocean, called Jainabhadri, and,
225. EI, X, Appendix, no. 99. 226. Ibid., no. 78. 227. MM no. Q.2. 228. Ibid. 229. Ibid. 230. EI, X, Appendix, no. 78., JPV., p. 18. 231. Ibid.; ibid. 232. Ibid. 233. Ibid., no. 29; JPV, p. 18; B.N. Puri, op. cit., p. 152. 234. Ibid., no. 48; Ibid., Ibid. 235. JPV, p. 18; B.N. Puri, op. cit., p. 152. 236. OISJ, p. 3. 237. Ibid. 238. EWA, VIII, p. 787.
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