Jaina Archaeology Outside India

SR No.: 007644
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jineshwardas Jain
Publisher: Bharat Varshiya Digambar Jain Mahasabha
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 105
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 3 MB

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CHINA
It has already been mentioned previously that South China was called as Purva Videha. During the construction of a road near an Airport of a Xian city of China, some 20 tunnels were found underground (Fig.20) and out of these in 8 tunnels 700 statues were unearthed [72]. Fig.21 & 22. These statues are madeup of wood and are 2 ft long. Fig. 23. China had a long history of Jaina influence. An emperor named Kin Shi Huwang Di sat on the throne in the year 246 BC and extended his empire all around. The same very king was well known for constructing a famous 'China Wall. He is credited for establishing a Central rule all over China. During his rule, he framed legal rules, developed standards for weights & measures, evolving a Chinese script (alphabets), constructing inter-state roads and that too for one way traffic and marked se routes for transportation. He was very much against Confuciasm and because of this hatredness he massacaredthe followers of this faith and burnt their religious literature. Emperor Jig Di was the fifth ruler of Haan Dynasty. He was a staunch follower of Taoism, which could be a synonyum of Jainism. He ruled over China during the peiod 157 BC to 141 BC. His tomb is situated in the city of Xian, which was capital town of an ancient Changn province. He established Jin Empire (See Fig. -Ref 72). King Di was a very kind hearted person. He followed manyn of the Jaina based ten commandments (Das Lakshan Dharmas). He kept aloof himself from many cultural and worldly activities. One finding from the Cinese archives mentions that around 3000 BC, a serpent saved a saint by his hood covering over the saint by protecting him from heavy rain and hailstorm and lifting the slab on which the saint was meditating by his tail to a height, safe rising water level. Certainly this information matches well the Upsarga episode from the life of Lord Parshvanath. Now if this could be true than how one can prove the hitherto belief of Parsvanath's upsarga place either at Ahikhyetra or at Bicholia.
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