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ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM IN TAMILNAD
V. G. Nair
According to literary evidence available from classical works both Tamil and Sanskrit, the antiquity of Jainism in Tamilnad could be fixed between one thousand five hundred or two thousand years before the birth of Christ. This period is generally called pre-historic in the ancient annals of India. Jainism might have been prevalent in Tamilnādu even in much earlier periods but in the absence of authentic literary evidence to substantiate this view, it may sound like writing on the sea shore.
We find references in the Mahā Purānam to the propagation of Jainism by Emperor Bharata, the son of Bhagavān Rsabha, who lived in pre-historic times. Bharata not only propagated Jainism throughout the four corners of India but also in foreign countries beyond mountains and seas. Bharata's missionary activities commenced after the Nirvāņa of Bhagavān Rşabha, the first Omniscient Teacher or Tírthařkara of Jainism. Rsabha relics discovered in different parts of the world goes to prove the fact that Rsabha was worshipped by the people and Jainism, the Religion of Ahinsā, was once the most influential religious faith in the history of mankind.
The Mahā Purānam has also stated that the twenty-second Tirthankara Neminātha or Aristanems of the Yajur Veda visited Kāñcípuram and Madurai, the two notable centres of Jainism in ancient Tamilnad. These two cities were not only citadels of Jainism in the pre-historic period but also continued its dominating influence in the religious thoughts of the people down through the centuries upto the 10th century A.D. or earlier and long before the Muslim crescent began to appear in the horizon of India about one thousand years ago. Jainism began to decline in Tamilnad from the 10th century A.D. in consequences
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