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WW 1110 JAIN MIGRATION TO THE SOUTH.
and accuracy. Lewis Rice was.the first to discover these inscriptions and render them easily accessible to scholars. His view that Chandragupta was â Jain and that he came south was strongly supported by eminent scholars like Mr. Thomas. In the course of his article, " Jainism or the Early Faith of Asoka’, he says, “ that Chandragupta was a member of the Jain community is taken by the writers as a matter of course and created as a known fact which needed neither argument nor demonstration. The documentary evidence to this effect is of comparatively early date and apparently absolved from suspicion by the oniission from their lists of the name of Asoka, a far more powerful monarch than his grandfather, and one whom they would reasonably have claimed as a potent upholder of their faith, had he not become a pervert.
The testimony of Megasthenes would likewise 'seern to imply that Chandragupta submitted to the devotional teaching of the Sermanas as opposed to the doctrine of the Brahmins.” Prof. Kern, the great authority on Buddhist Scriptures, has to admit that nothing of a Buddhistic spirit can be discovered in the state policy of Asoka. “His ordinances concerning the sparing of life agree much more closely with the ideas of the heretical Jains than those of the Buddhists." Thus there is a general consensus of opinion among scholars that Chandragupta was a Jain.
1 The Journal of the Royal Series) Article 8. Asiatic Society, Vol. IX, (New Indian Antiquary, Vol. V, p. 27K
