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JAINA BIBLIOGRAPHY
kara. Jainism during this period lost its importance and appeal in Bihar, the land of its birth.
Image worship was current among the Jains in Eastern India even in the preMauryan times ; removal of a Jain image from Kalinga to Pataliputra by the Magadh King, Nanda. No place for god in Jainism.
The Jain laity who had been drawn away from Hinduism by Muhāvīra, found themselves left without any object of worship. Therefore, gradually reverence for their masters and teachers passed into adoration, and images of these personages were set up for worship.
Images of Rishabhadeva, Pārsvanātha, Mahāvīra and śāntinātha are most common in Bihar. No Jain inscription of Gupta period found in Bihar. Some of the images of the Tirthankaras were installed at Rajgir by some teachers called Vasantanandi and Thiroka (GHOSH, A guide to Nalanda, p. 11). Jain images discovered in the districts of Singhbhum, Mānbhum, Patna and Shahabad point out that Jainism continued to have adherents in different parts of Bihar. When the storm of persecution by the Mohammedans swept over Bihar, Jainism took refuse in Hinduism.
P. 125. Nāga-worship : it is one of the earliest popular cults. Jainism admitted the Naga in their religious system. Pārsvanājha has the serpent as his special symbol.
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