Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 22

16
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
According to the information procured by Col. | Mackenzie, "from the establishment at Sravan Belligola, the Jains of the Dakhan were the objects of royal patronage as early as the seventh century before Christ: an inscription cut on a rock is added in evidence; but this testimony is solitary, and is at variance with all other documents. There is indeed, on the contrary, an inscription placing Chamunda Raya in the eighth century of S'alivahana, whilst the only Châmunda of any note-a prince of Gujarat-flourished in the eleventh century of the Christian era. But the strongest argument against the accuracy of the date is, that amongst a very considerable number of Jain inscriptions, or nearly a thousand, there is no other of a similar period. The earliest grants are those of the Jain princes of Homchi, a petty state in Maisur, which commence in the end of the ninth century. From this they multiply rapidly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, particularly under the Velala Rajas, and extend to the sixteenth and seventeenth under the Rajas of Vijayanagar who, although not of the Jaina persuasion, seem to have shewn liberal countenance to its professors.
"To this evidence, which is of the most unexceptionable description, the traditions of the country offer no contradiction. In the Pandyan kingdom the Jains rose upon the downfall of the Bauddhas, and were suppressed in the reign of Kuna Pandya, which could not have occurred much earlier than the ninth or tenth century, or might have been as late as the eleventh. The subversion of the Bauddhas of Kanchi by the Jainas took place, as has already been mentioned, according to some authorities, no earlier than Saka 710 or A.D. 788. The Bauddha temples at Devagond and Vella pollam were destroyed by Jaina princes in the eleventh century. About the same time the Lingawant Saivas put to death Vijala, the Jaina king of Kalyan, and demolished the temples of the sect. Vishnu Verddhana, the Velala Raja of Maisur, was converted to the Vaishnava religion in the twelfth century. It is highly probable, therefore, that the Jaina faith was introduced into the peninsula about the seventh century of the Christian era; that its course south was stopped at an early period, but that it extended itself through the centre and in the west of the peninsula, and enjoyed some consideration in the tenth and eleventh centuries; that it was mainly instrumental in its outset to the declension of the B a uddhas, and that in the twelfth century the joint
"According to some traditions, the date of Kuna Pandyan is called 950 of S'alivahana, or A.D. 1028; but there are several reasons for supposing this to be erroneous. The Madura Purána, and its original the Halasya Mahatmya, come down to the end of this prince's reign; and they are attributed to the reign of Hari Vira Pandyan, in 973. Either their date, therefore, is erroneous, or that of Kuns Pandyan is incorrect; but there is every reason to suppose they are not much misplaced."-H. H. Wilson, Jour. R. A. Soc., vol. III. p. 216.
[JANUARY, 1873.
attack of S'aivas and Vaishnavas put a final term to its career, and induced its decline. There are, however, still many Jaina establishments in the Dekhan, and the religion is not without numerous affluent votaries."†
But whilst it owed its spread in part to the persecution of Buddhism in the eighth and ninth centuries, it may have originated much earlier. One indication of its early origin is perhaps supplied by Hiwen Thsang when he states that " At forty or fifty li south-east of the city (Seng-ho-pu-lo,-Sinhapura) we reach a stupa, built of stone by the King Wu-yeu (Aśoka). Near it is a convent which for a long time has not had any devotees.
"Near it, and at a short distance from the stupa, they shew the place where the founder of the heretical sect who wear the white garments (svetavasa ?) comprehended the sublime principles that he sought after and began to expound the law. Now they shew an inscription there.
t Wilson, Mackenzie Collection, vol. I. pp. lxv-lxviii. On the grounds of M. Stan. Julien's conjectural Sanskrit:
"Beside this place they have built a temple of the gods. The sectaries that frequent it submit themselves to strict austerity; day and night they manifest the most ardent zeal, without taking an instant's rest. The law that has been set forth by the founder of this sect has been largely appropriated from the Buddhist books, on which it is guided in establishing its precepts and rules. The more aged of these sectaries bear the name of Bhikshus (mendicants); the younger they call Chami (Srámanerâs-novices). In their observances and religious exercises they follow almost entirely the rule of the Śrâmanas.. Only they retain a little hair on their heads, and moreover they go naked. If, by chance, they wear garments, they are distinguished by their white colour. These differences, and other very trifling ones, distinguish them from others. The statue of their divine master resembles, by a sort of usurpation, that of Ju-lai (the Tathagata); it only differs in costume; its marks of beauty|| (mahâpurusha lakshanani) are exactly the same."
Elsewhere Hiwen Thsang frequently met with religionists of the Ching-liang-pu or Sam
equivalent for white garments' Gen. Cunningham tries to identify Khetas with this place. Svetámbara would have suited the translator equally well, if not better. See Cunningham, Anc. Geog., pp. 124, 5.
§ The Buddhist devotees wear garments of a yellowish brown.
The Chinese has Siang-hao, an expression which, applied to Buddha, includes the 32 signs of beauty (mark characteristic of a great man) which they attribute to him. See Burnout, Lotus de la Bonne loi, p. 552 ft.
Stan. Julien, Mémoires, I. 163, 4.