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Jainism In Mathurā In The Early Centuries Of The Christian Era
B. N. PURI
The importance of Mathurā as a centre of Jainism in the early century
of the Christian era is evident from the vast mass of Jaina inscriptions recorded on ayngapațas or tablets of homage, statues of Jaina Tirthankaras and fragments of a Jaina stūpa recovered from the famous Kankāli Tilā in Mathura in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It appears that this Pilā or mound from where these remains were recovered was a Jaina sanctuary from the period of the Sunga dynasty, as is evident from an inscription' written in the Sunga type of the ancient Brāhmi. It continued in the time of the Guptas, as brought out from a record2 dated in the year 97 which, on paleographic grounds, appears to be the late Gupta period. The mound, symbolising the ancient Jaina sanctuary, is reminiscent of the once flourishing Jaina Sangha, comprising of the monks, nuns, śrävakas and śrávikās. It is rather an unusual feature to trace certain names, which appear to be of foreigners. The records are probably dated in the Indo-Parthian
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1 H. Lüders, Mathură Inscriptions, unpublished Papers, ed. by K. L.
Janert, p. 42. From the inscriptions at the site it appears that there was a Jaina sanctuary from the period of the Sunga
dynasty. 2 Ibid., No. 23, p. 53.
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