Jain Presence In Nepal

SR No.: 269705
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ernest Bender
Publisher: Ernest Bender
Total Pages: 11
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 662 KB

Page 1

The Jain Presence in Nepal
Ernest Bender
• University of Pennsylvania
As contrasted with Brāhmanism/Hinduism and with Buddhism, there are
no readily recognizable traces of Jainism in contemporary Nepal though
the Jain presence in the adjacent area in the past is on record.
Mahāv Ira severely limited the movements of Jain monks and nuns to
an area which he defined as an Aryan regiony that is a region where
their conduct could be sareguarded It was bounded by Anga-Magadha in the east and Thūņā (Thaneshwar) in the west, to Kuņālā (Srāvasti) in the north and KošāmbI in the south. Under Samprati, the grandson of Asoka,
the area was extended to the twenty-five and a half countries comprising his empire, with the charge that Jain munts de venerated. The identification of the last country on the list, KekayI-ardha, has been located at the base of Nepal, in the north-east of Srāvasti. (1)
of the trade routes of antique times, the Uttarāpatha, stretching across the north of the Indian continent, facilitated traffic for the
sārthas, the caravans which linked flourishing cities and towns, among
then Vaidāli, SravastI and Kapi lavastu, -the latter of which Moti
Chandra identifies with Tilaurakot in Nepal. He equates Janakpur, in
Nepal, with Mithilā, the capital of Videba. (2)
The itinerant merchant, under the constant threat of robbers lying
in wait along his way, entrusted his well-being and precious possessions to the security of the caravan and its skilled sārthavāna or