Jain Journal 1996 07

SR No.: 520123
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1996
Total Pages: 58
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 4 MB

Page 45

JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXI, No. 1. July 1996
influence on its metaphilosophy. Dr Paul Marret suggests thus that the roots of Catharism may be traced to the Balkans and to the travellers, and even perhaps to the Jain monks, who may have provided a link with some Jain beliefs from India to Europe. 14 These views about Jain influence on the early and medieval Christianity find suport from vestiges of Jain antiquities found outside India. Prof. Klaus Fischer reports two sites-one in Kabul in Afghanistan and the other in Easern Turkestan, which has a painting of a Jain monk in the caves of the Turfan oasis. Archaeologist M.C. Joshi reports the discovery of the bronze Jain image datable to circa eleventh century found at Kemla in northeast Bulgaria. 15 These are further supported by Dr Christopher Kay Chapple of Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles who notes that those "traditions, from the Gnostics and Manichaeans to the Bogomils and the Cathars, bear similarities to Jainism, especially in their emphasis on the purgation of evil through asceticism and their practice of vegetarianism.". 16
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The record of Jain migration is also found in the canonical work, the Jnātādharmakathānga which describes Jains from ancient Campa in Magadha undertaking sea-voyages to Zanzibar in East Africa. It also refers to Culikas-the Sodigan people in the north of river Oxus in Turkestan and to the people of Camcuya, who have been identified with Cenchu of China." The medieval Jain record, the Jagadu-caritag gives a description of Jagadu, a rich Jain merchant who had maintained trade post at Hormuz in carrying regular trade with Persia, and transported goods in his ships. 18 In the recent past, record of Jain migration to east Africa and the Arabian gulf may be found beginning from 1500. Historic records of the Jain rulers from southwestern coastal region of India show that they not only established a sea-route, but also transhipped their commodities. These Jain officers and merchants thus made large gifts of precious stone Jain images to their temples back in their country, and these precious gifts now are vaulted at the Jain mathain Moddabidre, an important Jain town from historic times to the present, situated at about 30 miles the Arabian sea coast.19 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Jain migration to east Africa is recorded with community settlements and temple. Oral history of Jains in America thus narrate the continuing migration of Jains in
14. Ibid., p.90.
15. Ibid., p. 91.
16. Nonviolence to Animals, Earth and Self in South Asian Traditions, p. 114. 17. Jainism in America, p.92.
18. Trade and Travels in Western India, p. 36.
19. Jainism in America, p. 93.