________________
AHIMSA TIMES - JUNE 2009 ISSUE - www.jainsamaj.org
years. The Jaina tenets owe their origin to the teachings of Parsvanatha and Mahavira. The teaching of Parsvanatha is called Chaturayama. It outlines a four-fold path to salvation, i.e., kindness to all living beings, avoidance of telling lies, abjuration of theft and the possession of belongings. In the next step Mahavira added another. It was not to wear any dress. Thus the Jainas were divided into two sects. The followers of Parsvanatha are called Shvetamvara, those who wear white clothes, while the followers of Mahavira are called Digamvara, which means nude (literally, the sky is the cover).
Bengal witnessed the advent of Jainism during the lifetime of Mahavira who came to Radha (southern part of present West Bengal) to preach his tenets. It is believed that twenty-two out of the twenty-four Tirthankaras had attained their spiritual power in a mountainous region called Pareshnath Pahad in West Bengal. According to Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata, Jainism was a living religion in pundravardhana (northern Bengal) in the fourth century BC. The then leader of the Jaina church was Bhadrabahu, a native of Pundravardhana, who is credited with the compilation of a number of canons called Kalpasutra. After his departure one of his disciples, Godas by name, took over the charge of the Jaina church at Pundravardhana. His followers are called Godasgana. In course of its subsequent development, the sect of Godasgana was divided into four more sub-sects called Tamraliptikiya, Kotivarsiya, Pundravardhania and Dhasikharvatika. So it may be considered that the whole of Bengal came under the influence of the Jinas (the preachers of the Jaina tenets) by the 4th-3rd century BC. 1,800-year-old terracotta discovered.
Remains of a structure from the 1,800-year-old Jain dynasty discovered at Damdampir of Manirampur upazila in Jessore. A terracotta plaque, right, found at the site bears the image of the only female Jain Tirthankar, Mallinath Khulna office of the Archaeology Department has discovered an 1,800-year-old terracotta plaque bearing the image of the only female Jain Tirthankar, Mallinath. The rare terracotta piece was discovered after digging a large mound of earth at Damdampir of Manirampur upazila in Jessore on December 18 but the discovery was kept secret for security reasons. "We did not immediately disclose the facts about this particular discovery for security reasons," said Shihabuddin Mohammad Akbar, director of the Khulna regional office of Archaeology Department. He said the digging began in 2004-05 financial year under the direct supervision of the Khulna Archaeology Department office. Besides the seven-inch-long red sandstone terracotta image of Jain Mallinath, more antiques including earthenware from the 200-year-old Jain dynasty were discovered at the site, Shihabuddin said. He said Mallinath was the daughter of Kumbharaja of Mithila and Prabhavati. Mallinath was 19th of the 24 Jain Tirthankars. Shihabuddin expects that more antiques will be found at the site where digging work is still going on.
Page 10 of 17
If anyone has access to more accurate information on jainism in Bangladesh please let us know. From: Atul Bafna E-Mail: abafna@yahoo.com
MISCELLANEOUS
AHIMSA FOUNDATION & SAFFIYA TENNIS ACADEMY HOSTS JUNIOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT AT NEW DELHI Ahimsa Foundation along with Saffiya Tennis Academy, New Delhi, hosted the Second Tennis Championship Tournament 2009 from 22nd to 28th June 2009. The tournament was organized at Bharti Nagar Tennis Club, Golf Links, New Delhi. The event was attended by more than 150 children in the age group of 6-14. This was the second effort on the part of the Tennis Academy to develop sports interest of children. The event received overwhelming response both from the children and the parents. It was really great to notice that over 42 degree temperature and scorching heat of Delhi did not deter the participation of young children. It was also
noticeable to see that more than 35 girls participated in the event. The Championship was sponsored by Tapuriah Jain & Associates, Chartered Accountants, New Delhi. Ahimsa Foundation while promoting the Jain Philosophy and Culture through its web portal www.jainsamaj.org and Ahimsa Times are also actively involved in several other social projects of human importance. The foundation considers development of sports a area which is
AHIMSA FOUNDATION
21. New
http://jainsamaj.org/magazines/june-2009.htm
8/11/2009
