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JAINS IN KERALA
Prof. Prakash C. Jain
This article presents a brief history of the develpment of Jainism in Kerala along with a demographic profile of the contemporary Jain community there. Compared to the other Jain communities in South India, the Jains in Kerala constitute a very small community whose demography has just begun to loose its equilibrium. Jainism in Kerala
Jainism was introduced to the South in about 300 BC by Emperor Chandragupta Maurya (321&297 BC) and a Jain saint-Bhadrabahu who had migrated to Shravanbelagola in pesent-day Karnataka due to a twelve-year long famine in North India in 297 B.C. From there it spread to Tamilnadu and Kerala in about 200 BC. Evidence of the presence of Jains in Kerala comes from the indisputable fact that many Hindu temples in Kerala were originally Jain Shrines. For example, at Kallil, near Perumbavur, we can still see the images of Parasvanth, Mahavira and Padmavati; even though it is considered a Bhagavati temple today. Similarly, several places in Wayanand have Jain temples indicating that North Malabar was once a flourishing center of Jainism.
In ancient times Jainism and Buddhism enjoyed high prestige till the late seventh century A.D. In 642 A.D., When Hsuan&Tsang visited the area he found "heretical sects" of Buddhism and Jainism flourishing in South India. The most characteristic feature of this period was the brisk literary activity in Tamilakam. The eighteen minor works (Kilkkanku or Prabhandas), Silappathikarm, Manimekhela and other works were written by acclaimed votaries of the heretical sects" (Nair 1986; 147). The contribution of the Jains to the Kannada Language and literature is even more pronounced. In the words of the great Kannada scholar R. Narsimhacharya, "the earliest cultivators of the Kannada language were Jainas. The oldest works of any extent and value that have come down to us are all from the pen of the Jains. The period of the Jainas' predominance in the literary field may justly be called the Augustan Age of Kannada Literature'. Jaina authors in Kannada are far more numerous than in Tamil. To name only a few, we have Pampa, Ponna, Ranna, Gunavarman,
