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PĀRSVANATHA IMAGES IN ORISSA AND BENGAL
D.R. Das
Orissa and Bengal, the two contiguous states of Eastern India, witnessed a brisk activity of the Nirgrantha missionaries for long centuries. Interestingly, their activity was very intense in remoter and inaccessible areas. While the history of this activity in Orissa is known to us, albeit inadequately, our knowledge of the spread of Nirgranthism in Bengal, on the other hand, is not extensive.
I. ORISSA
A literary reference seems to suggest that the Nirgrantha religion had entered Orissa before the birth of Mahāvīra. According to a legend, recorded in the late Nirgrantha texts, Karakandu, the king of Kalinga, was a disciple of Pārsvanātha.' If this tradition has any historical value, Nirgrantha became the royal religion of Orissa through the influence of Pārsvanātha. Jainism continued to enjoy royal patronage even after Karakandu. Nandarāja of Magadha is reported in the Hāthigumphā inscription (c. 50-25 B.c.) at Udayagiri to have carried away a Jina image from Kalinga obviously after defeating its ruler. When Khāravela of the Mahāmeghavāhana family became the king of Kalinga, he not only recovered the said Jina image (Kalinga Jina' of the Hāthigumphā inscription) but also turned Bhubanesvar into a great centre of Nirgrantha religion. Archaeological exacavation has laid bare the foundation of an apsidal temple on the summit of the Udayagiri at the outskirts of Bhubanesvar. It is generally believed that this temple was built by Khāravela or one of his successors to house a Jaina divinity (Kalinga Jina?). After the fall of the Mahāmeghavāhanas, the history of Nirgranthism in Orissa becomes obscure. However, the Nirgrantha religion apparently had continued to flourish. Hiüen Tsang, during the second quarter of the 7th century, saw many Nirgranthas in Kalinga and more than ten thousand temples of Tirtharkaras in Kalinga." The Sailodbhavas, who at that time were ruling in Kongoda and its adjoining territories in southern Orissa, were known to have extended support to the Nirgrantha establishments in their kingdom. Since Nirgranthism alim Jainism never failed to enjoy patronage of different ruling houses of Orissa, a phenomenal growth, as a result, of that religion took place in this region and its centres sprouted in almost every part of that country. Simultaneously, there
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