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Status of Jainism in India :: 119
a further fillip at the hands of that veteran Jaina ruler Vanarāja of Chavada family. About 1100 A.D., Jainism gained a great ascendancy when the Chālukya king Siddharāja and his successor Kumārapāla openly professed Jainism and encouraged the literary and temple building activities of the Jainas.
During the days of Baghelas in the 13th century A.D. Jainism received patronage through the hands of Vastupāla and Tejapāla, the two famous Jaina ministers of the time. They were responsible for constructing the beautiful templecities at Satruñjaya, Girnar and Abu.
Afterwards even though Jainism did not receive the royal patronage as before, still it continued to hold its position and the numerical and financial strength of Jainas gave their religion a place of honour which is acknowledged even to this day. (B) In Maharashtra
As in Gujarat, in the region of Maharashtra also the Jaina religion had settled and flourished from ancient times. In Jaina religion the siddha-ksetras, that is, the places from where Jaina saints and great souls had attained salvation, are considered sacred and ancient places of veneration and such siddha-ksetras are found at as many as four places in Maharashtra, that is, at Gajapanthā (Dist. Nasik), Māngitungi (Dist. Khandesh), Kunthalagiri (Dist. Oosmanabad) and Muktāgiri (Dist. Amraoti). In this connection it is worthwhile to note that such a siddhaksetra is not there in the entire area of south India. Further, it is evident from ancient Prakrit Jaina literature that Lord Mahāvīra, the 24th Tīrthankara, had visited the Marāthavādā region of Maharashtra during his religious propagation tour of different parts of India. Moreover, in Jaina religion the mountain-caves and cave-temples are considered more ancient and sacred and in northern India such Jaina caves are found only in Udayagiri and Khaņdagiri hills in Orissa. But in Maharashtra such ancient cave-temples, in developed forms, are found at Ellora (Dist. Aurangabad),
