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No. Il
New Light on Antiquity of Jainism
25
appears from their opinion that owing to some unforseen circumstances the Dravidians of the province of Karnataka must have come down to the south from their original home which must have been somewhere near the province of Baluchistan. From this one can imagine that in ancient times about which we are writing these Dravidians must have been living in a province from which they could not escape the touch of the teachings of the followers of the Märga religion,
With these suggestions we shall proceed further :--
The word 'Magga' (Sanskrit Märgā) appears to have been in use in several countries of the Asiatic continent. But while being incorporated in other languages it has gone through the various influences of those languages. In Persian language we find the word 'Maga' used in the sense of a priest. In canarese also the word is used. Monk (Christian Catholic priest) and Manga are its two different forms. The Saraswat Brahmanas of India name their god of worship as Mangesha (#11) and consider him to be an incare nation of God Shiva. The Burmans use the word Manga (HT) in the sense of brother. Makala (
Han) in dravidian language moans children. It may be argued by some that this attempt is like buil. ding castles in the air taking advantage of some similarities of names of various languages. But the further explanations would show that it is not so.
In Persia or Shak continent the Magas' formed an inportant section of the people. They were the worshippers of the Sun and has three classes among them (1) those born of fire (2) Sarakas born of Soma and (3) Bhojakas i.e. those born of Aditya (Sun God).
अग्निजाता मगाः प्रोक्ताः। सोमजाता द्विजातयः ।। भोजका आदित्यजाताः। दिव्यास्तेपरिकीर्तिताः॥
भाविष्यपुराण बाह्यपर्व अ० १३६ शिरसाधारयेत्केशान् सज्ञेयो भोजकायमः। भुजंते न च ये रात्रौ भोजकास्ते प्रियामम ।। Agnijāta Magah proktah Somajāta duijälayah
