Comprehensive History of Jainism Volume II

Author(s): Aseem Kumar Chaterjee
Publisher: Firma KLM Pvt Ltd

Page 49

JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA
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called Deda, his son Pethada and his grandson Jhanjhana as great patrons of this religion. For his generosity, Deda came to be called by the name 'Kanakagiri'•*. At Devagiri he had built a Pauşadhašala for the Jain monks. His son Pethada had, as his guru, Dharmaghoşasūri, and on the advice of that Jain saint, Pethada, we are told, built 84 Jain shrines in different places of India. A perusal of the relevant slokas, quoted from the Upadešatar angini by Desai2 • 8, shows that even at places like Hastinapura, Śūrpāraka, Jālandhara, Setubandha, Pratiştbåna etc., he built Jain temples. The temple at Devagiri with an image of Lord Mahāvīra was completed in V.S. 1335. He also built on Śatruñjaya, a temple of śāntinātba. His son Jhanjhana was also a disciple of Dharmaghoșasūri and built several Jain temples and visited along with his guru several Jain tirthas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. His meeting with king Sārangadeva in V.S. 1340 is recorded in the Upadeśataranginia' 7. We will afterwards see that in a Jain inscription from Mount Abu, dated V.S. 1350, Sārangadeva is mentioned as the suzerain king. Regarding the Jain writers, who flourished during this period, we will have to say something in the chapter on Literature,
SECTION B: JAINISM IN RAJASTHAN As we have already seen in the first volume of the present work, Jainism became popular with masses in Rajasthan, even from pre-Christian times. Like Gujarat, the marchant community, in particular, strongly espoused the cause of this religion, which was basically based on the doctrine of Ahiṁsā. From quite early times, several places of Rajasthan came to be associated with this religious system, and even now some of those places are known as Jain Tirthas. We will have to take cognizance of these sacred places, associated with Jainism, in a separate chapter of the present volume. Let us first discuss the position of this religion, during the time of the various branches of the