Comprehensive History of Jainism Volume II

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

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COMPRBHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
with the monks of the Kharatara gaccha is disclosed by that extremely interesting work the Kharataragacchabshadgurvali.00
(iii) Jainism in Madhya Pradesh : Unlike Rajasthan and Gujarat, most of the Jains of Madhya Pradesh, Maha. rashtra, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of India, owed allegiance to the Digambara sect. As a matter of fact, the Svetămbaras were never popular in the regions, now known as Madhya Pradesh. Among the dynasties, which were prominent in Madhya Pradesh, during the period under review (1000-1300), we may mention the Candellas, the Paramāras and the Kalacuris. Let us first discuss the condition of the Jain religion, in the regions, ruled by the Candellas.
We have seen in the earlier volume 07 of the present work, that Jainism was popular in the Candella kingdom, even before 1000 A.D. We have also seen that even the celebrated Dhanga was quite respectful towards the monks, belonging to the Digambara sect. Although we have practically no literary reference to the Jains in the Candella territory, a few epigraphs, belonging to the time of the later Candella kings, enable us to have some idea about the state of the Jain religion in the regions, ruled by the kings of this dynasty. Chronologically, the first Jain Candella epigraph of our period, is the Darbat Såntinātha image inscription"08 of V.S. 1132 (Hamirpur district). The epigraph is incised on a marble frieze, containg a sitting lion on each side. It records the installation of an image of Šānti (the Jain Tirtharkara) by Śreshțhins Păbila and Jiju, belonging to a group of hereditary ministers in the reign of Candella Kīrtivarman (C 1070-1100 A.D.). It also refers to the Digambara sage Väsavendu. For the reign of Kirtivarman, we have another epigraph*, from the famous Jain centre of Deogarh, situated in the newly-created Lalitpur district of U.P. The epigraph is dated in the Vikrama Samvat 1154.