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JAINISM IN RAJASTHAN
period was Kalakacharya who wandered in Saurashtra, Avanti and Western Rajputana for spread of Jainism. His sister Sarasvati too supported him in this mission as a nun. Gardhabhil, the king of Ujjaini, was obsessed with her beauty and wanted to have her. This enraged Kalakacarya and he mobilized the support of the Shak king Maues who invaded Ujjaini and defeated Gardhabhil. During his reign Maues got stamped many series of coins. One of these had a seated human figure on one side and an emerging elephant on the other. Tarn has identified the human figure as the Buddha. But this inference appears to be far from correct. In fact, it should be read as that of a Tirthankara on whom the elephant is about to sprinkle water. There is a greater probability that Maues had accepted Jainism under the influence of Kalakacarya and printed a coin with the image of a Tirthankara.
Ujjaini was under the Shak rule for 17 years. It was regained by Gardhabhil's grandson Vikramaditya. During the reign of Vikramaditya the Malawa republic included a part of south east Rajasthan and Jainism was a living religion in Western India. According to Jain tradition, Vikramaditya himself became a Jain.
In the first century A.D. Harshapur was supposed to be a prosperous town. It was located somewhere between Ajmer and Pushkar. According to Jain literary evidence, there were three hundred Jain temples here. At this time there was a king named Suvarnapala who reigned here. Though he is not yet identified in history, this does not disprove of Jainism being an important religion of this region. Harshapur gachchha too must have derived its name from this place. There are inscriptions available of thisgachchha of the 10th and 11th centuries A.D.
The efforts of Samantabhadra too helped the spread of Jainism in the 2nd century A.D. According to an inscription of Shravan Belgola he toured extensively and went to many places for propagation of Jainism. He even visited Malawa which included the south eastern part of Rajputana at that time.
Strangely enough we do not find adequate literary proof or inscriptional support for activities of Jainism from 5 BC to the 6th century A.D. However, its continued presence in the adjoining areas of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Uttarpradesh and Malwa certainly conveys that during this period Rajasthan could not have remained totally free from its impact. From the 7th century A.D. through modern times, this religion has had a continuous sway over Rajasthan through eminent ascetics, the feudal lords and the educated as well as wealthy Jain laity. During this period many impressive temples were constructed, innumerable scriptures were transcribed, authored and preserved in large libraries (Jnana-bhandaras).
It is known from Hiuen Tsang's account that Jainism was practiced from Taxila to the extreme South of Rajasthan; his record contains the account of Bheenmaal and Bairath only. At both these places Buddhism was in a decadent state. In a math in Bheenmaal there lived only one hundred Buddhist Bhikshus. But the majority of the people of this place professed other religions. In Bairath there were eight mathas, all in a dilapidated state. From this it may be inferred that along with Buddhism, the Vedic religion and Jainism too were the prevalent religions of these two places. A new temple 'Baavandinaalay' has been recently constructed in Bheenmaal.
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