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Development & Impact of Jainism in India & Abroad
In the Vasatgarh temple, there is an image of the 7th century A.D. This supports the existence of Jainism in Rajasthan in that century. In the 8th and 9th centuries this religion became widespread in Rajasthan due to the effort of the noted acharya HaribhadraSuri. Originally he was the state priest of Jitari, the king of Chitrakoot (Chittore) but later he became a Jain Shraman.
We know of the existence of Jainism in the 8th and 9th centuries from the Muslim travelers. Unfortunately their observations were not complete and their accounts have many flaws. To them every temple, image or monk belonged to Buddhism which is far from correct. Biladuri went so far as to describe the Sun temple to be a Buddhist temple. Because of their ignorance about the distinction between Jainism and Buddhism, the Europeans have also furthered the same confusion while translating Muslim records.
Abu Zaidul has written that in India many male monks lived in forests and had little contact with the mundane world. Some would subsist on fruits and flowers, some would roam nude and some nudes would stand in a standing posture. In the course of his wanderings he came across a nude who stood at one place continuously for sixteen years. Standing posture is the characteristic posture of the Jains and hence in all probability the nude was Jain monk. AsaralVilad was not a traveller but a writer (13th century). He has written that in a place named Saimur near Sindh there lived a number of kafirs who neither killed animals nor touched meat, fish or eggs. There were others who would not kill animals but would take meat if killed by others. This indicates the existence of the Jains and Buddhists side by side.
Jainism made much progress during the Rajput era. Though most of them were Vaishnavas or Shaivites, the Rajput kings were tolerant towards other faiths and helped the spread of Jainism in all possible ways. Jainism had a good time under the Pratihara Rajputs. There is a Mahavir temple at Osian that was built by Vatsaraja. Jinasena has mentioned of this king in his Harivamsapurana written in 783 A.D. He was succeeded in 792 A.D. by his son Nagabhatta, better known as Ama. He was a great admirer of Jain ascetic BappabhattaSuri and at his orders Jain temples were constructed at many places. In 840 A.D. Mihirbhoja ascended the throne. He was deeply influenced by NannaSuri and GovindaSuri. Kakkuka was the Pratihara king at Mandor. He was a Sanskrit scholar and protector of Jainism. According to Ghatiyala inscription, he had erected a Jain temple in 861 A.D.
Chauhanas helped Jainism spread widely in Rajasthan. JinadattaSuri, who created the modern social order of Jains by assigning Gotras to the families he converted, was a contemporary of king Arnaraja of Ajmer. The king used to visit the savant at Ajmer every day. He donated land to the followers of Jinadatta for the construction of a temple and Dadabari. The Vijolia inscription (V.S. 1169) clearly mentions that Prithviraja I had donated a village named Mourjuri to meet the expenses of the Parshvanaath temple. After him Somesvara, better known as Pratapalamkesvara, ascended the throne. He donated a village named Reuana to the same temple with a desire to find a seat in heaven. His successor Prithviraja ll was very fond of intellectual duels. In one such duel in his court held in V.S. 1192 the participants were JinapatiSuri of KharatarGachchha and Pandit Padmaprabha; the former won the debate.
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