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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
Jainism in Gujarat
According to the Jaina tradition, the association of Jainism with Gujarat goes back to remote antiquity. Neminātha, the twenty-second tirthamkara, is said to have died on Mount Girnar in Gujarat. The migration of the Jainas from the kingdom of Magadha to western India probably began about 300 BC; they settled in western parts of India like Gujarat, and have retained their settlements to the present times.100 The famous Junagarh inscription of Rudrasimha [101 or Rudradāman,102 which belongs to the second century AD, contains the earliest reference to the Jaina monks claiming the attainment of perfect knowledge.103 The Bawa Pyara caves at Junagarh contain Jaina symbols like the svastika, bhadrāsana, nandīpada, mīnayugala and others, which bear resemblance with those found on the āyāga-pattas discovered from the site of the Jaina stupa of Mathurā. 104 Another indication of the early Jaina settlement in Kathiawad is provided by the Jaina images found at Dhank. 105 Scholars have identified these images with the figures of Ādinātha, Sāntinātha, Pārsvanātha and Mahāvīra.106 The caves found at Dhank which contain these sculptures belong to about the second century AD.107 It, therefore, seems certain that Jainism obtained a strong foothold in Gujarat by the second century AD.108
The presence of the Jainas in Gujarat in the early medieval period is indicated by literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence.109 The early
100. CHI, 1, p. 167. 101. AOIU, pp. 418-19. 102. Ibid. 103. Ibid. 104. HJM, p. 110. 105. Ibid., AOIU, pp. 418-19. 106. Ibid.; ibid. 107. AOIU, pp. 418-19. 108. Ibid. 109. CA, p. 406.
