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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathura
The spread of Jainism to various parts of India was the consequence of numerous migrations of the Jainas from eastern India. One such migration or extension of the Jaina community brought it to Mathurā at an early period.10 Archaeological excavations have established that Jainism obtained a firm footing in Mathurā by the second century BC, 11 and that from this time it had a continuous history in this city up to the eleventh century AD.” In fact, in the early centuries of the Christian era, Mathurā became the most renowned centre of Jainism in northern India.13
Archaeological excavations at Kankālī Țīlā, Mathurā
Except the Jaina traditions which furnished some information, nothing specific was known about the state and history of Jainism in Mathurā even as late as AD 1870. But archaeological excavations conducted at Kankāli Tīlā, Mathurā by Cunningham, Harding, Growse, Burgess and Fuhrer from about 1870 to 1896,14 opened the flood-gates for writing on the history of Jainism in Mathurā on scientific lines. These excavations have unearthed immense Jaina antiquities like sculptures, pillars, āyāga-pattas, capitals, umbrellas, railing posts, copings, cross-bars, component parts of gateways, bracket-figures and other architectural pieces from this mound. 15 These excavations unearthed a large number of dedicatory inscriptions also. 16 The earliest of these dedicatory inscriptions belongs to the second century BC, 17 and the last to the eleventh century AD. 18 These dedicatory inscriptions provide a fairly clear picture of the
9. CHI, I, pp. 167ff; ADIU, pp. 417ff; HJM, p. 577. 10. AOIU, p. 418; CMHI, II, p. 363. 11. JS, Introduction, pp. 1ff; JAA, I p. 51. 12. Ibid., Introduction, pp. 3-5; ASIAR (1906-7), p. 141; MI, p. 42; JSAI, pp. 230-1. 13. CMHI, II, p. 355. 14. MI, p. 39. 15. JS, Introduction, pp. 1ff; JAA, I, p. 52. 16. EI, X, Appendix, Lüders List, pp. 2ff. 17. EI, II, p. 195 and inscription no. 1; EI, II, pp. 198-9. 18. JS, Introduction, pp. 3-5.
