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Jainism in Mathurā
appeal in Mathurā after the second century AD. Subsequent history is illustrative of the fact that unlike Buddhism, which was almost completely wiped out of existence in this city after the seventh century AD, Jainism remained a living religion in Mathurā up to the eleventh century AD.
Mathurā fell under the rule of the Nāga dynasty after the extinction of the Kusāna empire. There is no evidence that the Nāga rulers extended patronage to Jainism.415 Mathurā became a part of the Gupta empire after the downfall of the Nāgas of Mathurā.416 The majority of the Gupta rulers were devout Hindus. But they were tolerant of other religions. Neither Jainism nor Buddhism suffered at their hands. Literary and archaeological sources reveal that Hinduism was in a flourishing state in Mathurā during the Gupta period. These sources reveal that Buddhism, which had become a popular religion at Mathurā within a decade or two after the conclusion of the second Buddhist Council at Vaiśālī,417 was a fairly popular religion in Mathurā in the Gupta period also. The Chinese traveller Fahien, who saw twenty Buddhist monasteries housing about three thousand monks,418 and six Buddhist stūpas at Mathurā,419 made no mention of Jainism in this city.420
But Fahien's silence should not lead us to the conclusion that Jainism did not exist in Mathurā during the Gupta period. Only three Jaina inscriptions of the Gupta period have come to light at Mathurā.421 But the discovery of 59 Jaina sculptures of the Gupta period at Mathurā422 is evidence that Jainism had not lost its appeal in this city. A council was held at Mathurā under the presidentship of Arya Skandil for the fixation of the Jaina canon in the fourth
415. JPV, p. 19. 416. CII, III, nos. 1, 4, 63. 417. CMHI, II, pp. 82-3. 418. The Travels of Fa-Hsien, tr. H.A. Giles, 1956, p. 20. 419. Samuel Beal, op. cit., Introduction, xxxvii-xxxviii. 420.JPV, p. 19. 421. EI, II, no. XXXVIII-XL. 422. JAA, 1, p. 107.
