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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
Important cities of India have considerable Jaina population. The principal sub-divisions of the Jainas are the Svetāmbara and the Digambara. The states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka have the largest number of Jainas in India.2 The Digambara Jainas preponderate in south Maharashtra and Karnataka, and the Svetāmbara Jainas are more numerous in Gujarat and the Punjab. 13 As a whole, the Jainas are economically welloff. Jaina affluence is most noticeable in the celebration of festivals, construction of temples and deeds of public welfare.
Jainism was a popular religion in India in the ancient and early medieval period. The period from the fifth century AD to the tenth century AD was the most flourishing in the history of Jainism, particularly in south India. Probably, one-third of the total population of the Deccan professed Jainism during this period. 14 But there has been a considerable decline in the number of the Jainas during the past ten centuries. According to the census of 1901, the Jainas numbered 1,334,140, and this strength was less than 1/2 per cent of India's population. 15 The Jaina population in India was 1,178,000 in 192616 and a little over two million in 1975.17 At present Jainism is professed by more than five million in India.18 Hermann Jacobi 19 and A.A. Macdonell20 felt that Jainism is a rigorous religion to practice; it is suitable for the upper classes and unfit for the illiterate masses, and this accounts for its small numerical strength. It is difficult to agree with this view. Jainism, undoubtedly, lays great stress on an austere and rigorous life. It, in fact, is a votary of asceticism.
11. JAA, I, p. 34; ERE, VII, p. 472; OISJ, p. 1. 12. JAA, I, p. 34. 13. Ibid. 14. A.S. Altekar, Rāstrakūtas and Their Times, p. 310, cited in JSAI, p. 247 fn. 3. 15. ERE, VII, p. 472. 16. IP, p. 72. 17. ACHI, p. 100. 18. A.K. Mazumdar, Early Hindu India, Delhi, 1981, p. 263. 19. ERE, VII, p. 472 fn. 1. 20. IP, p. 72.
