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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
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embraced by large and even increasing numbers of the Dravidians". The same scholars point out the comparative simplicity of Jaina worship, the exclusive character of Brahmanical rites and the perfect organisation of the Jaina community as the causes that must have led to the Jaina hold over the country in that period.
The creation of the Ganga kingdom (2nd-11th cent. A.D.) through the active agency of Simhanandin who gave refuge to two forlorn princes from the North,389 in about the 2nd cent. A.D., laid a firm foundation for the prosperous career of Jainism under the Gangas. It became a state religion due to which the Jaina monks giving up their traditional seclusion from the political affairs, came out in the role of king-makers and royal
advisers.
Simhanandin was not satisfied simply with giving them a kingdom, but he guided the princes regarding the principles of policy inasmuch as he warned them that "if they did not approve of the Jina Sasana, if they seized the wives of others, if they ate honey or flesh, if they formed relationship with the low....if they fled from the battlefield, then, their race would go to ruin!'390 Thus the great ascetic set within proper limits the principle of Ahimsă in conformity with kingly duties.
The marvellous feat of cutting asunder a stone pillar by a single stroke of the sword given by Simhanandin to Kongunivarman, has been interpreted by SALETORE as the removal or doing away with the Buddhist influence in Karnatak symbolised in the existence of the Buddhist monuments near the place of the meeting of Simhanandin and Kongunivarman. He remarks, "Buddhist influence still held its own in the south for some time to come and it was evidently this which the great Jaina teacher overcame with the help of his royal disciple. Kongunivarma's demonstration of physical strength brought about it, indeed, 'sovereignty' to the Jainas; and the reward which he secured for this remarkable feat was a kingdom" 391
Besides Kongunivarman, his successors were also Jaina patrons. For instance, Avinīta had his preceptor in Vijayakīrti at whose instance the king gave grants of land to the Jina temples. The same king has been described
389. E.C., II, 397, p. 169; MAR, 1921, p. 26; 1923, p. 115; SII. II, p. 387. 390. SALETORE, Medieval Jainism, p. 12.
391. Op. cit., p. 16.
392. Studies in South Indian Jainism, RAMASWAMI and ATYANGAR, pp. 110-111; KRISHNA RAO, Gangas of Talkad, p. 227.
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