Book Title: History of Jaina Monachism
Author(s): S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute

Previous | Next

Page 141
________________ 136 S. B. DEO Jehangir drew orders for the protection of Satruñjaya, and conferred the title of Mahātapā on Vijayadeva Sūri.477 Another Jaina monk called Jinasimha Sūri was given the biruda "yugapradhāna" by the same emperor.478 The successors of Jehangir, Shah Jehan and Aurangazeb though least enthusiastic about non-Islamic sects, seem to have maintained at least the previous grants. The former drew a farmán for the protection of Satruñjaya479 while the latter granted the region around Satruñjaya together with its revenue to śāntidāsa, the Jaina jeweller at his court.480 With all these cases of royal patronage, it should be noted that this courtesy was fickle and ever-changing. An inscription of Akbar's period refers to the damage done by the armies of the emperor to the pinnacle of a Jaina temple, and says further that it was repaired some twenty years afterwards. The very gap required for repairs shows that the Jainas were possibly not sure of the vagaries of the emperor.481 In the reign of Jehangir, we find that a peculiar practice--in a few cases-was started regarding the writing of the name of the emperor on the head of Jina images.482 NAHĀR483 adds a note regarding this which says that "some people told emperor Jehangir - that the Jainas had written his name under the feet of their sacred images. The emperor got angry to hear this. So the Jains in order to please him wrote his name on the head of the images!" No comment is necessary on this incident! Effects of Muslim Rule on the Jaina Church : Terror of Muslim aggressors, loss of countrywide contact with co-religionists, widespread events of forced conversions, and the era of destruction and demolition under the Muslims had a weakening effect on the Church organisation of the Jainas. The disintegration of the Church followed and small groups called Mandalas under the authority of a Mandalācārya were formed. These Mandalācāryas later on turned despotic and the sense of unity and integrity was lost. This tended to introduce regional changes in monastic practices, and various discrepancies crept into it. 477. NAHAR, op. cit., i, 750, 772, 837; ii, 1460. 478. E.I., ii, pp. 61-64; NAHAR, op. cit., i, 771, 787. 479. GLASENAPP, op. cit., pp. 68-69. 480. Ibid. 481. NAHAR, op. cit., ii, 1782. 482. Ibid., 1578-84. 483. Ibid., p. 131, f.n. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616