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Jainism in Mathura
power to be brought into close personal connection with such a centre of superstition divested the town of all political importance; while the Hindu pilgrims, who still continued to frequent its impoverished shrines, were not invited to present, as the priests were not anxious to receive, any lavish donation which would only excite the jealousy of the rival faith. Thus, while there are abundant remains of the earlier Buddhist period, there is not a single building, nor fragment of a building, which can be assigned to any year in the long interval between the invasion of Mahmud in AD 1017 and the reign of Akbar in the latter half of the sixteenth century.13
In view of these circumstances it appears highly improbable that the Jaina stūpa of Mathura continued to exist up to the first half of the fourteenth century AD.
It is said that an eminent Jaina named Sahu Todar built 514 new stūpas at Mathura with the permission of Akbar during his reign, and a great celebration was held in this city in AD 1573 to commemorate it.14 We find no mention of these Jaina stūpas in the Ain-i-Akbari of Abul Fazl, the court historian of Akbar, who makes only a passing reference to Mathura in his celebrated work. 15 He described Mathura as a city which had some fine Hindu temples.16 In fact, Mathura was in a state of ruin.
Father Monserrate, a member of a Christian mission, travelled to Fatehpur Sikri from Goa on the invitation of Akbar. 17 This mission reached on 19 February, 1580 and stayed as Akbar's guest up to April, 1582.18 In the course of his journey, Monserrate passed through Mathura and found it in
13. MDM, pp. 33-4.
14. J.P. Jain, Pramukh Aitihäsik Jaina Puruşa Aur Mahilayen, 1975, p. 285; Poddār Abhinandan, p. 826.
Ain-i-Akbari, II, p. 192.
15.
16. Ibid., p. 192.
17. A.L. Srivastava, op. cit., p. 467.
18.
Ibid., p. 467.
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