ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 57

SCHOOL
TIONAL
OF
SELF STUDY IS THE SUPREME AUSTERITY,
स्वाध्याय तपः
IN STUDIES
that Jain monks were seen in Greece (taken by Alexander the great at the specific request of his religious teacher Aristotle) and Rome during this period and even a tomb of Jain monk still exists in Greece. Thus during Alexander's time Jainism moved out of India also to western and central Asia and on to Greece and Rome. Alexander met nude Jain monks in Gāndhāra, Takşila, Punjab and Sindh.
This period also became a period when the division of Jain into Digambara and Svetambara sects was formalized in spite of efforts by a number of monks in Mathura. The split got formalized in 1st century AD. Due to the intense criticism of Jain philosophy by other Indian philosophers, Jain ācāryas started writing scriptures in both traditional as well as logical (Śivarya, Kundakunda, Umāsvāmi, Kumāra Svāmī, Bhutabali and Puspadanta etc wrote almost all Digambara canons) from 1st century BC till 5th century AD from south India. Skandila tried unsuccessfully to complete Svetämbara canons. During these period Vedic scholars like Patanjali, Valmiki etc started writing their texts and Buddhist philosophers compiled Pāli Tripitakas. In Lucknow museum we find a number of Jain images carrying marks of 1st century BC to 1st century AD. Similar images and other carvings can be seen in Mathura museum also.
Vikramaditya and his successors ruled Ujjaini from 50BC to 50AD and promoted Jainism. Kankali-Ṭilā in Mathura was set up with a large number of inscriptions, images of Jains, which are even available in museums of Mathura and Patna but Kankali-Țila is deserted now. Jainism prospered in South India during this period and thereafter as will be seen with their influence in present day Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kural, the book of moral ethics of Tamils was written by Kundakunda in Tamil. Kannada, the language of Digambara Jain texts was adopted as the language of Karnataka state from that time onwards.
IV. 200 A.D-1700 A.D
This period saw the end of Jain rulers, even though most of the kings gave respect to Jain ācāryas and scholars. This is the period when scholars and monks of all philosophies in India were writing their holy scripts, texts as well as building temples, images, pieces of art and trying to argue with each other about the supremacy of their own philosophy and refuting the others. During this period we also saw emergence of devotion (bhakti), religious rituals, use of tantras and mantras for winning over worldly afflictions. The Śvetāmbara Jains made Gujarat as their centre with Vallabhi as an important centre of monks to write their canons, which were completed in 5th century AD by Devardhigani.
Page 44 of 317
STUDY NOTES version 5.0