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of the Dharmopadesh mala3, composed in V.E. 915 at Nagaur, records that the region contained a large number of beautiful Jain temples. Chittor is another old site. When Haribhadra Suri visited it in the 8th century A. D., it had several Jain shrines belonging to the Chaitya-Vasis4. The Digambar5 Jain sources from Deccan reccord the visit of their Acharyas to the fort of Chittor for studying Jain philosophy and other disciplines.
The followers of the Jain religion belong mostly to the Vaishya-community. Due to their wealth and multifarious philanthropic activities they enjoyed a high status in society. During the pre-medieval times when the business activities increased the Jain merchants also ammassed immense riches. Their entrepreneurship, long experience and innate sense of business helped them succced. They had a deep reverence for their monk preceptors and spent lavish sums on religious and benevolent activities to honour the wishes of these monks. Several Jain temples were thus built by them. Among these, the temples of Osia, Abu, Ranakpur, Jaisalmer, Chittor and other such sites are the works of great importance from the epigraphical and architectural point of view.
During drought many benevolent activities were undertaken by the Jains and timely endowments were made. These activities were sometimes recorded on stone in the shape of inscriptions. Thus most of the Jain inscriptions are private un-official records the main aim being to perpetuate the memory of benevolent activities undertaken by individuals. For this reason, the details furnished by these inscriptions are quite valuable especially for the study of socio-economic and cultural history of Rajasthan. These details being devoid of hyperbolic expressions are quite useful for political history also.
3. "TPRCFITT ATTITIET früfaatfot stratfor omfati"
The Dharmopadeshamala(SJGM) colophon-verses, 13 to 14. The territory
around Nagaur formed the part of “Gurjaratra” [E.I. Vol. V p. 210] 4. In the Sambodhi-Prakarana (Verse 61) Haribhadra Suri speaks critically
of the ways of the Chait ya-Vasi Sadhus. The Shrutavatar by Indranandi verses 176-177/Vir Bhumi Chittor by the Author PP. 153-154/ Anekant vol. XVI No. 2 p. 72
5.
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