Jain Journal 1978 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 39

Excerpt from Tughluq Dynasty
......the emperor patronized the Hindus and Jains alike. Ziyau’ddin Barani describes them all indiscriminately as multāniān--a term used for money-lenders. According to a Jain account the Jains were the bankers of medieval India.2 The Jain monks were invited to the royal court and the Jain laity occupied influential positions in state service. Nain was an officer under Sultan Jalalu’ddin Khalji. His son Dusaje held an influential position in the Alai: government and continued to enjoy the same under Ghiyasu’ddin Tughluq and Sultan Muhammad successively. Feruo was a jeweller and a leading merchant during the reign of 'Alau'ddin Khalji ; Samar Singh Jain was a close friend of Alp Khan, the Khalji governor of Gujarat. He repaired with the permission of the Khalji government the famous Satrunjaya temple of Palitana 'with great pomp and ceremony in 1315 A.D. Then he was invited to Delhi by Qutbu’ddin Mubarak Shah who made him his commissioner (Vyavahāra). Sultan Ghiyasu'ddin Tughluq regarded him as his own son and sent him to Telingana where he built many temples. Sultan Muhammad looked upon him as his brother and made him governor of Telingana.6 The unique position that Samar Singh Jain thus enjoyed is attested by Nayachandra, a contemporary Jain poet, who says;
'Free from greed Muhammad (bin Tughluq) used to give lakhs of dinars, scattering them like grass every year uniformly to acquire merit by helping the poor and the afflicted. He (Samar Simha) is the only great man and none else, who obtained appreciation of king Muhammad Shah."?
* By (Agha) Mahdi Husain, Calcutta, 1963, pp. 315-323.
1 Tarikh-i Flroz Shahi, Barani, Calcutta, 1862, p. 385. 2 Proceedings of Oriental Conference, Baroda, 1933, pp. 629-633. 3 Alai is an adjective and abbreviation of Alau'ddin. 4 Feru ("the Rehla of Ibn Battuta,' G.O.S., p. 287) wrote Vattubusarapayara
nam in V.S. 1372 (A.D. 1313). 5 Also called Samara Simha and Samara Shah. He was a Jain chief of
Anhalwara. 6 Sheth, C. B., Jainism in Gujarat, p. 179. ? (i) Pr. Or. Con., Baroda, 1933.
(i) Pr. I.H.C., 1941, p. 301