Jain Journal 1984 04

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

Page 13

126
There is an indirect evidence to show that Jainism had established its influence in Bengal in the 4th century B.C. The Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela15 tells us that this king had brought back an image of the Jina of Kalinga which had been taken away by Nanda was evidently a king of the Nanda dynasty who ruled over the Gangaridai or Gandaridai and the Prasioi, mentioned by the Greek writers. Inspite of the loose manner in which these two terms are used by them, it may be reasonably inferred from the statements of the Greek and Latin writers that about the time of Alexander's invasion the Gangaridai were a very powerful nation ruling over the territory about the mouths of the Ganges, and either formed a dual monarchy with the Prasioi or were otherwise closely associated with them on equal terms in a common cause against the foreign invader. The Nanda king who carried the Jaina image from Kalinga may be taken as the ruler of the Gangetic Delta, and the carrying away of the Jaina image to preserve it with care (for it existed unimpaired for 2 or 3 centuries when Kharavela took it back to Kalinga) undoubtedly shows a leaning for Jainism either on the part of the king, or of the people, or, perhaps of both. Kharavela himself was a Jaina, and his own action shows how much the king yearned for the possession of a sacred image of a sect to which he was attached, and it would not be unreasonable to take the same view about the Nanda king. It may, of course, be argued that if the Nanda king in question had a very extensive territory outside Bengal, his own religious feeling might not have reflected that of Bengal. But as the Gangaridai were the people of Bengal, primarily, and Kalinga was adjacent to this region, the view that the carrying away of the Jaina image by the king of Gangaridai indicates the Jaina influence in Bengal has a great degree of probability.
JAIN JOURNAL
The Divyavadana records a tradition which shows that the Nirgrantha or Jaina religion was established in Pundra or North Bengal at the time of Asoka. It is said that the lay followers (upāsaka) of Jainism in the city of Pundravardhana (North Bengal) had painted a picture representing Buddha falling at the feet of Nirgrantha, and on hearing this Asoka massacred 18000 Ajivikas of Pundravardhana on a single day.16 It is difficult to put much faith in such a story except as the echo of a tradition that Jainism flourished in Bengal at the time of Asoka in the 3rd century B.C.
This view is strengthened by the statement in the Kalpa Sutra that Godasa, a disciple of Bhadrabahu, founded a school named after him
15 Line 12, Ep. Ind., pp. 80, 88.
16 Divyavadana, p. 427. The account mixes up the Nirgranthas and Ajivikas, but the name of the sect is uniformly given as Nirgranthas in the Chinese translation. Cf. Przyluski, La legende de l'Empereur Asoka, p. 278.