Jain Journal 1984 04

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

Page 44

APRIL, 1984
153
clear relics of Mahayana Buddhism and clear traces of Vaisnavism. Eclecticism appears to have been responsible for the area accepting one religious creed after another and the result is that there was a confluence of different faiths in Manbhum. There is no doubt that at one time or other Jainism had received a certain amount of patronage from the landed aristocracy which helped the spread of the creed. King Bimbisara, Kharavela, the lines of Rastrakuta and Candelas who had ruled these parts, were sympathetic to Jainism as a creed if not as active supporters. The section of people known as the Pacchima Brahmanas in Manbhum area held by some as belonging to the clan of Vardhamana Mahavira.
There was a decline of the flow of Jainism in this area and in adjoining Orissa and it is worthwhile for a research scholar to investigate the reasons. The rise of Lingayat Saivism appears to have clearly contributed to the decline of Jainism in Chota Nagpur. There is a theory that the Cola soldiers on their way to the expedition under Rajendra Cola Deva and on the return back after defeating Mahipala of Bengal near about 1023 A.D., had destroyed many of the Jaina temples and images in Manbhum district. The Pandyas were great iconoclasts. The decline of a powerful rule at the centre led to a fissiparous tendency and several small principalities came to be carved out and ruled by branches of the Rajputs. Landlords like Kasipur and Patkum were examples. Many of these rulers or powerful Zamindars were under the influence of Brahmana priests who wanted to increase their power and so there was a clash of interests. From the 13th century A.D., Manbhum seems to have been the field for different religious creeds trying to push out the other and if not to bring about a compromise and to continue the same influence. The religious ideas were fused and even when Tantrik Mahayana Saivism came to have some influence, the Jaina images came in handy. During the latter part of the Mughal period when the centre became very weak most of the religions excepting Mohammedanism all over India lost their individual identity and a broad based Hindu creed assimilating a number of creeds came to be the ruling creed on the surface. This creed took in Jainism as a current in the broader current. This is the reason probably why today one will find Jaina Tirthankara images openly worshipped as Bhaironath, HaraParvati, etc. The result is seen in the fact that today unmistakable Jaina images are found installed in Hindu temples and worshipped as Hindu deities.
As mentioned before, Jaina relics lie scattered in abundance through out Manbhum area. This is the area where the ancient Sravakas who were clearly Jainas, lived and practised the earliest known smelting of iron ore. Hiuen Tsang mentioned this area as the 'Safa Province'. The