Jain Journal 1988 10

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

Page 25

JAIN JOURNAL
Mangolia, China, Japan, Korea, Indian Archepelego, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Ceylon etc. At the end of the third Buddhist council missionaries were sent to Kashmir, Kabulistan, Bactria, countries at the foot of the Himalayas and lower India and Ceylon.
Gaya or the Bodhgaya is considered by the Buddhists as a sacred place in virtue of the fact that it was under the Bodhivykşa that Buddha got full enlightenment. For the Jainas Pavapuri is considered as the holy place because here Lord Mahavira attained mokşa. Thousands of pilgrims of both the religions pay a visit to these sacred places. For the Jainas Mount Abu, Sametsikhara, Kesariyaji, Girnar, Satrunjaya, Sravana Belgola, Palitana, Ranakpur, etc. are sacred places of pilgrimage. A branch of the Mahabodhi tree was transplanted in Ceylon by Mahendra, the son of Asoka ; and therefore it is considered as a holy place. The Buddhist stūpas found in India, Burma, China, Japan, etc. are equally well-known as places of pilgrimage. In the case of Buddhism the Chinese pilgrims Fa-Hien and Hiuen-Tsang who had embraced Buddhism visited these places and wrote chronicles about Buddhism.
Various religions have their own peculiar festivals. This holds good in the case of Jainism and Buddhism too. The common festival though celebrated in a different manner is the festival of lights (Dipävali). This festival is celebrated by the Jainas in honour of the achievement of mokşa by Mahavira. Material lamps are lighted in place of spiritual lamps. In Buddhism this is celebrated by illumination. The number of Buddhist religious festivals later on went on increasing like those of the Jainas ; and they are celebrated in different places in diverse manners. Three festivals of the Buddhists are common to all. They are : The festival of the lamps, the festival at the commencement of the spring and the festival of the birth day of Lord Buddha.
Buddhism was a state religion and thus it got support from kings of ancient India. The most prominent among them are Devanampriya king Asoka, Ajatasatru, etc. The Jainas too got support from kings like Srenika Bimbisara, Kunika, Kharavela, kings of the Northern and Southern dynasties of the middle ages, Siddharaja, Kumarapala of Gujarat, etc. The credit of winning over the favour of certain kings like Akbar and Kumarapala goes to the credit of Hiravijayaji and Kalikalasarvajna Hemacandra.
The organisers so to say of both the religions wandered on foot over the vast tract of land with a view to preach their religion. Buddha