Jain Journal 1991 04

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

Page 19

APRIL, 1991
163
It is very likely that the itinerant Jain monks had some following among the trading communities of the Punjab, But the total number of Jains in the Punjab was probably quite negligible. Nevertheless the wandering Yatis attracted attention because of their outward appearance and peculiar practices. In the seventeenth century Sujan Rai noticed their conspicuous presence as well as their unpopularity among the Hindus. The chief characteristics of the Jain monks noted by Sujan Rai were their ascetical practices, their atheistic system of beliefs and their meticulousness about not injuring any living being. 3
Notes:
2. According to H. A. Rose, nearly 99% of the Jains in the Punjab belonged to the trading classes : A Glossary of Tribes and Castes, p. 105. See also Punjab : Notes & Queries, I, No. 9, 121. Some Jaina monks established themselves in Lahore during the times of Akbar : Jain, Banarsi Das, "Jainism in the Punjab”. But there is no reason to suppose that the Jain monks had no lay following in the Punjab before the sixteenth century.
3. Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh, 23.
A long way away from north India, the Jains were also quite influential in south India for considerable periods of time. Their influence was, however, checked by many Hindu forces, notably the Alvārs, who flourished in the seventh and twelveth centuries. Banerjee (1984 : 34-35) points out that the Alvārs "tried to evolve a form of Vaisnava faith which could offer a powerful challenge to Buddhism, Jainism and Saivism .. The Alvars played a crucial role, negatively in weakening Buddhism and Jainism, and positively in putting religious life in south India in a new mould."
In addition to the Alvārs, whose hymns were "compiled and arranged by Nathmuni in the tenth century, [and] were collectively known as Nalavira Prabandham, which came to be considered as sacred as the Vedas", (Ibid.) there were other forces in Hinduism, like that of Ramanuja of the Sankara's doctrine. According to Banerjee, "in giving decadent Hinduism a new and more attractive shape, they (Rāmānuja and others were defending it against all rivals-Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and Islam.” (Ibid., p. 40)