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Light on Religion and Philosophy from the early Jaina Inscriptions from Rajasthan (upto 1200 A.D.)
Krishna Gopal Sharma
The early Jaina inscriptions from Rajasthan are in the main donative records meant to highlight the generosity of certain individuals, including both laymen and royal personages. Incidentally, they us some glimpses into the political and cultural history of the period. The inscriptions are mostly dated in the Vikrama Era. The Barli fragmentary stone inscription (obtained from a village 36 miles southeast of Ajmer) belonging perhaps to the fourth or fifth century B.C. is the earliest Jaina inscription reported from Rajasthan. In all we have 52 inscriptions in our list, and most of them come from eleventh and twelfth centuries. Our study sheds light essentially on the Rajasthan of eleventh and twelfth centuries. The inscriptions are written mostly in the Nagari characters and the language used is generally Sanskrit.
Jaina Pantheon
It is interesting to observe that in the Nadol plates of the Rajaputra Kirtipala, dated V.E. 1218, the Hindu gods comprising the trinity are called Jinas or Jaina Arbats. The inscription invokes, in the beginning, after the words oṁ svasti, the blessing of the gods Brahma, Sridhara (Vişnu), and Samkara (Śiva), 'who, always free from passion, are famous in the world as Jinas'.?
The early passages of the Bijolia Jaina inscription of Chahamana Someśvara, V.E. 1226% makes mention, rather elaborately, of the exploits
1 See Kielhorn, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX, pp. 66-70. 2 Cf. line 1 of the record, which reads : om svasti. sriyai bhavamt u vo deva.
vra(bra)hma-sridhara-samkarah sada viragavamto ye jina jagati visrut ah.
See EI, IX, p. 146. 3 A. K. Vyas, EI Vol. XXVI, pp. 84-102.
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