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Vol. XXXIX
JAIN JOURNAL
No. 3 January
POSITION OF THE JAINAS IN BENGAL DURING THE RULE OF GOPALA, THE FIRST PĀLA KING
Chitta Ranjan Pal
The non-existence of any inscriptional as well as literary evidence pertaining to the existence of the Nirgranthas (Jainas) in Bengal, during the Pāla rule, had once led Jinologists of India and abroad, to believe that the efflorescence of Buddhism, consequent upon the enthronement of the Pāla dynasty in Bengal was the main cause of the sudden eclipse of the Nirgranthas (Jainas) from the Kingdom. But this supposition is not based upon unimpeachable evidence or ground.
2005
It is true that the persecution of the Nirgranthas (Jainas) by King Śaśānka of Karṇasuvarṇa and the maltreatment which they endured during the evil days of "Matsyanyāya" or the great anarchy of Bengal, probably forced many Nirgranthas (Jainas) to migrate to the fastnesses of the forests and hilly tracts of western part of Bengal or outside. In fact, the Nirgranthas (Jainas) were in the habit of leaving uncongenial places and migrating to favourable habitations for the performance of their religious practices without let or hindrance, since the days of Bhadravahu, their last śrutakevalin.2
Jain Education International
Stories of the Persecutions of the heretical sects by the Brahmanical religious zealots (tīrthikas) have been found recorded in Hieu-en-Tsang's "si-yu-ki” and the Buddhist chronicle “Ārya-mañjuśrīmulakalpa". In spite of probable exaggerations, the allegations of persecutions, seem not to be quite bascless'. In fact some sort of
1. R.C. Majumder, Jainism in Ancient Bengal (Jain Journal, Vol xviii. No.4)
2.
Mrs. Stevenson, Heart of Jainism
3.
Quoted from K. P. Jayswal's translation of AMMK.
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