Jain Journal 2007 01

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

Page 15

A LESS KNOWN CAUSE OF PROSPERITY OF THE JAINAS
IN THE PALA KINGDOM
Chitta Ranjan Pal
Buddhism experienced a great theological and spiritual change as well as an unparalleled expansion in and outside Bengal during the rule of the Pāla Kings, most of whom were professedly Buddhists. But their adherence to Buddhism did not in any way hinder the progress either of the Brāhmanical religion or the Jaina faith in Bengal. Their eclecticism and tolerance were at the root of this multi-faced religious growth and development in Bengal from the second half of the eighth to the Ist half of the 12th century A.D. and the correctness of this view has been accepted by all scholars.'
Save and except this well-known factor, there is another factor, less known, if not less important, which also contributed to the progress of the Brāhmanical sects as well as Jaina religious order in Bengal.
After the death of Devapāla, the third King of the Pāla dynasty, the Pāla Empirc crumbled to picces. Devapāla's sucessors-Surapala - I. Vigrahapāla I Nārāyaṇa Pāla and Rājyapāla and Gopāla II were all weaklings and nonmartial in character. Sometime after 860 A.D. the Rāstra Kūțas defeated the Pāla army and conquerred a part of their empire. “According to Sirur Inscription dated 866 A.D. Anga, Vanga and Magadha paid homage to King Amoghavarşa.””, and this military
1.
N.R. Roy - Bängālīr Itihāsa (Adi parva)
(in Bengali) pp499111. N.N. Dasgupta - Bānglāy Bauddhadharma
(in Bangali) pp 36 ff. N.R. Roy - Bāngālīr Itihāsa (Ādhiparva)
(in Bengali) p. 438 R.C. Mazumder (Ed.) - The Age of Imperial Kanauj
p. 57; E.n. 44
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