Jain Spirit 2003 10 No 16

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

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FEATURES
beautiful Jalamandir where the cremation of Lord Mahavira took place reminds us of his sublime teachings. It is believed that a likeness of Lord Mahavira was sculpted in his lifetime. Professor Satya Ranjan Banerjee refers to the evidence of the inscriptions and sculptures and speaks of the existence of a very strong Jain tradition in Bengal from a very early age. According to Ayaranga Sutta, Mahavira travelled to parts of Bengal before he attained kevalynana. The well known Jain saint, Bhadrabahu was also born in northern Bengal.
The history of Jainism in Orissa goes back to the time of Lord Parsva, although according to tradition the eighteenth Tirthankara, Lord Aranatha
received his first alms in Rayapura, probably the capital of Kalinga. It can be said with reasonable certainty that both Parsvanatha and Lord Mahavira visited the kingdom of Kalinga. A Jain ruler of the Nanda dynasty, who defeated and captured Kalinga, is believed to have taken with him the image of Kalinga Jina as a trophy, which was brought back to Kalinga in his twelfth year of reign by the Jain Emperor Kharavela. He was a powerful ruler of his time and under him Jainism had its golden age in Kalinga. The Khandagiri and Udaygiri caves in Orissa continue to command attention as cultural centres of Jainism.
Vidisa in Madhya Pradesh was an ancient centre of Jainism. There are several caves and rock-cut temples that go back to the fifth century. Jainism flourished in Khajuraho, Mahoba, Devgarh, Ahar, Tikamgarh and Madanesasagarpura. Although the Khajuraho and Mahoba Jain temples have been denuded of their glory and many images have been multilated, there is exquisite charm and artistic delicacy in them. The Candela kings ruled in the Khajuraho-Mahoba region and shifted their capital from Khajuraho to Mahoba around 900 AD. Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese traveller, called the place Jainabhukti. In the Bundelkhand-Vindhya region as well as in Gwalior and Indore, Jainism continued to have a substantial number of followers, with many Digambara and Shvetambara temples and notable sculptures there.
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Many Tirthankaras, including the first and the twentyfourth, were born in Uttar Pradesh, among the important places of which are Ayodhya, the birthplace of the first Tirthankara;
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Jain Spirit September November 2003
One of the earliest sculptures at the Patna Museum
Sravasti, the birthplace of Sambhavanatha, the third Tirthankara; Kausambi Kampila, the birthplace of Vimalanath, the thirteenth Tirthankara; Ratnapura, the birthplace of Dharmanatha, the fifteenth Tirthankara; Hastinapura, the birthplace of Santinatha, Kunthunatha and Aranatha being the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth Tirthankaras respectively; Varanasi, the birthplace of Lord
Parsvanatha; Ahichatra, where Lord Parsvanatha attained kevalygnana; and Mathura.
The excavations in Kankali Tila in Mathura and more recently in Fatehpur Sikri have yielded a wealth of archeological evidence of Jain stupas and the most beautiful statuary images including an unsurpassed sculpture of the goddess Saraswati. A stupa made by gods (devanirmitah) is assigned the date of 3rd century BC. Many images of the Tirthankaras including Rshabha, Suparsva (the seventh Tirthankara), Parsva and Vardhamana Mahavira were also found in the excavation.
Jainism may have entered Punjab soon after the nirvana of Mahavira. King Samprati, the grandson of Ashoka must have contributed to the propagation of Jainism there and in other parts of India. It did not spread as widely in Punjab as it did in the adjoining areas of Rajasthan, but it did reach the people as far as Taksasila, near Rawalpindi. According to a legend, Rshabha divided his kingdom among his sons with Bharat getting Ayodhya and Bahubali getting Taksasila. Bahubali is said to have built the Simhapura stupa in his kingdom to commemorate the visit of his ascetic father Rshabha. The excavation of a mound of great antiquity in the village of Harappa yielded many statues resembling Rshabha and possibly other Tirthankaras. Excavated evidence, sculptural remains and literary references lead us to the conclusion that there were hundreds of Jain temples in Punjab and in the city of Taksasila, the magnificence of which was destroyed by epidemics and the invasion by the Turuskas around the sixth century. Hiuen Tsang tells us about both Digambara and Shvetambara Jains in Punjab, in the province of North West Frontier and other regions of India. A Jain monk, Harigupta was the mentor and
Photo: Atul K.Shah