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- BAST INDIA been a stronghold of Jainism and Ajivika faith at the time of Asoka." Accord. inc- to this legend." Ašoka, on finding that a lav-follower of the Nirgrantha of Pundravardhananagara (modern Mahästhāngarh, District Bogra, Bangladesh had drawn a picture showing Buddha at the feet of the Nirgrantha, caused a holocaust of eighteen thousand Ajivikas of Pundravardhana. That the religion was well-established in a large part of Bengal prior to the redaction of the Kalpa-sätra is proved by the mention in this text of the Tamraliptik (known after Tamralipti, modern Tamluk, District Midnapur), Kotivarsiya (named after Kotivarsa, probably Bangarh in District West Dinajpur and Pandravardhaniya sakhas of a gana founded by Godása, a disciple of Bhadrababu, who was a contemporary of Candragupta Maurya. Though the redaction of the text of the Kalpa-sutra in its present form was not earlier than the fifth-sixth century A.D., it embodies a good amount of old traditions, as is proved by the Mathura inscriptions of the first century A.D. and onwards. These inscriptions record the names of several ganas with their kulas and sakhas which are enumerated in the Kalpa-sütra. An inscription of the year 62 (A.D. 140) found on the pedestal of a Jaina image from Mathură mențions a Jina monk with the epithet Räraka, which has been interpreted as a 'native of Rära," equated with Rādba (western Bergal).
Unfortunately, not a single Jina relic of the period has so far been located in Bengal. The earliest document with Jaina affiliation is the Paharpur (District Rajshahi, Bangladesh) copper-plate of the year 159 of the Gupta era, recording the endowment of lands for the maintenance of the ceremonial worship of Arhats, with sandal-paste, incense, flowers, lamps, etc., by a Brahmapa couple at the vihara Vata-Gohåll. As the vihara is stated to have been presided over by the disciples and the disciples disciples of the Nirgranthaśramanācārya Guhanandin belonging to the Panca-stūpa-nikaya of Kāśi, it is. very likely that it existed at Paharpur even in the fourth century A.D. Whether the nucleus of the Jaina establishment went back earlier is not known.
ORISSA From early times, Kalinga (comprising a large part of Orissa) was a. stronghold of Jainism. Mahävira is stated to have visited this country. That
1 Divydvaddna, Baddhist Sanskrit Texts, Darbhanga, 1959, p. 277; R.C. Majumdar, Jainism in Ancient Bengal, Shri Mahdvira Jana Vidydlaya Golden Jubilee Volume, 1, p. 135.
• Jacobi, op. att., p. 288. . , K.D. Bandyopadhyaya, Mathura inscriptions in the Indian Muscum', Journal of the Astatic Society of Bengal, New Series, V, 1909. pp. 239-40.
*R.C. Majumdar; op, dt. p. 136. .
Epigraphie Indica, XX, 1929-30, pp. 59.64..
