Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 01

Author(s): A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 45

THE EXPANSION OF JAINISM
respectively. In any case, it appears plausible that the differences between those two groups were of slow growth and did not fossilize till about the end of the second century A.D.
The western parts of India beyond Ujjain seem to have come under the influence of Jainism in the second century B.C. According to literary tradition, Saliśuka, the brother of Samprati Maurya, contributed to the spread of Jainism in Saurastra,' the traditional association of Gujarat-Kathiawar with Jainism going back to the period of the twenty-second Tirthankara Neminatha, who renounced the world in Kathiawar. Thus, by about the second century B.C. Kalinga, Avanti and Saurastra seem to have felt the force of Jainism.
Later Jaina literature abounds in stories pertaining to king Salähana or Salivahana, a Satavahana king ruling from Pratisthāna, modern Paithan in the upper Deccan. Kälakācārya, legendarily associated also with the Saka ruler of western India, is said to have visited Salivahana as well. Recently, Sankalia has brought to our notice a rock-cut inscription of about the second century B.C., which, according to him, begins with a Jaina formula. The evidence of extensive Jaina contacts with the Sātavāhanas is, however, meagre
Further south, with the foundation of the Ganga kingdom in about the second century A.D. under Sirihanandin, Jainism practically attained the status of a state religion. Kings like Kongupivarman, Avinita and Sivamāra, as also subsequent princes, were devout Jainas, who made grants to Jaina temples, monasteries and other establishments."
Like the Gangas, the Kadambas (from the fourth century A.D.) were also patrons of Jainism. Inscriptions of the times Kākutsthavarman, Mrgesavarman, Ravivarman and Devavarman bespeak the popularity of Jainism in the Kadamba kingdom. These records refer to the Svetapatas, Nirgranthas and Kürcakas (naked asceties), who appear to have formed differeut monastic groups. The records also mention certain practices as the worship of icons with ghee.
· K.H. Dhruva in Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XVI, 1930, pp. 29-31. * H.D. Sankalia ía Indian Historical Quarterly, XVI, 1940, p. 314. • H,D. Sankalia in Siddhodya (Gujarati journal), Baroda, VII, 4, pp. 419 4.
• K. Aiyangar and S. Rao, Shurities to South Indian Jainism, Madrao, 1922, pp. 110-11 For detaiks, see M.V. Krishna Rao, The Ganges of Tallad Madras, 1936, pp. 204-05.
For details, see George M. Moraes, The Kadamba Kuta, Bombay, 1931, pp. 254-55.
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