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Retrospect
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in Magadha were, according to the inscriptions of Khāravela, the followers of the Jaina faith because the inscriptions speak of a King Nanda I who led a conquering.expedition into Kalinga and carried off an image of Ādi-Jira.25 Vincent Smith also asserts that the Nandas were Jainas.26 The Jaina tradition, which is ancient in origin and referred to in subsequent ages down to the present as well known, states that Chandragupta Maurya was a Jaina and that he abdicated the throne, joined the Jaina migration led by Bhadrabāhu to the South, became the chief disciple of Bhadrabāhu and died in a Jaipa way (i. e. by Sallekhanā) at Śravanabelgola after leading a life of a Jaina ascetic for 12 years. This tradition is nowadays accepted as true by famous historians like Rice27 and Smith.23 Regarding the early faith of Asoka some scholars are of opinion that he professed Jainism before his conversion. The famous edicts of Asoka are said to reveal this fact.29 According to Ain-i-Akbari Asoka was responsible for introducing Jainism into Kashmir and this is confirmed by the Rājatarangini, the Brahmanical history of Kashmir.3) Other reasons are also given in support of this belief.31 Samprati, the grandson and successor of Asoka is regarded as a Jaina Aśoka for his eminent patronage and efforts in spreading Jaina religion.32 .
Like Magadha, Kalinga or Orissa had been a Jaina stronghold from the very beginning. It is asserted that Jainism made its way to the South through Kalinga only. Lord Mabāvira visited Kalinga and preached Jainism to the people, who already belonged to the Jaina Sangha as organised by Lord Pārsvanātha. · In the second century B. C. Kalinga was the centre of a powerful empire ruled over by Khāravela, who was one of the greatest royal patrons of the Jaina faith.33 Even after Jainism lost the royal patronage it continued for a long time as a dominant religion and this is testified by Hiuen Tsiang (629 A. D.) when he says that in Kalinga among the unbelievers the most numerous are the Nirgranthas. "'34
Jainism had its influence in Bengal also. Hiuen Tsiang states that in Pundravardhana and Samatata, i.e., io Western and Eastern Bengal the naked ascetics called Nirgrantbas are most numerous.35 Even now Jaina ielics like inscriptions. idols, etc. are found in different parts of Bengal. It has been pointed out that the indigenous people of Western Bengal known as Sarāks are the Hindu
