Jaina Culture

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi

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JAINA CULTURE
Jaina caves in sandstone hills known as Khaņdagiri, Udayagiri and Nilagiri in Orissa The HathIgumphā or Elephant Cave, as it is now known, was an extensive natural cave. It was improved by King Khāravela. It has a badly damaged inscription of this king. The inscription begins with a Jaina way of veneration. Kalakacarya and Gardabhilla :
In the first century B. C. when Gardabhilla was the king of Ujjain, there lived a famous Jaina preceptor known as Kalakäcārya. King Gardabhilla carried off Sarasvati, a Jaina nun, who was the sister of Kalakācārya. After repeated requests and threats when Kalakācārya found that the king was not prepared to set the nun free, he travelled west of the Indus and persuaded the Sakas to attack Ujjain and overthrow Gardabhilla. The Sakas attacked Ujjain and established themselves in the city. Vikramaditya, the successor to Gardabhilla, however, expelled the invaders and re-established the native dynasty. He is said to have been won for Jainism by some Jaina preceptor. Jaina Stapa at Mathura :
An inscription of the second century A. D. has been found in the ruins of a Jaina stūpa excavated in the mound called Kankalí ļıla at Mathurā. The inscription says that the stapa was built by gods. The truth underlying this type of belief is that at that time the stūpa was regarded as of immemorial antiquity. The sculptures and inscriptions found at Mathurā are of great importance for the history of Jainism. They corroborate many of the points current in the Jaina traditions. For instance, the series of twenty-four tirthankaras with their respective emblems was firmly believed in, women also had an influential place in the Church, the Order of nuns was also in existence, the division between Śvetambaras and Digambaras had come into being, the scriptures were being recited with verbal exactitude, and the like,