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Some scholars feel that emperor Asoka, before embracing Buddhism, was a devout Jaina. In his Pillar Edict VII, the emperor mentions Nirgranthas along with the Brāhmaṇic Ajivikas. They have been taken to denote the followers of the Jaina faith. His grandson, Samprati, was a great patron of Jainism and, according to Hemacandra, he had built many Jaina temples all over Jambūdvipa.
A torso of a naked male figure was found at Lohanipur, near Paina, and is now preserved in the Patna Museum.It has an excellent polish preserved throughout. According to some scholars this sculpture revcals the existence of Jina images in the Maurya period. Another similar statue from the same site, but without polish, suggests the existence of Jina worship during the Sunga period.
King Khāravcla of Kalinga (2nd-Ist century B.C.), who was a devout Jaina, styles himself as Bhikṣu-rāja, i.e., 'the monk king' in his Hāthigumphā inscription. The great king in the twelfth year of his reign, after defeating the king of Magadha, took back the Jina image which was originally carried away by a Nanda king from Kalinga. Later he excavated a number of caves in the Kumāri-parvata (Khaņdagiri hill) near Bhubaneshwar and built a monastery at Pābhāra, not far from these caves.
During the Kuşāņa period, Jainism was flourishing in northern India. Numcrous stone sculptures fashioned during this period are now preserved in the Mathura Museum. Besides these, some exquisitely carved Jaina bronze images uncarthed at Chausā in Bihar are displayed in the Patna Museum.
Jaina āyāgapatļas (tablets of homage) have been discovered at Mathurā and Kausāmbi. These are tastefully carved and
1. Thomas, E., The Early Faith of Asoka, Jour, of the Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain and Ireland, London, (N. S.), IX. pp. 155-234. 2. Banerjee, P., Early History of Jainism, Indo-Asian Culture, New Delhi.
XIX. p. 7. 3. Lee, S. E., Ancient Sculptures from India, Cleveland, 1964, fig. 14. 4. Epigraphia Indica XX, pp. 72 ff. 5. Agrawala, V. S., Catalogue of the Sculptures in the Mathura Museum,
Four. U. P. Historical Society, Lucknow, XXIII, pp. 36 ff. 6. Gupta, P. L... Patna Museum Catalogue of Antiquities, pp. 116-17 and plates.
