________________
Site: Location and Importance
281
here. The general position of the sect in the surrounding region at the time of the excavation of the cave has also been emphasised.
PALE
The 1st century BC cave at Pale is quite close to Karle-Bhaja-Bedsa-Shelarwadi group of Buddhist caves, which held strategic importance.
This is the earliest and solitary archaeological evidence of the existence of Jainism in this region. Though there are no other archaeological evidences, there are a number of literary traditions that suggest that the sect was introduced in the region at an early date. The most popular and well-known tradition is of Kalakacharya, the famous Jaina acharya, who met King Satavahana at Pratishthan or Paithan (Shah 1955-56: 283284) and shifted the date of Paryusana festival for his convenience (Jain, J. C. 1965: 363). He is identified with Simukha (Rao 1960: 114) or Hala (Sharma 1940: 7). This king is reputed to have built Jaina temples and chaityas (Rao 1960: 114). There are numerous references to Maharashtra and Konkan in early canonical texts of Jainas (Jain, J. C. 1961: 244, 245, 287, Jain, J. C. 1965: 68, 129, 130, 171, 176, 197, 211, 410, 488, 524). These references clearly suggest that the Jainas had first-hand knowledge of the region as well as the people of the region. Thus, Jainism definitely existed in Maharashtra at least in the 1st century BCE, but probably was not as popular as Buddhism.
DHARASHIVA
The town of Osmanabad, known as Dharashiva till 1904, is situated above the brow of the Balaghat, forming the watershed between the rivers Sina on the west and Terna on the east. In ancient period, the town formed part of what is known as the Asmaka region. It is mentioned as 'Assaka janapada', ruled by Gautamiputra Satkarni, in ancient literary works and also works of foreign travellers like Ptolemy, Pliny etc. along with other janapadas like Mulaka, Vidarbha, Konakana, Aparanta (Mahajan 1989: 73). Though none of the Vakataka inscriptions are found from this area (Mirashi 1963: Plate P), Sircar believes that this Asmaka region formed part of the Vakataka empire of Vatsagulma branch (Sircar 1971: 188-189). In the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami and Rashtrakutas, this region is not referred to, though some of the administrative divisions, neighbouring this region are mentioned. Thus, during the Chalukya period, Kalumayi visaya, forming parts of Paranda and Kalamba talukas of Osmanabad district and Challumki deśa, forming parts of Nilanga and Omarga talukas of the same district were important divisions (Mahajan 1989: 107-108). During the Rashtrakuta period, parts of Kej taluka of Bid district formed part of Dharur visaya (Mahajan 1989: 136). This region does not find mention during the later period.
None of the contemporary inscriptions or literary works refer to the caves or this region. However, the site is mentioned in some of the later inscriptions and two of the literary texts.
