Jainism

Author(s): N R Guseva
Publisher: Sindu Publications P L

Page 71

DEVELOPMENT OF JAINISM OUTSIDE BIHAR 57
Jains into Lingayats. In the course of several centuries the Jains and the Lingayats lived together peacefully but in the sixteenth century, during the rule of Raya dynasty in Vijaynagar, conflicts took place between them. Thus Krishnadeo Raya ordered severe punishment to the head of the Lingayat community, because he killed several priests of the Jain sect of Shvetambaras.15
One can see all-around in the south, the statues of Tirthankars, and Jain temples, testifying to the extensive spread of their religion here over long period of time. In various regions of south India, centres of Jainism were formed but the chief amongst them was the centre in Shravanbelgol in the State of Mysore (where, according to legend, Bhadrabahu who came here a short time before his death, died).
From the thirteenth century Jainism in south India started to decline. In this period anti-feudal movement, the religious ideological expression of which was the teaching of Bhakti (especially the Vishnuite bhakti) started growing. It embraced wide strata of the rural population and the urban handicraftsmen. This movement was so extensive that many representatives of other religious communities joined it. A great number of Jains turned to Vishnuism and the Jain community not only decreased numerically but also lost its influence.
Finally, the Hinduised rulers of south India States ceased to patronise the Jains.
During the period of Mohammedan conquests and especially after the fall of Vijaynagar empire (end of sixteenth century) the Jain community in the south practically lost all its positions.
In north India Mathura, Ujjain and Rajputana were the centres of Jainism (mainly of the Shvetambara sect) in the medieval period. Mathura, was since a long time, a trading city and during the rule of the Satavahan dynasty it turned into one of the main centres of trade with the western countries. Here Jain merchants concentrated, generously subsidising the erection of Jain monasteries and temples in the course of many centuries.
In the north and the north-west, as also in the south, conflicts sometimes flared up between Hindu and Jain communities.
15.
K. A. Nilakantha Shastri, op. cit., pp. 126-27.