Jainism and Karnataka Culture

Author(s): S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar

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I. HISTORICAL SURVEY
ANTIQUITY The purpose of this Survey is to determine the place of Jainism in the History of Karnāțaka with a view to ultimately assess its influence on Karnāțaka Culture. To achieve this object it is necessary to find evidence of the introduction and spread of Jainism in Karnāțaka, without overlooking the religious atmosphere of each successive epoch. The religious history of India is different from that of most other countries. Here, it is well to bear in mind that the 'conversion of a ruler to any creed does not necessarily imply the wholesale conversion of all or even most of his subjects. Nor does patronage of the followers, protagonists, or institutions of any faith indicate conversion in the technical sense. Hence it is very essential to distinguish between Patrons or sympathisers and Converts or actual followers. Most of the sectarian histories give an exaggerated picture of the importance and influence of their creeds on account of their failure to recognise this difference.
Another point on which modern scholarship and sentimental orthodoxy have disagreed is that of the antiquity of the introduction of Jainism into the South. Though the Jainas may assert that Mahāvīra himself had travelled through South India (presumably making converts), and that there were Jainas in the South already when Bhadrabāhu migrated to the South from Bihar, under circumstances presently to be discussed, conclusive evidence to bear out these beliefs is lacking. In the absence of such evidence we must be content to go only as far as the epigraphs allow us, and to farther.
The earliest of the Jaina lithic records yet available to us has been assigned by experts, on palæographic grounds, to the close of the sixth century A. D." This is the inscription (SB, 1 ) on