Jainism and Karnataka Culture

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

Page 32

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JAINISM AND KARNATAKA CULTURE
Bhadrabahu (the last of the Jaina Śrutakevalins) to Mysore and died there by Sallekhana, may be accepted without any more ado. Though at first Smith was inclined to reject the Bhadrabahu-Candragupta tradition as "imaginary history,' "after much consideration," he admitted "the main facts as affirmed by tradition" to have "solid foundation in fact."4 "In short," he writes, "the Jaina tradition holds the field, and no alternative account exists." "
There are numerous mementos of Bhadrabahu and Candragupta at Sravana Belgola, even apart from references to their migration to the South contained in literary works such as the Brhat-Kathākāśa by Hariśeņa (931 A. D.), and others of a still later date. For instance, there are the hill of Candragiri, with its cave of Bhadrabahu, and the Candragupta-basti on the façade of which are carved ninety scenes from the lives of Bhadrabāhu and Candragupta. Among the numerous inscriptions commemorating these munis (such as SB. 40, 67, 258, and Sr. 147-148) one is of particular importance, viz. SB. 31 ( c. 650 A. D.) as it speaks of a Jaina guru, Šāntiśa, as having restored the Jaina faith, which had become weak, to its flourishing condition as it was under Bhadrabahu and Candragupta." This presumes a period of vigorous prosperity, followed by a period of lapse, and again a period of rise about the first half of the seventh century A. D.
6
But the history of this period cannot be construed in exact terms in the absence of lithic or other records of a reliable character. The existence of the Aśoka inscriptions at Molakálmuru in Mysore, belonging to the last years of Aśoka, makes it of course certain that the Maurya empire extended so far. In the Kalsi Rock Edict XIII Aśoka declares : There is no country where these (two) classes (viz.) Brāhmaṇas and Śramanas, do
"
•
4 Early History of India ( revised ed.), p. 154.
5 Ox. Hist. of India, p. 76. For a succinct statement of the arguments in support of this view read Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, pp. 3-9.
6 For details see Rice, loc. cit., pp. 9-14.