Jainism in Bihar

Author(s): P C Roy Choudhary
Publisher: P C Roy Choudhary Patna

Page 84

Bahasati-Mitra, the King of Magadha, bow at his feet. Kharavela had entered Northern India by a long march at the foot of the Himalayas and suddenly appeared before the capital of Magadha. The mighty river Ganga was no problem to him, as he had a fleet of elephants with him brought from Kalinga. Not only Pushya-Mitra was subjugated, but he had to give up a lot of his treasures. The Hathigumpha inscription mentions that a famous Jain of Kalinga, which apparently meant an image worshipped in Kalinga by the Jains, was taken back to Orissa by Kharavela and thus vindicated the earlier capture of the image by King Nanda I. Kharavela apparently remained satisfied by a symbolic victory and did not take the throne of Magadha. If he had there would have been a great Jain revival in Bihar. But there can be no doubt that Kharavela's exploits in Bihar helped Jainism to a great extent in surviving the onslaught. This may be one of the reasons why Jainism was not uprooted from the soil of Bihar, as was the fate of the sister religion of Buddhism for reasons which need not be discussed here.
889
68