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JAINISM IN BENGAL
Though vestiges of Jainism have become scarce in Bengal now and most of the families in Bengal professing Jainism are here for the last three hundred years only, there is evidence in ancient Jaina literature that the teachings of the Jinas were not altogether unknown in this part of India in the remote past. Āyārānga Sutta, one of the earliest sources of Jaina tradition holds that Mahavira travelled widely in the pathless countries of the Ladhas (Radha, West Bengal) through Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi, before he attained the kevala-knowledge. A tradition recorded in the Kathakoşa written in the 9th century A.D., states that the well-known Jaina saint Bhadrabahu was born in Devakot in northern Bengal, also known as Kotivarsa, identified with modern Bangarh in Dinajpur district. A sect among the Jainas in eastern India was known after Godasa, a disciple of Bhadrabahu as Godasagana according to the Kalpa Sutra. This sect was in course of time divided into four different sub-sects namely the Kotivarsiyas, the Pundravardhaniyas, the Tamraliptiyas, and the Kharvatiyas assuming their names from ancient place-names of Bengal. Of the two great religious reformers of India Gautama Buddha and Mahavira Vardhamana, whose teachings have moulded the lives of millions of people in the country, the former is not known to have come to Bengal, nor do we find any of his early disciples having anything to do with this part of the country. On the other hand parts of Bengal were sanctified by the sacred foot-falls of Mahavira and the traditions associated with Bhadrabahu and Godasa prove close association of Bengal with the preachings of Jainism from a very early age. Long ago, when Dr. Bhandarkar observed that “while Bihar and Kosala were taken by Buddha and his adherents, Bengal was selected by Mahavira and his followers for their proselytising activities”, he probably made a very correct statement regarding the relative progress of the two faiths to
the east. In fact, it has been suggested by some scholars that Bengal, which was not much favoured by the rest of northern India, from cultural point of view, had been Aryanised through the influences of Jainism. Whether or not Bengal was considered outside the pale of Aryandom as some scholars believe from the evidence of the Aitareya Aranyaka there is little doubt that Jainism had helped in bringing Bengal closer to the rest of the country.
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