Jainism in India

Author(s): Ganesh Lalwani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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JAINISM IN INDIA
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by the brāhmaṇas and śramanas and it was for their miseries that Asoka who certainly professed Jainism at a certain stage of his life expressed his profound sorrow. Asoka's grandson Sampriti was an eminent patron of Jainism and he did for Jainism what Asoka did for Buddhism. During his time Kalinga is casually mentioned in the Jaina work Jambudvīpa-pannatti, as one of the 254 kingdoms made suitable for the wandering of the Jaina preachers.
The golden age of Jainism prevailed in Kalinga under illustrious Kharavela of the Mahamegha Vahana dynasty. The Hathigumpha inscription first discovered by Stirling and later on edited by a number of scholars like James Prinsep, Cunningham, R. L. Mitra, Bhagwanlal Indraji, Barua, Jayaswal and R. D. Banerjee, etc., presents a systematic account of the career and achievements of Kharavela till his 13th regnal year. There is no unanimity among the scholars regarding the date of Kharavela and he has been variously placed in the fourth, third, second and first centuries B.C., on the conflicting interpretation of the word ‘tivasasata' and the alleged reading of the word 'muriya kāla' in inscription. But it would not be wide out of the mark to place him in the first century B.C. on the basis of palaeography, language and art.
The inscription makes it absolutely clear that Jainism was the personal religion of Kharavela and it made tremendous progress during his reign. The inscription begins with salutes to Arhatas and Siddhas. They are no other than the Arhat (or, Tirthankara) Parameșthin and Siddha Parameșthin, who along with Acārya Parameșthin, Upadhyāya Parameşthin and Sadhu Paramesthin constitute the venerable Pañca Parameșthin of Jainism. Although a Jaina Kharavela never hesitated to wage wars and in the 8th regnal year he did a signal service for Jainism by pursuing a retreating Yavana king in Mathura which was then popular centre of Northern India. In a triumphant procession he brought a sappling of Kalpa tree to Kalinga. The reclamation of Pithunda in the 11th regnal year by ploughs drawn by asses instead of by the bulls unmistakably points out his reverence for Risabhanatha who is associated with the bull. His 12th regnal year gave an added impetus to the cause of Jainism when he brought back from Magadha . the image of Kalinga Jina which had been taken away by a Nandaraja three hundred years before him. It is significant to note that a scene in the Mancapuri cave is taken to represent the worship of Kalinga Jina image by Kharavela and his queen. It appears that as a Jaina Kharavela observed the principles of Jainism in a less rigorous way befitting a householder where concessions are granted in the observance of the vows
of ahimsā, digvrata and deśavrata. Therefore the wars, the collection