Jainism in India

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

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followers of Jainism. But gradually after Kharavela Buddhism became popular among the people. We know from the Datha Vamsa that Guhasiva (c. 400 A.D.) the king of Kalinga, was converted to Buddhism from Jainism and all the Nirgrantha Jainas, being driven out from Kalinga took shelter in the court of king Pandu of Pataliputra. This story indicates the rivalry between the two sects for supremacy. With the gradual popularity of Saivism and devotional Vaisnavism the influence of Jainism further declined; yet it never altogether died but was silently supported by a mass of humble people who kept burning the torch of Jaina culture. The ratna-trayi of Jainism with its high ideals of right faith (samyag darśana), right knowledge (samyag jñāna) and right conduct (samyag caritra) never failed to inspire people to attain their salvation.
In the 7th century A.D. Hiuen Tsang testified to the prevalence of Jainism in Kalinga: 'among the unbelievers the most numerous are the Nirgranthas'. The austere life of the Jainas in India attracted his attention and he mentions that 'the Nirgranthas and their followers go without clothing and so attract notice, making it a meritorious act to pull out their hair by violence, their skin dried up and their feet hard and in appearance like the decayed wood on the river bank'. The Banpur plate of the Sailodbhava king Dharmaraja (c. 6th-7th century A.D.) mentions that his queen Kalyana Devi gave a gift of land to a Jaina monk named Ekasata Prabuddha Candra for religious purposes. He was a disciple of Arhatacarya Nasi Candra and the phrase ekasata possibly indicates that he had taken a vow to wear only one cloth. This donation not only shows the religious toleration of the Sailodbhavas but. also indicates that the Jaina ācāryas were respected in the then society.
Inspite of dynastic changes Khandagiri and Udayagiri continued to command popularity as cultural centres of Jainism. An inscription of Udyota Kesari (11th century A.D.) in the Navamuni cave mentions Khalla Subhacandra as the disciple of Kulacandra, who belonged to the Grha kula of the Arya congregation and belonged to deši gaņa. Subhacandra and Kulacandra are mentioned as Jaina gurus in the inscriptions of the Kalyani Calukyas and that of the Yadavas of Devagiri although they were not the same Jaina teachers of the Navamuni cave. Another inscription of Udyota Kesari in the Lalatendu Kesari cave says that 'in the year five of the victorious reign of illustrious Udyota Kesari on the illustrious Kumara mountain decayed tanks and decayed temples were caused to shine and at that place the images of the twentyfour Tirthankaras were set up'. The eclectic religious outlook of the Somavasmi rulers find expressions by the carving of Jaina Tirthankaras in For Private & Personal Use Only