Jainism in Rajasthan

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fy. JAINA ART
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Caste. The inscriptions of the people of this caste can be traced from the 12th century A.D
The people of these different Castes and Gotras are found all over Rajasthan. Usually, the Sagotra marriage does not take place in them. These people are money-lenders, business men, Government officers and agriculturists. They occupy a very respectable position in the society.
CHAPTER IV
JAINA ART Jaina art in its various aspects viz architecture, sculpture and painting developed to a great extent in early times. During the Muslim period, there was an influx of the Srāvakas from the neighbouring provinces, because they considered the Rājput princes as the saviours of their faith and protectors of their religion. As a result of peace and prosperity enjoyed under the Rājput rule, they erected artistic monuments by the inspiration of their religious teachers. Though most of them have been destroyed by the levelling
hand of the time and the iconoclastic zeal of the Muslim fanatic rulers; those E surviving give us a glimpse of the evolution of art in different periods.
1. JAINA ARCHITECTURE --- The existence of Jaina temples of very early times is known only
from late traditions, though they cannot be entirely relied upon An inscription af 1369 A.D at Mūngathalā near Sirohi says that Śrī Keśī Gañadhara installed a Jaina image in the Jaina temple at Arbudagiri, during the thirtyseventh year of the life time of Mahāvīra. This statement cannot stand an examination, because, at this time, Jainism could not be so popular in this distant region as to induce a devotee to instal an image. The poet Şúndaragani of the early seventeenth century A.D says that Chandragupta Maurya constructed a temple of Pārsvanātha at Ghanghāni in Marwaxa Actually, at present, no portion of the temple can be attributed to the Mauryan time, but from the style, it seems to have been built in the eleventh century k.D.
1 APJLS , No 248. 2 Bhagavān Pārsvanātha Ki Paramparā Kā Itthāsa, p. 273