________________
JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
mentioned the ascetics of both the orders, Svētāmbara and Digambara. We may also note from the manner in which the former are described that the monks of the Svētāmbara doctrine not only had a decent following but that they were held in great esteem in the country. This position obtained in the 5th century A. D. at Vaijayanti or Banavāsi which was the capital of the early Kadamba kings and an important cultural centre in the southern part of Karnāțaka.
These facts lend welcome support to the two main observations made by us in respect of the advent of Jainism in South India in the First Chapter. They are: 1) More than one campaign of missionary conquest was organised by the champions of the Jaina Law. 2) The advocates of the Svētāın bara order played a prominent role in these campaigns. But unfortunately, we are not in a position to offer a clearer and well-defined picture of the activities of the two schools and have to indulge in surmises. Soon after the Svētāmbara and Digambara split in the Jaina church and in the wake of migration of Bhadrabāhu, the leaders of the Svētāmbara order also appear to have moved into the south holding strategical positions in Karnataka and Andhra Dēša. That the Svētāmbaras had penetrated far into the interior of South India is attested by the above-mentioned record of Mrigośavarmā and the Srisaila inscription which we have noted previously. The advocates of the Svētāmbara order who were in the forefront of the race of proselytization for a few centuries in the beginning, seem to have subsequently lagged bebind and almost vanished from the scene. The presence of the monks of the Svētāmbara order in Karnataka appears to have been the outcome of missionary activities sponsored by Samprati who is intimately associated in the traditions of south-western India,
Although the preceptors of the Svētāmbara School do not figure prominently in the history of the Jaina church of South India, the teachers of the Yāpanīya Sect which had much common both with Digambaras and Śvõtāmbaras played a distinguished rôle in propagating the Jaina Law in South India and influencing its monastic traditions. This influence was exercised from the land of Karnātaka; for the main sphere of the Yāpanlya activities was Karnātaka and excepting one or two stray instances of their existence in the Telugu country, the Yapanīyas are not met with in other parts of South India. By the time of as early an age as the 5th-6th century A. D., the Yāpaniyas had established themselves firmly in the northern and southern parts of Karnāțaka. This is disclosed by the epigraphs of the early Kadamba kings some of whom were staunch supporters of the Jaina faith. As stated in the copper plate charter of Mrigāśavarmā, issued in his eighth regnal year, the monks of the Yapaniya order were residing at Palasikā or modern
