Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs

Author(s): P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Page 31

2. JAINISM IN ANDHRA DESA
7
bears chronological significance as a pointer to the very early period of the principal events of the narrative. The main interest of the story centres round the city of Pratipalapura which has been identified with modern Bhattiprolu in the Guntur District. Amaravati is also in the same region. Now a very large number of Buddhist antiquities such as the Stūpas, Chaityas, Viharas and inscriptions has been discovered at Bhattiprolu, Amarāvati, Nagarjunikonda, Jaggayyapeta and several other places in the districts of Krishna and Guntur, especially along the banks of the river Krishņā and its tributaries.1 This incontrovertible evidence of archaeology and epigraphy has proved that this region was a great stronghold of Buddhism which flourished here from the third century B. c. to the sixth century A. D. Among the Buddhist stūpas explored in this area, the one at Bhattiprolu has been considered to be very ancient and assigned to the third century The Buddhist remains at Amaravati also are sufficiently old and some of its sculptures evince archaic modes." The conclusion therefore seems to be irresistible that if Jainism ever thrived in this region, it should have been so prior to the predominence of Buddhism. Thus we might broadly ascribe the main events of our story to the fourth and the third century B. c.*
B. 0.
Buddhism which had already taken root in the fertile soil of the Andhra Desa before the accession of Asoka, rapidly grew from strength to strength under the mighty patronage of the emperor during his regime and afterwards. This must have dealt a severe blow to Jainism which was also trying to carve out a place for itself at the same period and in the same region. It is possible to read such a state of affairs even in the story under discussion. If the character of Samghasri is not confined to the sphere of particular individuals, he should represent the community of Buddhist
1
K. R. Subramanian: Buddhist Remains in Andhra, p. 12. 2 Ibid., p. 14.
3 Ibid., pp. 18-19.
4 Srisaila on the bank of the Krishna in the Kurnool District has been claimed as a Jaina resort in the story. This probably furnishes one more indication for this early chronological limit. The Mauryan king Chandragupta whose later affiliation with the Jain creed is well known has been connected with this place by a tradition which avers the existence of a town named Chandraguptapatnam in the vicinity across the river. (An. Rep. on S. I. Epigraphy, 1915, p. 91; Madras Archaeological Report, 1917-18, p. 22.) If Sriparvata of the Buddhist monk Nagarjuna, who lived by the first or second century A. D., could be identified with Srisaila, then it might be said that Buddhism stepped into this region later, after the decline of its rival creed. For different views on the identity of Sriparvata, see K. Gopalachari: Early History of the Andhra Country, p. 125, n. 8. 5 Buddhist Remains in Andhra, p. 3.