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242: JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD
long ago, they surely existed. Jain sovereigns are often mentioned in Mahāvīra's histories with their kingdoms, inhabitants, castes, etc. Among these inhabitants there were surely traders who joined caravans travelling outside India but we have no specific mention of them. They were like other Indians, without particular signs, and, as laid out in their sacred texts, they not proselytised.
On the other hand, we know that India was the object of numerous invasions of intruders, like Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, Scythians, Khushans, Hunas, Arabs, Afghans, Turks said Moguls, etc. Some of them were interested in Indian religions like Alexander the Great in 326 BC, Emperor Aśoka (273-232 BC), Mogul Emperor Akbar (1556-1605). Some others had only as aim to impose their own faith be they invaders or Indians. After a period of great impact, Jains saw their number and influence decreasing. Vedists, seeing they were also on the decline, implemented various changes with Vaiśṇavism and Saivism. They converted very numerous people to their faith. Buddhists after a great influence from the VIth century to the XIIth century AD decided to leave India. They created communities in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, China, Japan, etc.
Jains remained in India; they tried to avoid prosecutions, in doing changes in some of their obedience borrowed from Hindu or Islamic practices, in cancelling their manuscripts, not saying they were Jains, and so on. They retreated to their communities, abandoned their temples, let their statues be destroyed or buried, leaving their legacy to be rediscovered centuries later. Nevertheless, even if some of their ascetics were killed and their monasteries burnt, they survived. Some Jain laymen and women converted to other cults, others practised their rites at home or adopted various divergent practices and Hindu deities without abjuring their own faith.
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