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The Predecessors of The 24th Jina
127 Tìthankaras i.e. an honourable place is given to them.
It is possible that the other autochronic people the Bhils who had also widely settled in ancient India practised the cults which were one of the component parts of Jainism. A viewpoint exists in ethnography that the Bhils at one time spoke one of the Munda languages. It is considered that Nishadas, always referred to in the Epic, Puranas and other works of ancient literature were Bhils. According to the genealogical lists contained in the Puranas a ruler by name Nishadha (who must be understood as ethnonym) originated from Vena whom the priests killed because he restricted their power.
Thus, if Bhils-Nishads-Sudyumnas can be recognised as Mundas then precisely the faiths of this central and eastern India mass of tribes of Mundas must have played a significant role in the formation of Jainism. Ethnography has not as yet established whether Dravidians also lived in Bihar in those ancient times. Many scholars assume that precisely Dravidians formed the chief mass of the settlements of the Indus valley in the most ancient period. Judging from the legends of the Jains themselves, their religion had sometimes spread beyond the borders of India, towards its West. It is interesting to note in this connection that the elements of Dravidian Languages are traced back to the ancient languages of eastern shores of Africa, in several Mediterranean languages and the language of the countries of Near East.
There is evidence that ancestors of the strongest contemporary Dravidian people-Andhras-lived in antiquity from the shores of Jamuna to eastern Bihar and that only from the sixth century B.C. they started to move forwards towards the south. If it is recognised that the Dravidians lived in North India, then undoubtedly their cults also must have served as sources of Jain-cult-notions and rites.
While describing the ethnical map of ancient India, it is worthwhile dwelling on the Naga people (who are called people of serpents) referred to in the Vedic and Epic literature. Judging from the assumption that these people lived also in the region of Mathura, and along the Ganges, this was probably a big group of tribes in whose cult serpents occupied a prominent place. It is also known that in the middle of first century B.C. Rajagriha or Rajgir (in modern Bihar there is a town with this name), the capital
