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A NOTE ON THE RELATION OF PARASVANATHA AND MAHẬVÎRA WITH KALINGA*
-A.K. Rath
Jaina literature throws ample light on the relation of Parsvanatha and Mahâvîra with Kalinga (Orissa) which they had visited to preach their religion. Their visit to Kalinga reveals the remote antiquity of Jainism in Kalinga and traces its history to a period earlier than that of the rise of Buddhism. The preachings of Parsvanatha and Mahâvîra contributed immensely to the rise and spread of Jainism as a popular religion in Kalinga as early as the sixth century B.C. before it became the state religion under Kharavela and his successors. Kalinga was also regarded as a country suitable for the wanderings (on preaching tours) of the Jaina monks? because of its close contact with the last two Tirthankaras.
Parsvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, was the first to preach Jainism in its Chaturyama form in Kalinga. The Jaina Kshetra samasa represents Parsvanatha as preaching at Kopakataka where he became the guest of one of his devotees called Dhyana. He broke his fast on the second day of his meditation in the house of Dhyana. Kopakataka has been identified with Kopari in the Balasore district of Orissa' and it is no other than the village Komparaka of the Neulpur inscription" of Subhakaradeva I (690 A.D.), the Bhaumakara king of Orissa. At Kopari there is a nearby hill containing some caves which bear silent witness to the memory of the Jaina monks who lived here evidently as early as the days of Parsvanatha.
* Indian History Congress, 1951.
