Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): Jyoti Prasad Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 43

HISTORY OF JAINISM AFTER MAHĀVĪRA
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great Kuşāņas, but Jainism does not seem to have suffered by the change.
Thus, by the end of third century A.D., Jainism as revived by Mahāvīra had taken firm roots throughout India. Starting from Magadha, its original home, it had spread to Kalinga in the south-east, Mathurā and Malwa in the west, and the Deccan and Tamil lands in the south. Although it had lost its hold over Magadha, it had grown powerful elsewhere. The royal patronage it had initially succeeded in winning over may have been one of the causes of its rapid growth and expansion in the past, but now on it ceased to enjoy such royal favour so far as northern India was concerned.
, It, however, continued to retain support of some of the middle classes. Moreover, the loss suffered in the north was made good by the favour shown to it by a number of ruling dynasties of the Deccan and south India, which for centuries came to be regarded as the chief strongholds of Jainism. In northern India, the Gupta emperors dominated the political scene from about the close of the first quarter of the 4th century to about the beginning of the second quarter of the 6th century. They were great patrons of art and learning and staunch adherents of the Brāhmaṇical Bhāgavata dharma, but were not intolerant towards Jainism. Inscriptions, antiquities and literary notices of the period testify to the prevalence of Jainism in Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab, that is throughout almost the whole of the Gupta empire, and there appears to have been a commendable concord between Jainism and other religions. If it did not rise into prominence it was probably due to its severe discipline and lack of royal support. In the upper Deccan, the Sātavāhanas and Saka Ksatrapas were predominant for several centuries after the fall of the Mauryas, and both were tolerant towards Jainism. From the 3rd century A.D. onwards, there was greater help coming from the various