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There were one hundred fifty-nine thousand (159000) Śrävakas and three hundred eighteen thousand ( 318000) Srāvikás who were greatly devoted to him
After the Nirvana of Śramaņa Bhagavāna Mahāvira in B. C. 527, the influence of Jaina Dharma on the masses went on increasing. The places of Birth, Diksa, Kévala Jnāna, Nirvana and Vihāra-bhūmi of the twenty-three Tirthankaras out of the Twenty-four Tirthankaras of the present Avasarpigi Kāla, were confined to Bengal, Bihār and Kashi and we find that the Jaina population was chiefly limited to these provinces.
quotation
To make my point clear, the under-mentioned is given.
“Whatever may be the antiquity of Jainism in North India, no one can deny that there is enough conclusive evidence to the effect that at least from the days of Pârsva or from 800 B. C. down to the conversion of the great Vikrama by Siddhasena Divákara in the beginning of the Christian era, and to some extent even throughout the Kushana and the Gupta periods, Jainism was the most powerful religion in the North. During this glorious period of more than a thousand years, there was not a single dynasty in the north, whether great or small, that did not come under its influence at one time or another."
The Jains of those times of were wealthy, prosperous, and numerous. The Jaina population during the time of the Great Asoka, Mahā Mégha Vāhana, Mahārājā Kharwel, and Samrāt Samprati amounted to twenty crore. Before the advent of Sri. mad Sankaricârya, all the four classes of people viz. 1. Brahmin. 2. Ksatriyas 3. Vaisya and 4. Sudras were observing Jaina Religion. The cult of Risabha associated with Lord Rişabha and based upon Ahimsa Dharma must have been prevalent in India.
*Jainism in North India (800 B. C-AD. 526) by Chimanlal J. Shah M. A. Longmans, Bombay 1932.
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