Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

Author(s): Pranabananda Jash
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

Page 105

Jainism in Eastern India
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At the feet of each idol are smaller figures with chowris in their hands and looking up at the principal figure. Round about these ruins were other mounds covered with cut-stone and bricks. It is obvious there were here quite a number of Jain Temples indicating the existence of some settlement of that community nearby. In 1902 Bloch could see only a heap of debris with some stone pillars and two colossal statues of tirthankaras lying at the site."46 In his report Beglar has also recorded the findings of several images of the Jaina tirthaikaras, viz., Adinātha, Pārsvanātha, Mahavira and others in the village called Pakbira (Manbhum). The most interesti'g and noteworthy of them was a colossal naked figure about seven and half feet high, representing a Jaina tirthankara, Sreyāṁsanātha, with the lotus symbol on its pedestal.47 Stone images of the Jaina deities have also been found in the districts of Hazaribagh, Dhalbhum, etc., and still there are several old remains 'which probably mark a former settlement of the Srāvaka or lay Jainas.»48
Bengal
The distribution of the Jaina icons and monasteries and the availability of the Jaina inscriptions in situ will reveal a great deal of the spread and influence of this faith in different places of eastern India. Earlier we have mentioned that Mahāvira as a wandering mendicant destined to be the Kevala, experienced great hardship in Bengal. According to the Jaina canonical texts the monks had to lead a wandering life except during the monsoon (like the vassā of the Buddhist nionks), when they stayed in one place. Mahāvīra in his wandering resided one day in a village and five days in a town. But with the introduction of convents (Upāśraya),"' corresponding to the vilāras of the Buddhists, he extended his staying as long as a week in a village, in a town as long as a month. The Acūranga-sūtra while giving a graphic description of Mahavira's hardships in Bengal, refers to various topographical names whose identification is a subject of keen controversy. However, during his twelve years rigorous penances he visited different parts of eastern India including the pathless tracts of the Lādhas (Rādhas in West Bengal), through Vajjabhūmi and Subbabhūmi. An analytical study of these Jaina canonical texts discloses the fact that ihu sojourn of Mahāvíra in Bengal was mainly confined to lonely highlands far away from cities and from lands rich with corn.