Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

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

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Jainism in Eastern India
years to create. There is evidence of Jaina occupation from the 2nd century BC into the 11th century AD, perhaps with a gap of a few hundred years between the 2nd century AD and the 8th."96 In fact, there had been no significant development of Jainism in Orissa after second century AD till the time of the eighth-ninth centuries AD. There are several reasons behind the decline of this religion during this period. Two principal causes-viz., (i) revival of neoBrāhmaṇical religion and (ii) the collapse of commercial activities of the trading communities who were its chief patrons on the eastern coast, may be considered for a sharp decline of Jainism all alone the eastern coast soon after third century AD.
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Occasional references to the existence of Jainism in Orissa in the early centuries of the Christian era are not wanting, but these are too scanty to come to any definite conclusion. The discovery of a gold coin of Mahārāja-rājādhirāja Dharmadāmadharasya from the Siśupalagarh excavation leads A.S. Altekar97 to believe that he was probably a Jaina king of the Murunda family who dominated this region in the post-Kharavela period. According to Altekar the Murunda king Dharmadāma flourished in the third century AD and ruled over a part of Bihar and Orissa with his capital at Pataliputra. Even a king of Kalinga, as mentioned in the Dathavamsa, was converted to Buddhism from Jainism and all the Nirgranthas being driven out from Kalinga took shelter in the court of king Pandu of Pataliputia. The introduction of Buddhism in Orissa temporarily checked the growth of Jainism, but the faith was not totally rejected by the people as the narrative of HiuenTsang speaks of the Jainas in Kalinga-"Among the unbelievers the most numerous are the Nirgranthas".98 The Banpur plate of the Sailodbhava king Dharmarāja (c. sixth-seventh century AD) states that his queen Kalyāņa Devi granted a gift of land to a Jaina Muni named Prabuddhacandra for religious purposes. He was a disciple of Arhatācārya Nasicandra." However, the donation from a royal family not only shows the religious toleration of the Sailodbhavas but also demonstrates that the Jaina ācāryas were respected in the then society. Another Jaina inscription100 consisting of four lines in east Indian characters of the seventh century AD found from Ratnagiri hills in the Cuttack district. It refers to the installation of Jaina images and points to the existence of an early Jaina establishment on these hills. A large number of bronze images of different sects, viz., Buddhist, Jainas and Brāhmaṇical