Spread of Jainism in Ancient India

Author(s): Ram Bachan Singh
Publisher: Z_Jain_Vidyalay_Hirak_Jayanti_Granth_012029.pdf

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Ram Bachan Singh SPREAD OF JAINISM IN ANCIENT INDIA A GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS present work is an attempt to depict the historical and cultural geography of Jainism from the earliest time approximately covering the period from 800 B.C. to 1000 A.D. Jainism which is definitely older than Buddhism, originated some 800 years before the birth of Christ. It is extremly difficult to have a correct idea about the progress of jainism during the centuries preceding the Christian era in different parts of India. The available inscriptions give us some information regarding the places of Jainism in some parts of India, specially the Mathura region and Orissa. The early canonical texts give us some idea about the progress of Jain religion in different parts of North India. The rapid analysis of the names of the saknas of Theravali, a part of Kalpasutra give some idea about the spread of Jainism in different parts of India. Almost all the religions of the world have laid great emphasis on the sacredness of certain localities. The Jainas regarded certain places to be sacred and constructed temples in honour of Tirthankaras there. These places in Jain traditions are called 'Tirtha' or 'Tirtha Kshetra' i.e. the place which shows the ways as to how to cross the transmigrations of life, in other words, it reminds us how the great personages led a virtuous life at this spot (Jain, 1943). According to the Digambars, these holy places may be regarded into two categories viz. siddhakshetra, the places where the Jinas or other ascetics achieved liberation, and Atisyakshetra, the place which is sacred for other reasons. Such a type of division of the Tirthas, how ever is not known to the Swetambaras, the Vividha tirtha kalpa, a famous swetambara texts of 14th century A.D. does not refer to any such divisions, although it contains an extensive account of the Jain Tirthas located all over India. (singh, 1982). The Jains regard the following places as their Tirthakshetra : 1. The places where Tirthankars were born. 2. The places where Tirthankaras first renounced the world and initiated a religious life. 3. The places where Tirthankaras practised great austerities. 4. The places where Tirthankaras achieved omniscience. 5. The places where Tirthankaras attained liberation, (Some of the outstanding research papers of Mr. Singh have been published in Geographical Review of India, the journal of Geographical society of India, also one in 'EKISTICS' an interdisciplinary Journal of the U.S.A. and Athense Greece. He had been invited to attend International Geographical Congress session, Moscow, former U.S.S.R. His paper was published by the University of waterloo, Ontanio, Canada. An article similar to the present one was published in the Golden Jubilee volume (Geography of Early Jainism) of this Vidyalaya and the present one is also an important work of its kinds. It is hoped that it will enrich the literature of Indological studies in general and that of Jainological literature in particular-- Editor.) The field that historical geography is to cultivate is almost virgin. The field of Geographic-cumIndological investigation remains unearthed and unexplored to a greater extent, if not totally. The Historical Geography is a geographical study of any period in the past which studies and describes the geographic aspect of the historical process. The हीरक जयन्ती स्मारिका HAIR GUE / 79