________________
Early History of Jainism and Migrations.... : 11
However, archaeological evidence does not support this route. While the archaeological evidence of Jainism in Tamil Nadu, in the form of inscriptions in Tamil-Brāhmi, goes back to around 3rd century BCE, the earliest evidence of Jainism in Karnataka, in the form of Kadamba inscriptions in early Kannada, goes back only to the 5th century CE." Therefore, if a group of Jains did indeed travel from North India via Karnataka, specifically Śravana Belgoļa, during the 3rd century BCE on their way to the far south, one would expect some kind of material evidence (archaeological or epigraphic) confirming their presence in Karnataka. So far, we have not discovered any such evidence. According to Sharma, in the Svetāmbara tradition, the Jaina migration to South India began from Ujjaiyini in Malwa.72 The route of their migration is suggested to be along the western coast, from Gujarat, through Maharastra to Karnataka and from there to Tamil Nadu. While this route is certainly possible, the problem of archaeological evidence to corroborate it is again missing. While the towns of Vidisha and Ujjain are frequently mentioned in the Jaina literary tradition, the earliest archaeological evidence for Jainism in Madhya Pradesh only goes back as far as the 4th century CE.7. The earliest evidence from Gujarat is a 2nd century CE inscription at Girnar in Junagadh district that mentions "Jaina monks claiming the attainment of perfect knowledge."74 There are also some Jain caves at Dhank in Kathiawad district, that contain sculptures dated to c. 2nd century CE. However, the high period of Jainism in Gujarat is between the 11th and 12th centuries CE, under the patronage of the Chalukya kings.75 The earliest evidence of Jains in the Maharashtra Deccan dates to 500 CE. Between 500 and 950 CE the Jains enjoyed the patronage of many Rāştrrakūta rulers and some of their feudatories.76 The famous Jain caves at Ellora date to the 9th and 10th centuries CE. Therefore, if this was indeed a route of Jain migration, it likely dates to a later period, sometime between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE.
Dundas suggests, "The two main directions of movement were along the important trade route to the west and down the eastern littoral to the Dravidian south and it must be assumed that this process involved both ascetics and lay supporters, the former following the logic of the ideal of wandering mendicancy and the latter in search of greater mercantile opportunity.” The idea of a migration route down the east coast to South India is particularly compelling. Returning to the Titthogāliya painnā, one of the earliest accounts of the migration (c. 5th century CE), it is worth noting that the monks escaped the famine by migrating "to other places especially coastal areas or places near to the rivers & [sic] sea."78 Although Champakalakshmi suggested that the migration avoided such areas of Buddhist concentration and followed trade routes along the interior, it is also possible that it is precisely because they traveled through areas that later became associated with Buddhism that we lack archaeological and epigraphic evidence.
As a working hypothesis, let us suggest that during the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE, the coastal areas and particularly the hillsides of the Eastern Ghats were home to some Jain communities. With the rise of Buddhism as a political and economic power under the patronage of Asoka and the Sātavāhanas in the 3rd century BCE, these settlements became Buddhist centers. In fact, archaeological evidence from Andhra Pradesh suggests a close association and appropriation of early Jaina centers by Buddhists during this intervening period.79
