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16: Sramana, Vol 64, No. III, July-Sept. 2013
between the 8th and 9th centuries there is a considerable rise in the creation of new Jain monastic centers with rock-cut temples, images of the tīrthankaras and other deities. According to Champakalakshmi, their pattern of distribution is along routes connecting northern and southern Tamil Nadu, from North Arcot district in the north-east to Kanyakumari district in the south-west. 116 Such routes no doubt were part of a larger sacred landscape of Jain tirthas and pilgrimage sites.
VI. Preliminary Conclusions The archaeological and epigraphic evidence suggest that there indeed could have been a migration route that traveled south from Orissa, through Andhra Pradesh and into Tamil Nadu along the Eastern Ghats. The earliest evidence from Orissa dates to c. 2nd century BCE, that from Andhra to c. 3rd century BCE and from Tamil Nadu to c. 2nd to 3rd centuries BCE. While the initial migration to South India is often dated to c. 45 century BCE, the epigraphic evidence presented here suggests a date of c. 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE.
While the evidence is quite uneven, it seems that there is stronger evidence for the presence of Jains in Andhra Pradesh in the early centuries BCE than for Jains in Karnataka. Desai's explanation for the gap in evidence for Jainism in Andhra Pradesh seems quite plausible. If Jain centers were overshadowed and/or appropriated by the Buddhists in the later centuries, it may be helpful to examine in more detail remains from Buddhist sites to see if there are any iconographic or figural representations that would suggest the presence of Jains.
Overall, the task of historical reconstruction is arduous and daunting. However, thanks to the tremendous efforts of previous scholars, we have a strong foundation on which to build.
Referances:
Walter Schubring, The Doctrine of the Jainas; Described after the Old Sources (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1962), p.18. Natubhai Shah, Jainism: The World of Conquerors, Volume 1 (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 1998), p.13. Lawrence A. Babb, Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture, Comparative Studies in Religion and Society. 8 (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1996), p.42. Shugan Chand Jain and P.S. Surana, eds., Jain Legend: Jain Dharma Kā Maulika Itihäsa of ācāryaśrī Hasti Mala Ji, 4 vols., vol. 1: Era of ford-maker, Relating to Tirthankaras (Jaipur: Samyak Jnana Pracharak Mandal, 2011), p.31. Shah, Jainism, p.13. Babb, Absent Lord, p.42. Jain and Surana, eds., Jain Legend: Jain Dharma Kā Maulika Itihāsa of Ācārya śri Hasti Mala Ji, p.23." V. K. Sharma, History of Jainism: With Special Reference to Mathura, Reconstructing Indian History & Culture; No. 23 (New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2002), p.25. Shugan Chand Jain, “Historical Background of Jainism," in Study Notes V.5.0: Selected Papers on Jainism (Delhi: International School for Jain Studies, 2012). However, the Jain literature describes Zcabha as having lived “more than one hundred billion oceans of yearsago“(Buhler 1903, On the Indian sect of the Jainas, 7, cited in Sharma, History of Jainism, 47-8).
