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CHAPTER VII.
THE JAINS IN THE DECCAN. We have seen how the Jains migrated south Formation
of Sangas. from northern India and how Bhadrabāhu sent away all the 12,000 Jains under the leadership of Visākhamuni to the Chola and the Pandya countries. The Jains entered the Carnatic and colonised the country on the borders of the Western Ghats, as well as the southern portion of the Mysore State. By this time, the zeal for proselytism grew and the whole Jain Sangam wandered over the various parts of the south of India and established themselves in North and South Arcot districts and in Madura. Among these religious enthusiasts were great scholars who had enriched the literature of the country. Some of the most learned among them grouped together and formed various Sangas. Each Sangam was sub-divided into many Ganas, each of which was again divided into many Gachchhas. We further learn from the inscriptions that, of all these Sangams, the Dramila Sanga was the most prominent, the Napdigana within it being particularly noteworthy.
The whole of South India was strewn Jains very with
influential in small groups of learned Jain ascetics the pasta who were slowly but surely spreading their morals through the medium of their sacred
.' Epigraphia Carnatica, Shimoga, Vol. II, No. 35.
