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Jaina Traditions and Archaeological Remains: Some Observations
135 times even though there have been significant changes in the material remains obtained across the ages. In the context of this paper, it is stressed that the Harappan civilization has also yielded definite evidence of the existence of earlier Tirthankaras or-the least said-of Jaina thought. However this could only be discernible if due recognition to the changes in the material remains obtained across time is acknowledged as a universal phenomenon applicable equally in studies related to Jainism also. There are numerous aspects traceable from the Harappan times but one should not be sectarian in agreeing to some thing as evidence and other things being not related to once own moorings as highly improbable. Things so much far removed in time could never be the same but the core idea largely remains the same. As S. P. Gupta (1980: p. 8), for instance, says, “The idea is not to seek generic relationship between example of Harappan, Chalcolithic, Pre-Mauryan periods and the Mauryan objects, but to show what had happened in the remote past. It is possible that through oral traditions their legacy, however feeble had continued till the Mauryan times". In fact, the Harappan cultures influence continued even after the Mauryan period perhaps largely through continuing oral traditions that frequently found expression in the material remains associated with Jainism and Buddhism besides of course the generally more easily accepted Saiva and Sakta material remains. Although scholars have time and again mooted about some aspects of Harappan material remains that are similar to Jainism these are contemptuously brushed aside. As Sudeep Jain (2001: p. 17, in Hindi) says albeit in a different context of Jaina history “Authors of Indian history have indulged in disregarding facts, denying truth or not mentioning it due to biases besides distorting historical evidences on the basis of figments of imagination". This general trend has to be reversed and Jainism, which draws significant continuity of traditions from as early as the Harappan times has to be given due merit. Besides there are material remains and tentative evidence offered by iinguistic studies that show Dravidian substratum of connectivity through out the length and breadth of the country from the Harappan times. Different scholars have drawn definite connections regarding aspects of material remains from the Harappan civilization to those found in south India and middle Ganga plain. In this paper, the possible connections related to Jainism from the Harappan times and the possibility of its very early spread, even to farthest corners of south India are briefly enumerated.
Prelude to Assertions
In the course of his narration on Harappan religion, Lal (1997: p. 225 and pls. Lc. & d) has mentioned of "certain objects having cylindrical and partly conical shape, to represent the phallus (linga)” (Fig. la & 1b). Nearly 2000 years after the decline of the Harappan civilization the earliest Siva Linga seen is again a phallic representation with the deity also shown in the anthropomorphic form in the front as seen in Gudimallam Siva linga (Fig. Ic). Later, Siva linga metamorphoses to a nearly cylindrical member most often without any anthropomorphic depictions carved on it. However, sometimes one or more heads are shown depicted on the vertical surface of the linga (Pl. 17.1). Thus, scholars trace the antiquity of
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