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Sumati-Jñāna huge outcrops of rock rising many tens of meters above the hill ranges of Bhimbetka region. It has four beds carved with a slight tilt towards the foot (Pl. 17.2). An inscription dated to 3rd-2nd century BC with the legend 'singhakas lena' engraved on the inside of the shelter. Although nothing specifically Jaina can be inferred from the remains but on the basis of evidence from other sites in different parts of the country and especially in south India and on cogent reasoning the Jaina affiliation of the shelter cannot be denied. Jawaharlal (2001: p. 134) says that rock beds are imperative for observing Jaina vow of Sallekhana in a righteous way. He distinguishes the early Jaina caves from the Buddhist ones, particularly the early caves, on the basis of the presence of such rock cut beds alone. Although there are not many rock-cut beds north of the Deccan, Bhimbetka in District Raisen and Pabhosa in District Allahabad show the continuity from north to south. Like Bhimbetka, the rock shelter at Pabhosa is dated to 2nd century BC (Ray, 1989, p. 301). Even though the rock cut beds sites in north India are not as many as in South India yet these shows a continuous route of the Jaina monks from the nucleus zone. In fact, even those known from north India do not have anything to show that it was earlier than those of south India, which could have shown the slow dispersion across time from north to south. On the present available evidence it appears that the spread of Jainism was very fast even to extreme south India wherein it was not much dependent on its popularity in the north. In fact, one is tempted to suggest that the development of Jainism outside the initial area of spread, was almost simultaneous even up to Tamil Nadu. In this context the sparse remains obtained from Bhimbetka show that Madhya Pradesh could not have remained aloof to the spread of this religion Such possibilities do exist especially in the light of patronage of Jainism by Ashoka's grandson, Samprati, the viceroy of Ujjain. The excavations at Kumhar Tekri in Ujjain has yielded forty two skeletons (Garde, 1940, 14-17) which has been suggested to be of a 'distinct sect' that 'had their separate ground for disposing of the dead, away from the city. Besides other skeletons and cremated remains, skeletons buried in seated postures one of which was in the words of the excavator, 'seated in a meditating attitude almost like a Buddhist monk or a Jain Sadhu (Pl. 17.3) is worth observation. Could it be that such skeletons were of very devout Jainas who took the Sallekhana vow and departed from the world. There is every possibility that the site was being used until the 2nd century BC as understood by the coins of 3rd-2nd BC found in the enveloping layer over the buried remains. However, aside from these remains of Bhimbetka dated to 2nd century BC and the skeletal remains perhaps of Jain monks of Ujjain there is an enigmatic absence of remains readily understood as Jaina for a long time to come. In spite of these shortcomings the early Jaina remains found in mid Ganga plain, central India and south India show that there was a continuity of links across time and space, which the Jaina monks also used profitably to spread the message of Jainism. Conclusion
These albeit are, some known instances, which suggest that a more thorough search of Jaina archaeological remains has to be under taken. Like the Siva-Sakti antecedents, which were and are traced from the Harappan times, Jainism also definitely had roots from the Harappan
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