Sumati Jnana

Author(s): Shivkant Dwivedi, Navneet Jain
Publisher: Shantisagar Chhani Granthamala

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Jainas in Vidarbha carved out a small kingdom of his own subsequently. He made Chāhanda (modern Chahāndūr near Manikagarh in Chandrapur district) and enriched the region with majestic temples and sculptures. It is most likely that Jainism was reintroduced during this period under his patronage and the powers and the Paravārs of the area may be the representatives of the Paramāras of Malwā.
Further, during Bhonsla reign we find some good examples of Jaina heritage. Temples of Nāgpur, Kamthi, Bazargaon, Rāmtek etc. are worthy examples. All these temples were decorated with beautiful paintings depicting various themes like Samavasaraña, Nandi-dvīpa, Meru-parvata, Indra and other celestials, Svarga-naraka depictions etc. Unfortunately, now nothing is left practically.
The śāntinātha temple at Rāmtek is credited as an atiśaya Kshetra. A tall two and half meter high figure in kāyotsarga posture is installed in the main temple. Stylistically, it may be dated to c. 11th-12th century AD. But the temple group is of Bhonsla period. A legend connects this work with a Jaina official of the Marāthā king who asked to take food while on tour in this area. But without performing darśana and pūjā of Jina, the officer was not prepared to do so and he refused. After some days he dreamt that an icon of Tīrthañkara Sāntinātha was lying buried near their camp and he should dug it out. He got the icon and performed the pūjā. Later on, he built the temple. Record of the Bhonsla period reveals that there was one Jaina chief named Chimanā Sāhū, under the Bhonsla king of Nagpur and he was appointed the subedar of Kațāka (Orissa which once formed part of Bhonsla kingdom).
During this period, a number of people belonging to different castes might have embraced Jainism. This Chimanā Sāhū may be a member of Sāhū community who called themselves as Paradesh-Teli and have inhabited thickly in the Juni Shukravari area. This reminds us the find of a torso of upāsaka figure from this area and it is interesting that there are majestic Jaina temples, recently renovated heavily.
Richard Jenkins, the President of Nāgpur (1807-27 AD) is said to be the first historian and archaeologist of the region formerly forming part of the Nāgpur Rāja under the Bhonslas. He appointed one Vinayakrao Aurangabadkar to make tower in the territory and acquire information related to heritage like temples etc., agricultural system, water sources, people, their religions, social, economic condition etc. He himself accompanied Vinayakrao several times. The account thus prepared becomes the basis of the report on the territories of the Nāgpur Rāja prepared by Jenkins. This is a gazzetorial type of work. Besides this Vinayakrao prepared miscellaneous notes on social practices of the locals. One such work is on marriage customs of various tribes and castes. Unfortunately, this has remained incomplete.
However, in this small but important work Aurangabadkar has jotted down some worthy information about the Jainas. The chapter states that it was narrated by chief (Khuma being a synonym of Mukhya or mukhia) of the Jaina. Broadly, five groups having many more castes are enlisted Chetawāla, Gagarde, Golasgade and Padmavati families are mentioned. They contain 26, 12, 5 and 16 castes respectively. The fifth family is not named and the first four castes are not available and of the remaining ones is from 5 to 18. So 77