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Of course, it gained a commanding influence there so as to attract the attention of the Greeks in as much as it induced them to build a shrine of the above named Jaina Shramanacharya at Athens.1 Hence rightly did Prof, M. S. Ramaswamy Aiyangar, remark that Buddhist & Jaina Shramanas went so far as Greece, Roumania and Norway to preach their respective religions.2
16. Indonesia, Java etc: Indian philosophy and reli. gion, architecture and literature, music and medicine were the important contributions of the Indians to the cultural history of Indonesia, Java, & other Islands of that group. The early Indian immigrants to these islands were headed by a personage namely Kaundinya, which name plays a very important role in the Jaina narrative legends.3 The Jaina accounts of the voyages of Jain merchants to Java dvipa, Malaya dvipa and many other such islands is 80 lively and accurate that scholars have traced in them the sense of historicity. In the early medieaval period when Indian Settlers migrated to Indonesian islands from South India, Jainism was in its ascension in the South5 and it is but natural that Jainism could had been taken over to the islands of Indonesia, Java, and Malaya. Dr. Sylvan Levi expressed his view in affirmative in this respect and recently Dr. Bjanraj Chattopadhyaya has produced a remarkable book on the subject from which Prof. J. P, Jain has deduced the following points, which require special study and research:
1. The first royal family of Indian origin of Kamboj was connected with the Nagas and we have early and extensive mention of these people in the Jain literature, 2. Kaundinya was the first ancestor of the Indian settlers in Kambodia, who visited India. Jain Rishi Ugra ditya refers to a Koundinya as one of those Arhata Vaidyas 1. Lord Mahavira and some other Teacher of His Time, P. 19 2. The "Hindu" of 25th July 1919
2. Jaina Siddhanta Bhaskara, XVII, P. 103.
4. Sec. The articles by Dr. V, 8. Agarwala and Dr. Motichand 5. Sec. Medieaval Jainism by Dr. R. A. Saletore
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Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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www.umaragyanbhandar.com
