Medieval Jainism

SR No.: 011082
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 27 MB

Page 286

CRITICAL TIMES
269 1604 by another local chieftain called Timmarāja. The exquisite Jaina temples and manasthambhas are to be found at Śravana Belgoļa, Mūdubidre and Kārkaļa.”
In another direction, too, the Jainas have added to the culture of the Hindus. The followers of the syād vāda doctrine were primarily the people who made it one of their cardinal principles to give the four gifts of food, protection, medicine, and learning to the needy (āhāra-abhaya-bhaişajya-śāstradāna). This must have been by far the most potent factor in the propagation of the Jina dharma. And it was to counteract the effect of these gifts that the Hindu religious leaders of the south opened their mațhas or monasteries, dharmaśālas or alm-houses, and pāțhaśālas or halls of learning.3
Another substantial contribution to the culture of the land by the Jainas is in regard to the cult of ahimsā. For the first time in the history of southern India, the Jainas showed how the highest moral principles could be made to serve the material ends of the State. Right conduct meant for them not only adherence to the principles of ahimsā and the other tenets of their faith, but also steadfastness in their duty to their king, who was the embodiment of their country's honour.
The history of the many Jaina generals and ministers, which we have outlined above, amply proves this statement. The respect for the life of living beings which the Jainas showed in their daily lives is said to have influenced the Hindus of the
1. See below. Rice (My. & Coorg, pp. 140-141) gives the name of the ruler as Pāņdya and the date A D. 1603. Both details arc incorrect.
2. For further details, see below Chapter XII.
3. Ramaswami, Studies, p. 78. Benoy Kumar Sarkar classiies these four gifts under the term “positivism of the Jainas.” Read Sarkar, Creative India froin Mohenjo Daro to the Age of RāmakȚşņa-Vivekānanda, pp. 41-44. (Lahore, 1937).