Proceedings and papers of National Seminar on Jainology

Author(s): Yugalkishor Mishra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 49

20
Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 8
Chandragupta Maurya and Kharavela, but it did not receive direct royal patronage from the beginning of the Christian era down to the period under review. The royal patronage to a religion certainly helps its propogation to a great deal. In Bihar the Gupta rulers were generally followers of Vaishnavism, whereas the Pala rulers were Buddhist and Sasanka was a Saiva. We know of no king in Bihar during this period who subscribed to the faith of Jainism. Thus, Jainism lacked the great advantage of royal patronage. Majumdar rightly points our that 'with the dominance of Buddhism, Jainism lost its stronghold in Eastern India'3.
Mahavira had stressed much on asceticism and only through it, according to him, one could attain salvation. His great message to mankind was that 'Family and caste are nothing, Karma is everything, and the future happiness depends on it'. He further said that on practising asceticism, Karma could be burnt up, and then one could become a Tirthankara1. This stress on austerity and penances could not be easily followed and appreciated by the common people, especially when there existed a more liberal religion like Buddhism. Jainism stuck to its old principles and did not march with the time. This may be another powerful reason for the comparatively lesser prevalence of Jainism in the State of Bihar.
During this period, the centre of Jainism continued to move gradually west towards Gujrat, owing to the conversion and patronage of the Western Kings. Consequently the Great Council of Jainism was convened not in the historical land of its birth, Bihar, but in the western country at Valabhi. All these instances go to show that Jainism during this period had lost its importance and appeal in Bihar. The scanty records of Jainism found here during the Gupta period also confirm this conclusion.
The installation of Jain images during this period, under the patronage of the reigning kings prove that image worship was prevalent among the Jains. It was an ancient practice in Jainism. Epigraphic evidence also seems to prove that this practice of image worship was current among the Jains in Eastern India even in the pre-Mauryan times. There is a positive evidence in the Hathigumpha Inscription of the removal of a Jain image from Kalinga to Pataliputra by the Magadha king, Nanda, at the time of the invasion of Kalinga and its subsequent recovery by the Chedi King, Kharavela, who invaded Magadha in the 1st century B.C. From Jain philosophy we learn that there is no place for god in their religion. The objects of their worship are neither gods nor goddesses, but man,...the venerable (ARHAT), the conquerer (Jaina), the founder of the four orders (Tirthankara).
The Jain laity who had been drawn away from Hinduism by Mahavira, found themselves left without any object of worship. Therefore, gradually reverence for their masters and other teachers (historical and mythical)