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51. The Jaina Trail 10 Dec 17b.pdf (577.16 kB)

The Jaina Trail

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journal contribution
posted on 2017-12-10, 08:47 authored by TENSING CARLOS RODRIGUESTENSING CARLOS RODRIGUES

The term jaina is usually used to indicate a religion; let us shed its religious connotation for a while, and understand it as simply a people, a community. This community is today mostly found in three distinct areas in India : 1. Gujarat and Rajasthan, 2. Madhya Pradesh, and 3. Maharashtra and Karnataka; Tamil Nadu and Orissa have fewer jaina, though both have a very ancient jaina tradition. The jaina in Gujarat and Rajasthan are predominantly Śwetambara while those to the south of the Vindhya are predominantly Digambara. Most probably the community split when Bhadrabahu Muni, the last of the śrta-kevali, migrated to the south along with about 1,200 monks and nuns around 3rd century BCE, leaving behind the rest under Sthulabhadra muni. It is reasonable to believe that jaina did exist in the south even before this mass migration; there is archeological evidence of jaina presence in Tamilnadu dated prior to this. But with this separation, the jaina to the north of the Vindhya and those to the south of it, seem to have evolved along different trajectories, as hinted in Rājāvali Kathē by Devachandra. (Rice, 1889 : Inscriptions At Sravana Belgola, 4) The jaina community in the south, more particularly between the Vindhya and the Tāmiḷākam, seems to have evolved into a distinct entity. The question is whether it was an already existing distinct entity; more specifically, we want to explore whether this entity predates the jaina religion.

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