History and Spread of Jainism

Jainism has 24 Tirthankaras. Only the last two are placed in recorded history. Their dates are the first thing exams try to blur.

1. How are Parshvanatha and Mahavira linked?

A Tirthankara is a “fordmaker”. Think of a ford, a shallow place where people cross a river. A Tirthankara is a teacher who shows others the way across the cycle of rebirth. Jainism counts 24 of them in this age.

Parshvanatha is the 23rd. Tradition places him about 250 years before Mahavira. Mahavira did not oppose Parshva’s teaching. Jains see him as completing and renewing it.

His early ascetic practice also followed Parshva’s tradition. Jain tradition even claims that the fourteen Purvas go back to Parshva. The Purvas are the oldest Jain texts.

Example: an exam may ask “who founded Jainism?” The safer answer is that Mahavira reorganised an older order. He did not start a brand-new faith.

2. When did Mahavira live, and how large was his community?

Jain tradition dates Mahavira from 599 to 527 BCE. He was born at Kundagrama, a village near Vaishali in Bihar. He died at Pavapuri, near Patna.

Modern scholars place him later. Reference works give about 540 to 468 BCE or about 549 to 477 BCE. The Digambara sect dates his death to 510 BCE.

So treat any single date as one school’s view, not a settled fact. When you quote 599 to 527 BCE, call it the “traditional” date.

Mahavira organised his followers in four groups. These were monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. Tradition counts about 14,000 monks and 36,000 nuns in his order. His former disciple Gosala later led the Ajivika sect. A sect is a separate religious group.

The Mauryan age gives us one clear inscription and one famous legend. The two should not be confused.

3. What does Ashoka's Pillar Edict VII say about the Jains?

Ashoka appointed officers called Dhamma Mahamatras. They looked after the welfare of different religious groups. Pillar Edict VII lists those groups.

The list includes the Sangha, the Brahmanas and the Ajivikas. It also names the Niganthas. The Niganthas were the “bondless” ascetics, people who gave up worldly ties. Scholars identify them with the Jains.

Note the spelling. The edict says “Nigantha”, not “Jain”. The word “Jain” came later for the same tradition. So an exam answer should say “Niganthas” when it quotes this edict.

Iravatham Mahadevan, a leading scholar of early inscriptions, adds one more point. Jain books credit the spread from Ujjain to the Deccan, the plateau of central India. They name the Mauryan king Samprati in this story. Treat Samprati’s role as Jain tradition.

4. What is the Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta legend, and how late are its sources?

The Digambara story runs like this. Bhadrabahu foresaw a 12-year famine in Magadha, around 300 BCE. He led about 12,000 monks south to Karnataka. Chandragupta Maurya is said to have given up his throne and followed him.

Both are said to have ended their lives at Shravanabelagola. They did so by sallekhana, the Jain practice of calmly fasting until death. Chandragiri hill there is named after Chandragupta.

The legend is much younger than the events. It is first hinted at in records of about the 6th to 7th century CE. A Shravanabelagola record of that age names Bhadrabahu and Prabhachandra.

The full story is told only in the 10th century, in the Brihatkathakosa of 931 CE. That is about 1,200 years after the famine it describes. Mahadevan also says the legend survives only in late sources. That is why historians hesitate to call it history.

5. Is the "Chandragupta" in the legend really the Maurya emperor?

Not every scholar agrees. The Karnataka scholars Lewis Rice and R. Narasimhacharya say yes. Vincent Smith accepted the traditional account.

J. F. Fleet disagreed. He argued there were two Bhadrabahus. The first died in 380 BCE. The second died in 30 BCE and was not a Srutakevalin, a monk who knew all the scriptures by heart. Fleet linked the story to the second one and to a disciple named Guptigupta.

Govinda Pai suggested another Chandragupta. He proposed Samprati Chandragupta, Ashoka’s grandson. If Fleet is right, Jainism’s entry into Karnataka would come at least 350 years later than the legend says.

Exam use: say “according to Jain tradition”. Never write “Chandragupta Maurya became a Jain monk” as a plain fact.

6. What do the Tamil-Brahmi cave inscriptions actually prove?

Tamil-Brahmi is the oldest script used for writing Tamil. It was carved on cave walls in the Pandya country around Madurai. Iravatham Mahadevan, an epigraphist (an expert who reads old inscriptions), found that these records are Jain.

His reading shows no sign of Buddhist use of these caves. Old Kannada words in the early records suggest that Jainism came via Karnataka. He dates its arrival in the Pandya country to “not later than the 3rd century BCE”.

At Mangulam, a record of about the 2nd century BCE shows the Pandya dynasty and local merchants backing the faith. In 2012 a new 13-letter Tamil-Brahmi inscription was reported at Samanamalai near Madurai. It was dated to the 2nd century BCE.

Mahadevan sees this as indirect support for the legend, not proof of it. The records prove Jain presence. They do not prove a famine march. Think of a shop receipt: it proves a visit, not why the person came.

These items show the faith as a royal religion, an art tradition and a fixed canon.

7. Who was Kharavela, and what does the Hathigumpha inscription say?

Kharavela ruled Kalinga, today’s Odisha. He belonged to the Mahameghavahana dynasty. A Jain history calls his reign a golden age of Jainism in Kalinga.

The Hathigumpha inscription is on Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar. It is carved on a cave ceiling in Brahmi script, the ancestor of most Indian scripts, in the Prakrit language. It records his career up to his 13th regnal year, meaning the 13th year of his rule.

It opens with homage to the Arhats and Siddhas. Both are revered souls in Jainism. Arhats are teachers who have won full knowledge, and Siddhas are freed souls.

In his 12th year he is said to have brought back the “Kalinga Jina” image from Magadha. A Nandaraja had taken it away about three hundred years earlier.

His date is disputed. Proposed dates range from the 4th to the 1st century BCE. Historians usually settle on the 1st century BCE.

Example: the Kalinga Jina story is a common exam link between Kharavela, the Nandas and early Jain image worship. The Nandas ruled Magadha before the Mauryas.

8. How did the Digambara and Svetambara split come about?

Jainism has two main sects. Digambara means “sky-clad”, because its monks traditionally reject all clothing. Svetambara means “white-clad”, because its monks wear white robes. The old story says that monks who stayed in Magadha under Sthulabhadra relaxed the rule of nudity. They allowed white cloth.

When Bhadrabahu’s monks returned, they rejected both the cloth and the edited texts. In the telling of the tradition, the two sects came out of that quarrel.

Scholars see a slower process, not one quarrel. Hermann Jacobi thought the groups noticed their differences only near the end of the 1st century CE. A. L. Basham said the schism, or break, was not final until the 1st century CE.

A 5th-century Svetambara text says the Digambara sect arose 609 years after Mahavira’s death. That falls in the 1st century CE.

So the split took shape from the 1st century CE. Sectarian lines then hardened over the centuries after. Valabhi, in the next item, is about the scriptures. It was not the cause of the split.

9. What did the three Jain councils do, and when was Valabhi?

A Jain council was a gathering of monks to save the scriptures, called the Agamas. The Agamas were first passed on by memory, so monks feared losing them. Tradition lists three councils.

The first was at Pataliputra, after the famine. Sthulabhadra led the editing of the texts. The second met at Mathura under Arya Skandila. There the scriptures were only recited, not written.

The third met at Valabhi in Gujarat under Devardhigani Kshamashramana. Its special feature was that the scriptures were finally written down. It also tried to reconcile the Mathura and earlier versions. The twelfth Anga, a main section of the canon called the Drishtivada, was declared lost.

The Jain texts date it 980 or 993 years after Mahavira’s nirvana. Counting from 527 BCE, that gives 453 or 466 CE. This matches the live article.

Digambaras do not use these Agamas. That is why Valabhi is a Svetambara landmark. Remember it as the council of the Svetambara canon.

10. What does Mathura art show about early Jainism?

Mathura was the southern capital of the Kushanas, a dynasty that ruled north India. Its Jain site is Kankali Tila, a mound also called the Jaini mound. Alexander Cunningham dug there in 1871. Alois Anton Fuhrer dug there from 1888 to 1891.

Fuhrer’s work found a Jain stupa, a dome-shaped mound for worship. This was the only site that showed Jains also built stupas. Cunningham found ayagapattas, which are carved tablets of homage. Most finds date to the Kushana age.

Fuhrer also found ruins of two Jain temples. One was Svetambara and one was Digambara.

Many Tirthankara images at Mathura show them without clothes. This does not mark them as Digambara. Early on, both sects largely agreed that nakedness was the ideal, and their differences were small. So nakedness alone cannot name the sect.

Kings and ministers built temples, wrote texts and gave land. Their patronage explains where Jain monuments stand today.

11. What did the Western Gangas do for Jainism?

The Western Gangas ruled from Talakad in Karnataka, roughly from 350 to 1004 CE. A patron is a ruler who gives money and land to a faith.

The Gangas were strong patrons of Jainism at Shravanabelagola. A Jain Heritage Centres article names Shivamara II (788 to 812 CE) and Rachamalla IV (964 to 999 CE) among them.

Their minister Chavundaraya was the greatest builder. He raised the Gommateshwara statue on Indragiri hill in 981-82 CE. It honours Bahubali, a son of the first Tirthankara.

King Marasimha II ended his life by sallekhana at Bankapura. A pillar for him was raised at Indragiri in 974 CE.

Then the Cholas, a Tamil dynasty, defeated the Gangas in the early eleventh century. That ended the Gangas’ long run as royal patrons in the south.

12. Which other Karnataka dynasties backed Jainism?

The Rashtrakutas ran alongside the Gangas as Jain patrons. Their king Amoghavarsha I is called a great Jain devotee. The Shravanabelagola inscriptions link his titles to the Jain works Dhavala and Jaya Dhavala.

The Jain Heritage page lists him beside Ganga kings like Shivamara II and Rachamalla IV. So the two dynasties overlapped. The Rashtrakutas did not simply come after the Gangas.

The Chalukyas of Badami also left a Jain mark. At Aihole, the Meguti Jain temple holds the Aihole inscription of 634 CE. The Jain poet Ravikirti wrote it to praise the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II.

The temple is plain, in Dravida style, the southern temple style. It has a Jina image in the sanctum, the inner shrine.

13. How did the Hoysalas treat Jainism?

A scholarly text on Hoysala history says the early Hoysalas were Jains. King Vishnuvardhana was first a keen Jain. He later turned to Vaishnavism, the worship of Vishnu, under Ramanuja, the Srirangam teacher.

The change was not a clean break. His queen Shantala remained a Jain and kept giving grants. His minister Gangaraja, famous for serving Jainism, kept the king’s favour.

The same text doubts the tale that Vishnuvardhana persecuted Jains on Ramanuja’s advice. Nearly 80 Hoysala inscriptions survive at Shravanabelagola. Hulla, a Hoysala minister, built the Bhandara Basadi, a Jain temple, there in 1159 CE.

Vishnuvardhana won Gangavadi from the Cholas in 1116. His coins bore the line “victor at Talakad”.

14. How did Gujarat become a Jain stronghold under the Solankis?

Hemachandra was a Svetambara monk and scholar from Dhandhuka in Gujarat. He was ordained in 1110. He advised the Solanki king Siddharaja and then Kumarapala.

He wrote Sanskrit and Prakrit grammars and works on logic and philosophy. His epic Trishashtishalakapurusha-charita retells the lives of 63 great Jain figures. He also taught non-violence at court.

Some sites say Kumarapala made Jainism Gujarat’s official religion. Treat that as tradition only, because no source here proves it.

Solanki ministers also built temples. The first Dilwara temple at Mount Abu dates to 1031 CE. The brothers Vastupal and Tejpal built a second one in 1231. These marble temples show how rich patrons turned faith into art.

Decline had several causes. The causes are debated, and the sources are often partisan.

15. Why did Jainism decline in the Tamil country and Karnataka?

The Kalabhras ruled Tamil lands from about the 3rd century CE. They likely backed the shramana faiths, meaning the Jain and Buddhist traditions of wandering ascetics. Digambara Jainism gained most. Jain scholars set up an academy at Madurai.

From the 7th century, the Shaiva Nayanmars and Vaishnava Alvars led a Bhakti revival. Bhakti means loving devotion to a personal god, shown in hymns and temple worship. Shaiva saints followed Shiva, and Vaishnava saints followed Vishnu. Temple-building by the Pallavas and early Pandyas added to this.

One text says Jainism lost ground to these Shaiva and Vaishnava Bhakti movements. It also recovered some royal and public support soon after.

Appar, a Shaiva saint, is said to have won back the Pallava king Mahendravarman I for Shiva. Sambandar’s hymns attack Jain monks. One source notes that no historical evidence backs his claim of Jain attacks on Shaivas.

In Karnataka, the rise of Virashaivism, the Lingayat faith, is linked to a decline of the Jain faith. The 12th-century Abalur inscription is the key record for its early leader.

The Chola defeat of the Gangas hurt royal patronage in Karnataka only. As the south weakened, western India, especially Gujarat and Rajasthan, grew into the main Jain centre.

16. Which exam traps does this topic hold?

Most questions here test the line between legend and evidence. These are the usual traps.

• Migration trap: Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions prove Jains in the south by the 3rd century BCE. They do not prove the Bhadrabahu famine march.
• Chandragupta trap: the Maurya identification is a Jain tradition. Fleet and Govinda Pai offered other candidates.
• Edict trap: Pillar Edict VII names Niganthas, not “Jains”.
• Kharavela trap: the Hathigumpha inscription opens with homage to Arhats and Siddhas. Its date is disputed.
• Valabhi trap: it fixed and wrote down the Svetambara canon. It did not cause the split.
• Mathura trap: unclothed Tirthankara images do not prove Digambara ownership.
• Hoysala trap: Vishnuvardhana turned to Vaishnavism, but his queen and minister stayed Jain.
• Hemachandra trap: he was Svetambara and a Solanki-era figure, not Rashtrakuta.