How did Jainism spread in India?
- In order to spread the teachings of Jainism,
Mahavira organized an order of his followers which admitted both men and
women.
- It is said that his followers counted 14,000
which is not a large number. Since Jainism did not very clearly mark
itself out from the Brahmanical religion, it failed
to attract the masses.
- Despite this, Jainism gradually spread into
south and west India where the brahmanical religion was weak. According to
a late tradition, the spread of Jainism in Karnataka is attributed
to Chandragupta Maury a (322- 298 B.C.).
- The emperor became a Jaina, gave up his throne
and spent the last years of his life in Karnataka as a Jaina ascetic. But
this tradition is not corroborated by any other source. The second cause of the spread of Jainism in South
India is said to be the great famine that
took place in Magadha 200 years after the death of Mahavira.
- The famine lasted for twelve years, and in order to protect themselves
many a Jaina went to the south under the leadership of Bhadrabahu, but the rest of them stayed back in
Magadha under the leadership of Sthalabahu.
- The emigrant Jainas spread Jainism in south
India. At the end of the famine they came back to Magadha, where they
developed differences with the local Jainas. Those who came back from the
south claimed that even during the (amine they had strictly observed the
‘religious rules: on the other hand, they alleged, the Jaina ascetics
living in Magadha had violated those rules and had become lax.
- In order to sort out these differences and
to compile the main teachings of Jainism a council was convened in Pataliputra, modem Patna, but the southern Jainas
boycotted the council and refused to its decisions.
- From then onwards the Southerns began to
be called Digambaras, and the Magadhans
as Swetambaras. The tradition which
refers to drought as the callse belongs to a later period and is
considered doubtful. But it is beyond doubt that the Jainas were divided
into two sects. However, epigraphic evidence for the spread of Jainism in
Karnataka is not earlier than the third century A.D. In subsequent
centuries, especially after the fifth century, numerous Jaina monastic
establishments called Basadis sprang
up in Karnataka and were granted land by the king for their support
- Jainism spread to Kalinga in Orissa in the
fourth century B.C., and in the first century B.C. it enjoyed the
patronage of the – Kalinga – king Kharavela who had defeated the princes
of Andhra and Magadha. In the second and first centurie.s B.C. it also
seems to have reached the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
- In later centuries Jainism penetrated Malwa,
Gujarat and Rajasthan, and even now these areas have a good number of
Jainas who are mainly engaged in trade and commerce.
- Although Jainism did not win as much state
patronage as Buddhism did and did not spread very fast in early times, it
still retains its hold in the areas where it spread. On the other
hand, Buddhism practically disappeared from the Indian subcontinent.