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Jainism in Karnataka

Religion of Jainism in the Indian state of Karnataka

  • 6 min read
  • 7 chapters

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History

Historical association of Jainism with Karnataka dates back to the 3rd century BC. Acharya Bhadrabahu predicted a twelve-year-long famine in north India and led the migration of Jain sangha to the south. He was accompanied by his disciple Chandragupta Maurya and the Sangha halted at Chandragiri Hill. Realising that he was nearing the end of his life, Bhadrabahu instructed his disciples to spread the religion and he undertook sallekhana at Chandragiri. However, this account has little authenticity due to the contradiction it offers to Darshansaar, an earlier Digambara text. Two major texts – 10th century CE text Darshansaar by Devasena, a Digambara ascetic, and 14th century CE text Bhadrabahu-charitra by Ratnanandi, also a Digambara ascetic, have completely different accounts of how the Śvētāmbara sect was created. While the previous story mentions that the Śvētāmbara sect was created in 298 BCE by Sthulabhadra, the former text mentions that it was created in Vallabhi 136 years after Vikramaditya's death and by a monk named Jinacandra. Not only the time periods, but also the location of the sect's creation and installation, as well as the name of the originator differs in both these records.

Chandragupta Maurya apparently continued to live on this hill worshipping the foot prints of his teacher and later he too took Sallekhana. There are two monuments on the hill recalling this event, a rock cut cave called Bhadrabahu cave and a structural shrine called the Chandragupta Basadi.

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