The Beginning of Jainism in Ancient Orissa

Ananda Chandra Sahoo argues that Jainism was popular in ancient Orissa even before the Hathigumpha inscription of king Kharavela, the first definite evidence of the faith in the region. The article discusses pre-Buddhistic evidence, citing the Jataka accounts which describe Karandu, the ruler of Kalinga, as a follower of the Jaina religion alongside Dummukho of Uttarapancala, Nami of Videha, and Naggaji of Gandhara. Another Jataka story mentions a king of Kalinga named Kalinga who renounced the world and entered the ascetic order while ruling from Dantapura, a city located in the Kalinga country. The article also links ancient Orissa with the activities of the Jaina Tirthankaras, noting that Aranatha, the eighteenth Tirthankara, received his first alms in Rayapura, the capital of Kalinga mentioned in the Mahabharata. The twenty-third Tirthankara, Parsvanatha, is said to have had a connection with Kalinga through the story of his marriage to Prabhavati, daughter of king Prasenajita of Kusasthalapura. The Jaina literature speaks of the visit of Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, in various places of ancient Orissa. In the eleventh year of his monkhood, Mahavira left Sravasti and proceeded to Hatthasisa, probably situated in northern Kalinga, and then journeyed towards Tosali, identified as modern Dhauli, where he was taken to be a robber and tortured. The Jaina HarivamSa-purana describes the relationship between Mahavira and Kalinga, stating that the Kalinga king was a friend of the former. Mahavira’s visit to Kalinga is also attested to by another tradition and the Hathigumpha inscription of king Kharavela, which proclaims that Mahavirasvami had preached his religion on the Kumari hill, identified with Udayagiri near Bhubaneswar. The article reveals that Jainism spread in ancient Orissa more flourishingly after Mahavira’s visit, as evidenced by the existence of Jaina centres such as Pihunda, a port city identified with Pithunda, the Pityundra metropolis of Ptolemy located in the country of Maisolia. The article also discusses conflicting references in Brahmanic literature regarding the attitude of the Aryan people towards Kalinga, with Baudhayana Dharmasutra speaking of Kalinga as an impure country and the Mahabharata regarding the people of Kalinga as having no religion. This can be explained by the dominance of heterodox sects, including the Jainas, in Kalinga. The article further discusses the term ‘sramana’, which may correspond to Jaina ascetics, and refers to Asoka’s Rock Edict XIII, line 42, which states that Brahmanas, Sramanas, and people belonging to other sects lived everywhere. The Rock Edict XIII of Asoka, which deals exclusively with the Kalinga war, was not found engraved in Kalinga proper, possibly because a considerable number of Jaina followers might have been killed during the war, and Asoka felt it wise not to raise the sentiments of the Kalinga people by engraving the edict in Kalinga. Finally, the article discusses the possible routes through which Jainism entered Orissa. Dantapura, the ancient capital of Kalinga, was linked to many other historically important places by land route. The Pali literature mentions a road that passed through Bodhagaya to Kalinga, where two merchants of Utkala met Lord Buddha. The article proposes that Jaina monks entered Orissa through the south-western part of Bengal, where both the Ajivikas and the Nirgranthas were living before the Jaina-hood of Gosala, the Ajivika head. Further, according to the Kalpasutra, the Tamraliptika Sakha is one of the four Sakhas of the Godasa Gana, founded by the Jaina monk Godasa, and this Tamralipti is in Midnapur district of south-western Bengal, suggesting that Jainism might have entered ancient Orissa from this part of Bengal.

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