Jains of Maharashtra
Encyclopedia : J : JA : JAI : Jains of Maharashtra
Jainism has been present in Maharashtra since ancient times. The oldest inscription in Maharshtra is a Jain inscription. It is in a cave near Pale village in Pune district of Maharashtra. This 2nd century B.C.E. inscription is in Prakrit language and contains the Namokar Mantra.
Marathi language was born from a Prakrit language called Jain Maharashtri. The first Marathi inscription is carved at Shravanabelagola, Karnatak near the left foot of statue of Bhagwan Bahubali inscribed in C.E. 981.
Maharashtra was ruled by many Jain rulers like Rashtrakutas and Shilahars. Many of the forts in Maharashtra are built by kings from these dynasties and thus Jain temples or their remains are found in many of the forts. Texts such as Shankardigvijaya and Shivlilamruta suggest that a large fraction of the people in Maharashtra were follower of Jainism in the ancient period.
Large Jain populations exist in Maharashtra in several regions.
The native Jains of Maharashtra today are endogamous communiites and generally do not intermarry with the Jains who have arrived of North India. They are all Digambaras and are dividend into four large communities:
- Saitwal, mainly agriculturists, as well as tailors
- Chaturtha, mainly agriculturists
- Panchama, various professions
- Bogara or Kasara, coppersmiths
- Upadhyayas,
- Kamboja and
- Harada.
The emigrant Jains have a large population in Maharashtra. Majority of them are from Rajasthan and Gujarat. Some of them are from Madhya Pradesh. Some of these communities have been in Maharashtra for centuries, and are now indistinguishable from the native residents of Maharashtra.
Many of the distinguished Jain munis and Acharyas have been from Maharashtra.
See also
Links
- [History Of Maharshtra]
- [Ellora]
- [Jain Tirthas in Maharashtra]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.