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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s10: 4.8 Early phase of Jainism in the Tamil country

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s10

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4.8 Early phase of Jainism in the Tamil country

4.8.1 Bhadrabahu-Chandragupta legend

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The advent of Jainism in South India is traditionally traced to the migration of Chandragupta Maurya and his preceptor Bhadrabahu to Sravanabelagola in Karnataka. According to the legend, when foretold of a terrible famine in Magadha which would last twelve years, the Jaina Saṃgha led by Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta migrated to South India and settled down at Sravanabelagola.⁷ Viśākha Muni, the disciple of Bhadrabahu, went further south to the Tamil country and preached in the Cōḻa and Pāṇḍiya kingdoms.

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⁷ S.B. Deo 1956: pp. 86-88.

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As the Bhadrabahu-Chandragupta legend is found only in relatively late sources, scholars have been hesitant to accept it as a historical event. The Tamil-Brāhmī cave inscriptions, now known to be the earliest Jaina records in South India, provide indirect corroboration of two key elements of the legend. The palaeography of the cave inscriptions is consistent with borrowing from Magadha in ca. 3rd century B.C. during the Mauryan Age. The decipherment of the inscriptions has also revealed early links with Karnataka and Old Kannada indicative of the proximate source of Jainism in the Tamil country.¹ The views of some scholars that Jainism reached the Tamil country from Bengal and Orissa and not from Karnataka can no longer be accepted.²

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² E.g., A. K. Chatterjee 1978: p. 119.

4.8.2 Samprati and Jainism in the Tamil country

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Dasaratha and Samprati, grandsons of Asoka, succeeded him and ruled simultaneously from Pataliputra and Ujjain respectively. While Dasaratha seems to have supported the Ājīvika faith, Samprati became an ardent supporter of Jainism under the guidance of his preceptor Suhastin. Samprati despatched Jaina missionaries to various regions in South India including the Damila (Tamil) country.³ Jaina literary evidence credits the spread of Jainism from Ujjain to the Deccan and other southern countries.⁴

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³ S.B. Deo 1956: pp. 91-92.

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⁴ Ibid. p. 115. Prakrit loanwords in the Tamil cave inscriptions lend support to this tradition. See section 3.3.5 (ii).