The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.s2.1

c20.s2.1

Our period was probably the most flourishing period in the history of Jainism in the Deccan. Soon after it Jainism received a set-back owing to rapid spread of the new Lingayat sect. In our period, however, the sect had no serious militant rival and was basking in the sunshine of popular and royal favour. The literary activity of the Jains was also remarkable in this age, and they seem to have taken an active part in the education of the masses. That, before the beginning of the alphabet proper the children should be required to pay homage to Gaṇeśa by reciting the formula *Śrī Gaṇeśāya namaḥ* is natural in Hindu society, but that in the Deccan even to-day it should be followed by the Jain formula *Om namasiddhebhyah* shows, as Mr. C. V. Vaidya has pointed out, that the Jain teachers of our age had so completely controlled the mass education that the Hindus continued to teach their children this originally Jain formula even after the decline of Jainism. The formula can of course be interpreted in a non-Jain sense as well, but it cannot be denied that originally it had a Jain significance.