The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.s2.13

c20.s2.13

These are the kings, feudatories and officers of our period who are so far known to have been followers or patrons of Jainism. There may have been many more; for, as will be shown in Chapter XVI, our period produced a galaxy of Jain authors and preachers whose literary and missionary activities must have produced a considerable effect, helped as they were by royal patronage. It is very probable that at least one third of the total population of the Deccan of our period was following the gospel of Mahāvīra. Rashid-ud-din states on the authority of Alberuni (183) that the people of Konkan and Thana were Samanis or Buddhists at the beginning of the 11th century. Al Idrisi calls the king of Naharvala i. e. Aṇahilapāṭaṇa as a Buddhist, whereas we know definitely that the king he had in view was a Jain, not a Buddhist. It is thus clear that the Muslims very often mistook Jainism for Buddhism and the above referred to statement of Rashidu-d-din may be taken to prove the prevalence of Jainism rather than Buddhism in parts of the Deccan during the 10th and the 11th centuries. Subsequent to our period Jainism lost much of its ground by the rise of the Lingayat sect which grew partly at its cost.