The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c18.53

v1.c18.53

But probably the difficulties which beset the Jain church at this period were not only internal. As is well known, the Jains nowadays are settled principally in Western India, Gujarāt, etc. That they have been there for a very long time is certain, since their non-canonical writings, as well as epigraphical documents, bear witness at an early date to their influence in these parts of India. As the historical records of the sect have very little to tell us of the reign of Chandragupta and his son Bindusāra, and perhaps even still less of the great Açoka, it seems probable that they had already in the third century B.C. begun to lose their foothold in Eastern India. The manual of politics by Chāṇakya describes a purely Brāhman society; and it may perhaps not be too hazardous to infer from this fact that the first rise of the Maurya dynasty may have marked an attempt to restore the Brāhman power and so check the rising influence of the heterodox communities. If so, this policy was certainly abandoned by Açoka whose zeal for Buddhism may have been one of the main causes for the downfall of his great empire immediately after his death. It is true that Açoka in one of his edicts mentions his protection of the *nirgranthas* as well as of the Buddhists and other pious men; but any attempt to prove a greater interest on his part in the welfare of the Jains must fail, unsupported as it is by the scriptures of the Jains themselves. It is true too that Khāravela, king of Kaliṅga, who, although his exact date may be doubted, certainly lived a considerable time after Açoka, displayed a great zeal for the Jain religion; but it seems quite clear that, at the time of Açoka’s death, the Jains had practically lost their connexion with Eastern India; since they apparently know nothing of his grandson Daçaratha, who succeeded him in Magadha, and, of the following princes, only the usurper Pushyamitra, a patron of Brāhmanism, is mentioned by them. On the other hand, they tell us that Samprati, another grandson of Açoka who reigned probably in Ujjain, was a strong supporter of their religion, and his capital seems to have played at this time an important *rôle* in the history of Jainism.