History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s6.14

v3.c41.s6.14

Like Buddhism, in fact like every other religion, Jainism was early divided into two sects. While the Digambaras insisted on nudity for monks, the Śvetāmbaras allowed them white clothes (two in number). The Jains who went to and preached in the south were of the Digambara sect, the Śvetāmbaras in southern India being mostly traders come in recent times from Gujarat or Rajputana. The first great teacher who went into the southern country was Bhadrabāhu who is said to have gone from Ujjain during a famine and went with many followers as far as Śravaṇa Belgola in Mysore territory. There must be others who went from Bihar via Kalinga along the eastern coast. It is thus we find the Jain religion established in Āndhra, in Tamil land and in Karṇāṭaka, though not in Mahārāṣṭra, from early centuries of the Christian era down to the days of Hiuen Tsang and later. The Jain ascetics being learned men took up the three vernacular languages of the three countries and produced the first literature in them viz., in Tamil, Kanarese and Telugu, and for this reason they succeeded in impressing the common people in these lands. There were thus and there still are Jains among the common people in these provinces while there are very few in Northern India among the illiterate masses.