The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t3.17

c11.s3.t3.17

According to the Jaina scriptures, the Jaina clergy went by the name of Nigaṇṭhas.⁶ In the opinion of Bühler, the term in the inscriptions of Aśoka has reference to the Jaina monks and nuns.⁷ If we can believe the references in Buddhist canons, then there is strong reason for the theory that the Nirgranthas were members of the early Jaina church.¹ This position of extending the royal patronage to the Jaina sect which looked upon Buddhism as a rival faith, and which ignored it by taking no notice of it in any of its old Jaina sūtras, is irreconcilable with the theory of Aśoka being a Buddhist.²