Monastic Migrations: Movements of Jains to South India in the Early Centuries BCE
Around the 6th century BCE a community of Jains practicing the religious doctrine propounded by t... more Around the 6th century BCE a community of Jains practicing the religious doctrine propounded by the 24th tīrthaṅkara, Mahāvīra, developed in the Ganga Valley in north India. Although there were certainly multiple migrations of Jains from north to south India, the earliest migration is estimated to have taken place during the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE. Conceptualizations of this ancient migration are intimately tied to the legendary figure of Bhadrabāhu, a Jain ācārya. The first part of this paper attempts to clarify the historical and literary character of Bhadrabāhu and his role in the migrations to south India. The second half of this paper critically explores the various hypothesized routes for the earliest migrations of Jains from north to south India, taking into account archaeological and epigraphic evidence. Of the possible routes to south India, it seems most probable that the earliest migrations took place along the Eastern Ghats through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu. This paper then explores some of the archaeological and epigraphic evidence in support of this route.
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