282 SKETCH OF THE 



evidence, it could not have been composed earlier than the twelfth or 

 thirteenth century. Various eminent Jain authors were cotemporary also 

 with Munja and Bhoja, princes of Dluir, in the ninth and tenth century, 

 and a number of works seem to have been compiled in the sixteenth 

 century, during the tolerant reign of Arber. 



Of the progress of the Jain faith in the Gangetic provinces of Upper 

 India, we have no very satisfactory traces. It may be doubted if they 

 ever extended themselves in Bengal. Behar, according to their own 

 traditions, was the birthplace of Verddhamana, and Benares of Parswa- 

 nXth ; and temples and monuments of their teachers are common in both ; 

 particularly the former ; but all those now existing are of very recent 

 dates,'* and there are no vestiges referable to an intermediate period 

 between the last Tirthankara, and the eighteenth century. At Benares, 

 its princes professed the faith of Hauddha as late as the eleventh century, 

 whilst during the same period, as is proved by inscriptions and the 

 historical work of Chandrakavi, the sovereigns of Kanoj and Delhi were 

 of. the orthodox persuasion. It is very doubtful, therefore, if the Jains 

 ever formed a leading sect in this part of Hindustan. They were more 

 successful in the west and south. 



In Western Marwar, and the whole of the territory subject to the 

 Chaulukya princes of Guzerat, the Jain faith became that of the ruling 

 dynasty ; but this occurred at no very remote period. The Mohammedan 

 Geographer, Edrisi, states that the king of Nehrwala, the capital 

 of Guzerat, worshipped Buddha ; and we know from the writings of 



* As late even as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. — These dates are sometimes said to 

 indicate the periods at which the temples were repaired, but the intelligent author of the ' Visit to 

 Mount ParsivanatE observes, " only in one instance is there reason to suspect that the buildings are 

 much older than the inscriptions announce. The most ancient Mundir at that place, is reckoned 

 to be but fifty years old. — Calcutta Magazine, December, 1827. 



