in the district of Hāzāribāgh and many of the Tīrthankaras, such for instance as Çreaṁgçunāth and Vāsupujya, were born in Bengal.[1] The greatest of the Jaina Tīrthankaras—Mahavira spent eighteen years of his life preaching his faith in Rāḍa Deça (Western Bengal).
Bengal interdicted by Manu.The country was for centuries in open revolt against Hindu orthodoxy. Buddhistic and Jain influences here were so great, that the codes of Manu, while including Bengal within the geographical boundary of Āryyāvarta, distinctly prohibit all contact of the Hindus with this land, for fear of contamination.[2] Ānanda Tīrtha, the famous commentator of Aitereya Āraṅyaka, declares Bengal to be inhabited by Rākṣasas and Piçāchas. In fact it is probable, that Bengal was mostly peopled by the descendants of the early citizens of Magadah,[3] hence Brahmanism could not thrive for many centuries amidst a people, who were the pioneers of Buddhism.
Bengali, a form of Paiçachi Prakrita.The Buddhist priests had already, in the latter part of the tenth century, begun to write books in Prākrita called the Gouḍa Prākrita. This Prākrita was called by the grammarian Kriṣṅa Pandit, who flourished in the twelfth century, as a form of Paiçāchī Prākrita or a Prākrita spoken by the evil spirits. The rules specified by him, in his celebrated grammar Prākrita-Chandrikā, as peculiar to our- ↑ Vide Jainamālā or a chronological table of the Tīrthankaras quoted in the Bengali Encyclopædia, Viçvakoṣa Vol. VII. p. 168.
- ↑ "অঙ্গ বঙ্গ কলিঙ্গেষু সৌরাষ্ট্র মগধেষু চ।
তীর্থযাত্রাং বিনা গচ্ছন্ পুনঃ সংস্কার মর্হতি।"—Manu. - ↑ Vide Indian Pundits in the Land of Snow, by Sarat Chandra Das, p. 21.
