Jain religion is older than 10th century BC and so is Agama Temple cult

October 6, 2009

Dear all, The following extract is from: http://www.siddha.com.my/religionoftheagamas/chapter4.html Love and regards,Sreenadh===================================Where there are temples, there are agamas. A sumerian king visited and endowed a temple in Gujarat in 940 BCE. Neminatha is mentioned in the vedas as a rishi.

Nebuchadnazzar I visited Jain temple of Neminatha

The

literary evidence seems to be supported by an epigraphic evidence. In

Kathiawar, a copper plate has been discovered on which there is an

inscription. The king Nebuchadnazzar (940 B. C.) who

was also the lord of Reva-nagara (in Kathiawar, Gujarat) and who

belonged to Sumer tribe, has come to the place (Dwarka) of the

Yaduraja. He has built a temple and paid homage and made the grant

perpetual in favour of Lord Neminatha, the paramount deity of Mt.

Raivata. This inscription is of great historical importance. The king

named Nebuchadnazzar was living in the 10th century B. C. It

indicates that even in the tenth century B.C. there was the worship of the temple of Neminatha the 22nd.

Tirthankara of the Jains. It goes to prove the historicity of

Neminatha. Thus, there seems to be little doubt about Neminatha as a

historical figure but there is some difficulty in fixing his date. He

is said to be the contemporary of Krishna the hero of Mahabharata.

http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Neminatha

Nebuchadnazzar (940 B. C.) was Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon and not Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon mentioned in Bible.

===================================

October 6, 2009

Dear Sreenadhji,You are right.Jainism was much older. As regards Neminath he is said to be a close relative of Lord Krishna. Even in Lord Buddha's time in the 19th century BCE there was the teacher Nirghanta Nathaputra (Nighanta Nataputta in Pali), who preached a sort of faith, which was somewhat akin to Jainism but not really called Jainism. I think it was more like the Ajivikas and the Ajivikas vanished after the teachings of Lord Mahavira got prominence. Even Bhagavan Parshwanath, who lived in circa. 9th century BCE, was to my knowledge an Ajivika. Nirghanta Nathaputra as well as Bhagavan Parshvanath taught only four vows and they were wearing clothes and were allowing the disciples to wear the minimum quantity of required clothes. Just before his passing away Lord Buddha disclosed the details of the austerirties he underwent during the

first six years of his penance and those were akin to what Nirghanta Nataputta followed and Lord Buddha found that such severe penance is not really required. The real Jainism, with the five vows as we understand today, really started from the time of Lord Mahavira in the 6th century BCE. The Jain scriptures became available quite sometime after passing away of Lord Mahavira and these are based on the teachings of Lord Mahavira. There was no religious Jain leterature available prior to:Lord Mahavira. After about three hundred years or so of the passing away of Lord Mahavira in 527 BCE there was the split in Jainism over the scriptures and the two sects, ie. the Svetambara and Digambara, wewre formed. You will be surprised that Alberuni mentions that Buddhism prevailed in Iran in the 7th century BCE. But Jainism was limited to Magadha and around 297 BCE, when there was a famine in magadha, Bhadrabahu and other Jaina

saints went to Ujjaini and they initiated Chandragupta of the Gupta dynasty to asceticism. Then Chandragupta went to Karnataka and undertook fast unto death. Jains trace their antiquity to Lord Rishabhnath, who was one of the descendents of Vaivasvata Manu but no religious Jaina literature has been traced prior to the times of Lord Mahavira. . Regards,Sunil K. Bhattacharjya--- On Tue, 10/6/09, sreesog <sreesog wrote:sreesog <sreesog Jain religion is older than 10th century BC and so is Agama Temple cult Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 1:53 AM

Dear all, The following extract is from: http://www.siddha. com.my/religiono ftheagamas/ chapter4. html Love and regards,Sreenadh============ ========= ========= =====Where there are temples, there are agamas. A sumerian king visited and endowed a temple in Gujarat in 940 BCE. Neminatha is mentioned in the vedas as a rishi.