Religious liberalism in Rajput courts
Encyclopedia
There are some manifestations of religious liberalism in Rajput courts, evident in the acts of Rajput
rulers who held sway over substantial areas of the Northern India in past centuries.
, the state religion of Sassanid Persia
, was supplanted by Islam
following the defeat of Yazdgerd III
at the Battle of Nihawand
in 642 AD. In due course, the residence of non-Muslims became untenable and many Zoroastrians who continued to adhere to their ancestral faith were forced to emigrate.
According to the Qissa-i Sanjan
, an epic poem written c. 1600, one group of those fleeing Zoroastrians landed in what is now Gujarat, India
. They were granted refuge by the local king Jadi Rana
, and were allowed to practise their religion freely. These refugees would later found the city of Sanjan
(in present-day Gujarat; cf. Sanjan
in Greater Khorasan
).
There is an even older tradition which links the Zoroastrians to India. Many Rajput rulers built temples to the Sun-God (Mithra
or Mihira in Persian). By tradition, only the Maga/Bhojaka priests, originally from Shaka-dvipa (present-day Afghanistan) were entitled to conduct worship in these temples. The Maga (termed Magi
in the New Testament) were priests belonging to the Mazdayasni (Zoroastrian) tradition.
) family. Buddhism had a significant present in several early Rajput kingdoms, although that faith had declined in popularity during the Gupta period, whose era preceded that of the early Rajput kingdoms.
The Gahadvala
s were an early Rajput dynasty who ruled a substantial area in present-day Uttar Pradesh in the 12th century. Gahadvala Govindchandra (1114—1154 AD) supported the construction of a large Buddhist vihara
at Jetavana
. A copper-plate grant
of Govindachandra dated AD 1129 mentions the donation of several villages to the Jetavana Mahavihara, the chief of whom was Buddha-Bhattaraka. An inscription (c.1170 AD) by Gahadvala Jayachandra, located at Bodhgaya, opens with an invocation to lord Buddha
, the Bodhisattvas and the king's own preceptor, a monk named Srimitra. It mentions the construction of a cave-monastery at Jayapura. The dikshaguru
of Jayachandra was Jaganmitrananda (Mitrayogi), who is considered one of the Mahasiddha
s; his book, the Chandra-raja-lekha, has survived in its Tibetan
translation.
Numerous other examples of Rajput support to Buddhist institutions exist. Inscriptions documenting the renewal of grants to Buddhist Viharas by the Chandellas of Bundelkhand
is one example. The Ajanta caves are Buddhist and were created in the Rashtrakuta
kingdom. The Shilahara
s of Kolhapur are also known to have richly supported both Jainism and Buddhism.
The last jain Tirthankar Bhagwan Mahavir himself belonged to the Gautam clan of suryavanshi rajputs.
Jainism veritably flourished during Rajput rule. Jains were often appointed to high government positions, and Rajput kings richly supported Jain scholars and institutions. Numberless Jain temples ornamenting the landscapes of Rajasthan and Gujarat, including those at Mount Abu, Palitana
and Osian
, bear testimony to the support extended by Rajput rulers to the Jain tradition.
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
rulers who held sway over substantial areas of the Northern India in past centuries.
Support of Zoroastrianism
ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
, the state religion of Sassanid Persia
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
, was supplanted by Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
following the defeat of Yazdgerd III
Yazdgerd III
Yazdegerd III or Yazdgerd III was the twenty-ninth and last king of the Sassanid dynasty of Iran and a grandson of Khosrau II . His father was Shahryar, whose mother was Miriam, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice...
at the Battle of Nihawand
Battle of Nihawand
The Battle of Nahāvand Battle of Nahāwand was fought in 642 between Arab Muslims and Sassanid armies. The battle is known to Muslims as the "Victory of Victories." The History of Tabari mentions that Firuzan, the officer serving the Persian King Yazdgerd III had about 50,000 men, versus a Muslim...
in 642 AD. In due course, the residence of non-Muslims became untenable and many Zoroastrians who continued to adhere to their ancestral faith were forced to emigrate.
According to the Qissa-i Sanjan
Qissa-i Sanjan
The Story of Sanjan is an account of the early years of Zoroastrian settlers on the Indian subcontinent...
, an epic poem written c. 1600, one group of those fleeing Zoroastrians landed in what is now Gujarat, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. They were granted refuge by the local king Jadi Rana
Jadi Rana
Jadi Rana or Jadav Rana is a figure from the Qissa-i Sanjan, an epic poem completed in 1599, which is an account of the flight of some of the Zoroastrians who were subject to religious persecution following the fall of the Sassanid Empire, and of their early years in India, where they found refuge...
, and were allowed to practise their religion freely. These refugees would later found the city of Sanjan
Sanjan (Gujarat)
Sanjan is the second railway station in Gujarat on the Western railways just inside the Gujarat-Maharashtra border...
(in present-day Gujarat; cf. Sanjan
Sanjan (Khorasan)
Sanjan is an ancient city on the southern edge of the Kara-kum Desert, in the vicinity of the historically eminent oasis-city of Merv. Topographically, Sanjan is located in the Greater Khorasan region of Central Asia...
in Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
).
There is an even older tradition which links the Zoroastrians to India. Many Rajput rulers built temples to the Sun-God (Mithra
Mithra
Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters....
or Mihira in Persian). By tradition, only the Maga/Bhojaka priests, originally from Shaka-dvipa (present-day Afghanistan) were entitled to conduct worship in these temples. The Maga (termed Magi
Magi
Magi is a term, used since at least the 4th century BC, to denote a follower of Zoroaster, or rather, a follower of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which...
in the New Testament) were priests belonging to the Mazdayasni (Zoroastrian) tradition.
Support of Buddhism
Lord Gautam Budhha himself was born in a Suryavanshi Kshatriya (ShakyaShakya
Shakya was an ancient janapada of India in the 1st millennium BCE. In Buddhist texts the Shakyas, the inhabitants of Shakya janapada, are mentioned as a clan of Gotama gotra....
) family. Buddhism had a significant present in several early Rajput kingdoms, although that faith had declined in popularity during the Gupta period, whose era preceded that of the early Rajput kingdoms.
The Gahadvala
Gahadvala
The Gahadvala or Gaharwar is a Hindu Rajput dynasty that ruled the kingdom of Kannauj for around a hundred years, beginning the late 11th century.-Rebuilding of Kannauj Kingdom:...
s were an early Rajput dynasty who ruled a substantial area in present-day Uttar Pradesh in the 12th century. Gahadvala Govindchandra (1114—1154 AD) supported the construction of a large Buddhist vihara
Vihara
Vihara is the Sanskrit and Pali term for a Buddhist monastery. It originally meant "a secluded place in which to walk", and referred to "dwellings" or "refuges" used by wandering monks during the rainy season....
at Jetavana
Jetavana
Jetavana was one of the most famous of the Buddhist monasteries in India. It was the second monastery donated to Gautama Buddha, after the Veluvana in Rajagaha. Jetavana is located just outside the old city of Savatthi...
. A copper-plate grant
Copper-plate grant
One of the most important sources of history in the Indian subcontinent are the royal records of grants engraved on copper-plates...
of Govindachandra dated AD 1129 mentions the donation of several villages to the Jetavana Mahavihara, the chief of whom was Buddha-Bhattaraka. An inscription (c.1170 AD) by Gahadvala Jayachandra, located at Bodhgaya, opens with an invocation to lord Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
, the Bodhisattvas and the king's own preceptor, a monk named Srimitra. It mentions the construction of a cave-monastery at Jayapura. The dikshaguru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
of Jayachandra was Jaganmitrananda (Mitrayogi), who is considered one of the Mahasiddha
Mahasiddha
Mahasiddha is a term for one who cultivates those teachings that lead to becoming perfect. They are a type of eccentric yogini/yogi in both Sanatan Dharma and Vajrayana Dharma, given by Siddhartha. Mahasiddhi are those practitioners, or tantrikas who have gained sufficient understanding and are so...
s; his book, the Chandra-raja-lekha, has survived in its Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
translation.
Numerous other examples of Rajput support to Buddhist institutions exist. Inscriptions documenting the renewal of grants to Buddhist Viharas by the Chandellas of Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom is a geographic region of central India...
is one example. The Ajanta caves are Buddhist and were created in the Rashtrakuta
Rashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
kingdom. The Shilahara
Shilahara
The Shilahara Dynasty was a feudal clan that established itself in northern and southern Konkan and southern Maharashtra during the Rashtrakuta period...
s of Kolhapur are also known to have richly supported both Jainism and Buddhism.
Support of Jainism
All but two of the Jain tirthankars are ascribed to the Ikshvaku family (one of the main rajput clans also known as Suryavansham). The dynesty was formed by the first king on earth that is raja Ikshvaku also known as the founder of Suryavansham. Munisuvrata, the twentieth, and Neminatha, the twenty-second, were of the Harivamsa race.But as per Jain cannons Rishabha the first Tirthankar was the founder of the so-called Ikshvaku kula.Ikshvaku clan said to began from the 1st Tirthankar Rushabdev who is regarded as the first King on the earth of this Avsarpini cycle. Ikshvaku name of this clan was given by Lord Saudharmendra. When Tirthankar Rishabhdev was one year old, Lord Saudharmendra came to Rishabdev's father, Nabhi for formalizing the family name. He carried sugarcane in his hand and baby Rishabh was sitting in his fathers lap. When Rishabh saw the sugarcane he eagerly extended his tiny hands to grab it. Lord Saudharmendra gave the sugar-cane to the baby and seeing his affinity for sugarcane, he formally named the family as Ikshvaku. Most Thirthankaras of Jainism belong to the House of Ikshvaku, and few from other clans. Across the length and breadth of Greater India, numerous royal families have claimed to have belonged to the House of Ikshvaku, which was the synonymous with the Solar Dynasty the Suryavansham. Great kings like Bhagiratha and Dasaratha were also kings in the line before Lord Rama.The last jain Tirthankar Bhagwan Mahavir himself belonged to the Gautam clan of suryavanshi rajputs.
Jainism veritably flourished during Rajput rule. Jains were often appointed to high government positions, and Rajput kings richly supported Jain scholars and institutions. Numberless Jain temples ornamenting the landscapes of Rajasthan and Gujarat, including those at Mount Abu, Palitana
Palitana
Palitana is a city in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. It is located 50 km southwest of Bhavnagar city and is a major pilgrimage centre for Jains.-History:...
and Osian
Osian
Osian is an ancient town located in the Jodhpur District of Rajasthan state in western India. It is an oasis in the Thar Desert-http://marupradesh.org/, north of the district headquarters at Jodhpur, on a diversion off the main Jodhpur – Bikaner Highway.It is also known as Khajuraho of...
, bear testimony to the support extended by Rajput rulers to the Jain tradition.
Sources
- Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India: Their History and Their Contribution to Indian Culture, Sukumar Dutt. 1962.
- The Rise and Decline of Buddhism in India, Kanai Lal Hazra
- Thakur DeshrajThakur DeshrajThakur Deshraj was a social worker, journalist, nationalist, freedom fighter and author of many books. He was from Rajasthan state in India. He was revenue minister in the princely state of Bharatpur....
: Jat Itihas, Delhi, 1934