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| The 24 Tirthankaras · Rishabha · Mahavira · Acharya · Ganadhara · Siddhasena Divakara · Haribhadra | |
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| Kalpa Sūtra · Āgama · Tattvartha Sutra · Sanmatti Prakaran | |
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Jainism Portal |
Jainism has been present in Maharashtra since ancient times. The famous Ellora Caves demonstrate that Jainism was part of a thriving religious culture in Maharashtra in premodern times.
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The oldest inscription in Maharashtra is a 2nd century BCE Jain inscription in a cave near Pale village in the Pune District. It was written in the Jain Prakrit and includes the Namokar Mantra.
The Marathi language is a descendent of the Jain Prakrit. The first Marathi inscription known is at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka near the left foot of the statue of Bahubali, dated 981 CE.
Maharashtra had many Jain rulers such as the Rashtrakuta dynasty and the Shilaharas. Many of forts were built by kings from these dynasties and thus Jain temples or their remains are found in them. Texts such as the Shankardigvijaya and Shivlilamruta suggest that a large number of Maharashtrans were Jains in the ancient period.
The native Jains of Maharashtra today are endogamous communiites and generally do not intermarry with the Jains who have arrived from North India. They are all Digambaras and are divided into four large communities:
and some other small communities:
Each of the four major communiites led by its own spiritual leader (Bhattaraka), who heads a Matha.
Immigrant Jains have a large population in Maharashtra. Majority of them are from Rajasthan and Gujarat. Some of them are from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Some of these communities have been in Maharashtra for centuries, and are now indistinguishable from the native residents of Maharashtra. They are divided in following large groups:
There are some more groups also, like:
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