|
Page14
Purulia district and the areas of Bundu and Tamar in Ranchi district adjoining Purulia district
have a very clear Vaishnava impact and even a portion of the Mundas, an aboriginal tribe of the area became the followers of Vaishnavism. There are old Mundari songs depicting love of Radha and Krishna. Similarly, the tribal population of Purulia district and the Bhumij community became first imbued with the ideas of Jainism and then with Vaishnavism.6
These are some of the probable reasons for the decline of Jainism as an active creed in Purulia district. But the Jain relics as pointed out still abound scattered throughout the Purulia district and there is the very great necessity of saving them from vandalism and decay through age and neglect. The Jain temples, antiquities and inscriptions of Purulia district offer a rich field for research. The historians or antiquarians have paid Very little attention to them.
6 Budu Babu an illiterate Munda in the neighboring Tamar area composed many Mundari songs depicting the love of Radha and Krishna. These songs have been mostly lost but some have been traced. The Munda men and women recite them while dancing without even realizing they are imbued with Vaishnavism Budu
Babu who died about eighty years back also composed a portion of Ramayana in Mundari
language.
|