ABSTRACT
At the dawn of the sixteenth century, Jains were mainly concentrated in Rajasthan and Gujarat although in ancient times they were an important component of the population in the plains of north India. The favourable politico-economic situation existing in the seventeenth century enabled the Jains to spread in eastern India and become a dominant force in the local economy. The success, thus, achieved spurred other Jains and Rajasthani Hindu traders to continue their movements towards the east in the eighteenth century because conditions in the north-west were becoming anarchic owing to the weakness of the Mughal empire, and were not conducive to the growth of trade. Many of the Rajput chieftains and noblemen who helped the Mughal rulers to conquer Bihar and Bengal had Jain compatriots in their entourage as advisers and assistants. Jain migration, begun in the reign of Akbar, received impetus in the reign of Akbar’s successor on account of several new developments.
