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At #Seshat, one of the things we study is the way religious figures and institutions have acted to strengthen the moral foundations of society, e.g. by providing ethical guidance to rulers. Today's example comes from 9th-century CE Karnataka, India. (1/7) seshatdatabank.info/data/deccan.ht… 
Jinasena, a Jain Acharya (head monastic) at the court of Amoghavarsha Rashtrakuta, India, wrote the ADIPURANA, a poem about rulership informed by Jain ethics. (2/7) #Seshat (Pictured: sculpture of Acharya KundaKunda, Karnataka)
Non-violence or Ahimsa (pictured) is Jainism's core value. Because at the time it was unthinkable for a king not to wage war for riches/land/self-defence, early scriptures forbade Jains from having anything to do with kings, including accepting alms from them. (3/7) #Seshat
However, in Karnataka, kings were drawn to Jainism: it was a prestigious import from the North, & some Jains' use of warlike imagery to promote the virtue of self-sufficiency also appealed to them. (4/7) #Seshat (Pictured: Jain Narayana temple; Pattadakal, Karnataka, 9th c. CE)
In Karnataka, then, a strong tie formed b/w rulers & Jain ascetics. The ADIPURANA was meant to guide kings who wished to follow Jain principles; the king's most important duties were to protect Jains & Jainism, & free his land from heretics & their teachings. (5/7) #Seshat
However, even the ADIPURANA argued that a king could achieve true mastery only by abandoning his royal status & becoming an ascetic. Some sources say that only the final Rashtrakuta king, Indra IV, took this to heart: after abdicating, he fasted himself to death. (6/7) #Seshat
Refs: Paul Dundas, THE JAINS (Routledge, 2002, pp. 118-120); photo in (3/6) by Dineshkannambadi at English Wikipedia (7/7) #Seshat
