Jain Journal 2000 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/520138/1

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VOL XXXIV
No. 4 APRIL

॥ जैन भवन ॥
JAIN BHAWAN
ISSN 0021-4043
A QUARTERLY
JAINOLOGY
JAIN Journal
ON
PUBLICATION

2000

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Contents
"Give Away Violence, Preserve Life" : ContemporaryCall of the Śramana Religions
Vincent Sekhar, S.J.
Jainism under Calukyas of Kalyāṇa Hampa Nagarajaiah
The Rāṣṭrakūtas and Jainism Kamala Hampana
News on Jainism around the World

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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol. XXXIV
No. 4 April
2000
“GIVE AWAY VIOLENCE, PRESERVE LIFE" :
CONTEMPORARY CALL OF THE
ŚRAMANA RELIGIONS
VINCENT SEKHAR, S.J. 1. Introduction
Religion gives meaning to society. It operates from ultimate perspectives, in terms of end or goal of life. It does not provide merely an abstract creed as a set of beliefs, but offers at the level of behaviour certain ethical principles through which the believing community seeks to reach the proposed goals. It is the task of religion to orient the whole of life, the common good of humanity, etc.
Religion and society shape each other in history. Society, its cultural and other changes might affect the external structure of any Religion. There might be adaptations, even renewals. For instance, religions like Buddhism and Christianity had adapted local cultural and traditional elements. But this does not mean that the basic outlook of Buddhism or Christianity has changed due to changes in cultures and traditions. The central figures of these religions, their worship, adherence to their precepts, etc. have by and large remained the same in history. It is such ‘changeless' elements that offer 'newness' to life everywhere.
There is a basic ethos in Śramana culture and thought. Buddhism may not believe in a permanent substance called Atman, but it believes in karma and rebirth, the ills of the world and of the human beings, their remedy, etc. In the same way, Jaina Dharma upholds the sanctity of life and urges its promotion and protection. These Šramana traditions are realistic about the existence of misery and its root cause, propound a path of purification and deliverance from all that is evil and all that is limiting.
These Śramana religions have recourse to conduct as the major means of liberation. Of all moral principles, Ahimsā or non-injury to

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000
life is the focal point round which the whole gamut of religion and philosophy is built. Without this there is no life, no existence. In other words, it is this moral principle of Ahimsa that describes briefly these Śramana religions-Jainism is sometimes called 'the Religion of Ahimsā. It is Ahimsa that guides both at the level of conduct as well as ideas and reflection. Down the centuries, Ahimsa has acquired new meanings, particularly in the social and political planes. Persons like M. K. Gandhi have translated this concept into every sphere of life.
The Śramana religions believe that it is himsā or injury to life, which is the root cause of all ills in this world. Hence they offer Ahimsā as the method and means to revert this situation. The following pages roughly portray the ugly situation life is drawn into, and how the Śramana religions offer a suitable remedy to such a situation.
2. The ugly face of the human situation
The human predicament especially in India can be broadly characterized by inequality, poverty and religious and cultural (ethnic, lingual...) fundamentalism. The caste discrimination is a strong impediment to the development of the individual and society. The prevailing injustice in the agricultural sector in land ownership and illiteracy, the degrading economic scene, the problem of inflation, inequality in income distribution, Black money, the social injustices done to women and children, the dowry system, child labour, juvenile delinquency, gender discrimination in family and society and many others are basically the outcome of inequality both at the conceptual as well as at the actual levels.
2.1 Poverty and inequality
What gives a low profile and an unstable condition to an individual is the thought that one is poor. Not only that poverty affects the development of personality it also leads, because of inadequate resources, to illness, mobility and mortality. The culture of poverty suffocates the breath of hope and confidence in living. The economically poor realize a sense of the improbability of achieving success in terms of values and goals of the larger society.
Inequality, caste discrimination and poverty give birth to categories like the untouchables and the evil called untouchability. In the words of M.K. Gandhi Socially, they (the untouchables) are lepers, economically they are worse than slaves. Religiously they are denied entrance to places we miscall 'houses of God'. They are denied the

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161 use, on the same terms as the caste Hindus, of public roads, public schools, public hospitals, public wells, public taps, public parks and the like. In some cases their approach within the measured distance is a social crime, and in some other rare enough cases their very sight is an offence. They are relegated for their residence to the worst quarters of cities and villages where they practically get no social service. Caste Hindu lawyers and doctors will not serve them as they do other members of society. Brahmans will not officiate at their religious function.
To abolish this inhuman practice, the Government had given a number of provisions in the Constitutions and had undertaken necessary steps. For instance, the abolition of untouchability (article 17, constitution of India); appointment of a minister in charge of the scheduled castes in some states (article 164); reservation of seats in the Lokasabhā (article 330) and in the Legislative Assembly in every state and union territory (article 332); safeguards for the claims of the member of scheduled castes while making appointments to the Central and State Government jobs (article 335); appointment of a special officer to take care of the interests of the scheduled castes (article 338) and in pursuance of these provisions, the parliament and the State Legislatures have enacted numerous laws but India has suffered, to this day, blame from global community.
2.2. The environmental degradation
Another area of concern is the environment and the people who are affected by it directly. Nature and humans are so close to each other for mutual existence and sustenance. Only by acting on nature can man develop his drives and abilities. Humans appropriate more and more of nature making it the object of their knowing, feeling and acting, by adapting objects of nature to satisfy their various needs. They transform it into material inorganic body that is to say, nature excluding the human body itself. To say that humans live from nature means that nature is their body with which they remain in a continuous interchange in order not to die.3
But the growing menace of pollution of nature is like stripping the mother goddess naked and insulting her. For instance, the spoiling of water resources like rivers, ponds, lakes and even oceans and the 1. M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 1954, p. 9-10. 2. Walter Fernandes, (ed.) Inequality, its base and search for solutions,
Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, 1986, p. 93. 3. S. Kappan, – Marxian Atheism, Bangalore, 1983, p. 57-58.

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 poisoning of the atmosphere with chemicals because of the high concentration of industries and factories, the throwing out of the garbage and solid wastes anywhere at people's convenience, the high level noise specially in urban areas that harms the human nervous system, the petrol and diesel fumes from vehicles which affect even some sensitive plants like tobacco, potato and some cereal crops and certain flowers etc. are but some of the results of the pollution menace. Such pollution harm life in general.
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The problem that the environmental science faces today is the preservation of its forest assets. Deforestation is not merely an ecological problem but a problem of human beings. The human element gives meaning to ecology and the environmental question becomes relevant to society only when it is viewed in relation to the people who are affected by it.5 The environmental destruction has led to the intensification of poverty and destitution of the forest dwellers by way of non-availability of food, fuel, fodder, fertilizer and construction material, non-availability of medical herbs etc. An increase in the reserve forests that cater to the needs of industry has deprived the forest dwellers very much. And those who are displaced and uprooted from their homeland due to natural calamity and planned destruction of forests.
While the social cost in such a despicable condition is being ignored, the material side of the scene is still worse, namely, floods, droughts, sedimentation and other forms of ecological damage like soil erosion, wind and water erosion etc. Food and droughts follow as a natural consequence to soil erosion since water does not seep into the soil and the ground water level goes down. Increased salutation and rise in the level of rivers, reservoirs and dams results in the reduction both with capacity of the dam to hold back heavy flood waters and in its irrigation potential. A result of the salutation of the major dams is floods that ravage the country every year.6
2.3 Problem of fundamentalism
One of the foremost problems that India faces today is religious fundamentalism. Basically fundamentalism is a nature in attitude. We often do not know the faiths of other believes and their practices. This type of ignorance sometimes leads us to petty quarrels, fights and other harmful relationships. At times it takes the form of a tolerance
4.
5.
6. Ibid., p. 66-68.
N. Seshagiri, -Pollution, National Book Trust, India, 1982, p. 6-11.
Walter Fernandez, ibid. p. 57.
&

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which almost negates the other or, at the most, have nothing to do with the other. Such an attitude does not lead one to a healthy encounter. It sabotages seriousness in mutual learning and relationship. To the extent one affirms one's own faith or ideology to be the only truth there is not much of an opening to healthy encounters. Fundamentalism is a form of closure. The eyes are turned inside and there is a refusal to see the world at large.
Prof. Amaladoss' points out that fundamentalism can go to the extent of creating a state religion. It is seen wide spread in the world today. While fundamentalism often refers to religious fundamentalism, it is also seen in other spheres of life like politics where political ideologies do not make easy way to encounter the rest. Today interreligious or even inter-political dialogue is useful and necessary not merely to come to know the other better and to dispel prejudices, etc. but also for a healthy collaboration between religious communities and political parties in order to promote common humanity based on justice and freedom.
3. Evil and its root cause
Indian philosophical and religious traditions have reflected on the causes of such a situation and have also offered suitable remedies. Nirvāņa or Mokṣa is a stage of life where one experiences cessation from pain, from birth, from ignorance, from karma, etc. Religious scriptures affirm that liberation is a state of good after overcoming evil. Now one cannot find solution to evil unless one is aware of the root cause for it.
The root cause of all evil according to Jaina and Buddhist traditions is violence to life (himsā). According to the Jaina tradition, ignorance (abodhi) and carelessness (pramāda) cause violence. Ignorance is with respect to right knowledge, right vision and right conduct and carelessness is by way of certain types of activities, like alcohol, sensual pleasures, the passions, sleep and unprofitable conversation. Hence Mahāvīra, the propagator of Jainism, preached discrimination (viveka) and renunciation (vairāgya).
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Buddhism too acknowledges that it is the passionate heart, which is the primary cause of evil. Many Buddhist schools of thought like
7.
8.
M. Amaladoss, Making all things new (Mission in Dialogue), Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand, 1990, pp. 140-41.
R. Williams, Jaina Yoga, London Oriental Series, 14, London, 1963, p. 230-231.

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 the Therāvādins, Sarvāstivādins and the Yogācara school term these following six as the morally defiling passions (kilesa) : greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), delusion (moha), conceit (mana), speculative views or heresy (diţthi) and doubt or uncertainty (vicikkiccha). To these are usually added mental idleness (thina), boastfulness (iddhacca), shamelessness (ahirika) and hardness of heart (anottappa).9 Milindapanha too confirms this. 10 All these amount to a foundational cause known in Buddhist term as desire (trsnā) and, in Jaina traditions, passion (kasāya).
Indian philosophical and religious traditions assert that the root cause of all evil is the desire to be and the desire to have. Having weighed life experiences, the Sramaņa sages have come to the conclusion that the outcome of all existence is pain and suffering. Hence Nirvāṇa or Moksa would primarily mean cessation from all suffering. Early Buddhist and Jaina traditions, therefore, sought to practise good conduct and penance in order to achieve this goal. The personal effort in achieving this end is seen in the Hinayāna ideal of the Arhat, which later got developed into a collective social meaning found in the Bodhisattva ideal in the Mahāyāna tradition. But it has often remained primarily a personal endeavour in both these traditions.
The root of desire is again traced to egotism or Ahambhāva or the I-ness. This attitude expresses itself in acts of violence in order to
self, such as, act of grabbing, retaining, etc. In Jaina tradition, the intrinsic nature or svabhāva of the Soul (Ātman or Jiva) is pure consciousness and it has nothing to do with all others like egotism, desire, passions, activities, relations, etc. and they are extraneous to it. 11 And hence realization of the true self is not possible without abstinence from all passions and, subsequently, from all forms of violence. We could see this type of extreme ascetic life in a Jaina monk. In the Buddhist tradition, Buddha chose a middle path by avoiding both extremes of luxury and austerity. A Bodhisattva takes hardships upon himself (an act of self-suffering and infliction of violence to oneself) in order to remove the pain and ensure salvation to others. 12 Both the systems recognize himsā or injury to life as the ultimate 9. S.N. Dasgupta, - A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, Cambridge
University Press, p. 100. 10. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 36, Part II, IV. 5. 17. 1. Samayasāra, Ācārya Kundakunda, Bharatiya Jñānapitha Prakasan,
Vira Samvat 2497 : 1971, Verses 2-3, 38. 12. Tathāgataguhya Sūtra, Sikşāsamuccaya, P.L. Vaidhya, Ed. The Mithila
Institute of post Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, Darbhanga, 1961, p. 274.

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cause of all evils and hence lay stress on personal and collective morality
to overcome it.
Suffering, pain, etc. are forms of violence. Inequality results in caste/class discrimination, unequal income distribution, environmental disasters and ecological imbalances. All these are but a few manifestations of violence to life (Jiva himsā). Jaina metaphysics believes in the pluralism and equality of Jiva. 13 Life may show itself in a variety of forms. But life-as-such is the same in each living being. The plurality of Jiva manifests itself in many spheres of life. But the individuality of a being, be it a plant, or an animal or a human being or a higher spirit has to be acknowledged and respected. The intrinsic capacity or value of life (Jiva) is beyond bounds. The Jaina system proclaims that any form of violence done to any living organism is ultimately violence done to oneself.
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3.1 The phenomenon called 'violence'
The Acārāngasūtra, one of the earliest Jaina Canons, expounds the phenomenon of violence in these terms: the (living) world is afflicted, miserable, difficult to instruct and without discrimination. In this world full of pain, suffering by their different acts, see the benighted ones cause great pain.'14 The very first sermon of Buddha in the deer park has all the elements of maitri and karunā15 and at the same time the 4 Noble Truths lay stress on pain and suffering as results of violence.
Prof. Dasgupta contends that both Jainism and Buddhism appear to have arisen out of a reaction against the sacrificial discipline of the Brāhmaṇas marked by a strong aversion to the taking of animal life and against the practice of animal sacrifice. 16 Whatever may be the context in which these traditions evolved, the phenomenon of violence and the consequent stress on Ahimsa have been the hallmark of their attitude, religiosity and moral life down the centuries.
3.2 Meaning of violence
Violence is understood as malevolence, hatred vengeance, enmity, murder, injury, war, cruelty, barbarity, torture, deception, rape,
13.
Tattvārthasūtra, Vacaka Umāsvāti, Comm. by Sanghvi Sukhlal, Tr. by K.K. Dixit, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1974, 5. 2-3. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 22, Acarängasūtra, I. 1.2.1. 15. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 13, Vinaya Part I, p. 91ff.
14.
16. S.N. Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, Cambridge University Press, p. 208.

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 exploitation and so on. The Praśnavyākarana17 gives nearly thirty Prakrit equivalents or synonyms to the word himsā. Of these the following are considered important destruction of life forces (prāṇavadha), carelessness (asamjamo), wheel of birth and death (parabhavasamkamakarao) and that which makes one devoid of virtues (Guṇānām Virahana). Himsā is the destruction of life forces caused by carelessness actuated by passion like attachment and aversion. 18 It destroys goodness and purity of the soul. In Buddhist tradition, destroying life intentionally is termed as violence. 19 In other places20, it is understood as cruelty, harming (killing), hurting, etc.
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3.3. Aspects of violence
Himsa is both mental and physical in Jaina tradition. Himsā does not depend on acts alone. The law of love will be broken by the absence of compassion shown when a person is carried away by anger. Hence a distinction has to be made between the intention to hurt (bhāva himsā) and the actual hurt (dravya himsā).21 Violence is committed when either the inner self of a being (bhavaprāna) or the outer vehicle of it, namely, the body (dravyaprāna) is in anyway hurt.22 If one acts carelessly moved by passion, himsā is certainly present whether a living being is killed or not.23
In the Sutrakṛtānga24 there is a long discussion between Sudharmā and Jambusvami as regards the judgement of an act whether it is violent or not. It finally concludes that there is sin though [the preceptor of an action] does not possess sinful thoughts, speeches etc. And those creatures such as the earth-bodied, etc. which have no development or mature reason nor consciousness nor intellect, nor mind, nor speech (those which lack judgement) are still full of hostility and wrong against all sorts of living beings. Thus even senseless beings are reckoned instrumental in bringing about slaughter of living beings.25
17.
Praśnavyakarana, Prathamaśrutaskandha, Asravadvāra, Ch. I, Sūtra 2, in Early Jainism by K.K. Dixit, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1978.
18.
Tattvärthasūtra, Ibid., 7.8.
19.
Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 13, Vinaya Part I, p. 235.
20. Dhammapada, 129-130, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 10, Part I. Tattvarthasutra, ibid. 7, 8.
21.
22.
H. Bhattacharya, Sri Mahavira Commemoration Volume I, Article on "Jaina view of Ahimsa", p. 161-162.
23.
Jaina Gazette, Vol. 26, p. 77.
24. Śutrakṛtānga, 2.4.2, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 45.
25. Ibid., 2.4. 9-10.

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It may look irrational and unjust to think how these senseless beings are led to violent deeds. But the Jaina spiritual masters say that with regard to the six types of living beings, from earth-bodied (one sensed) to human beings (with the internal organ as the sixth sense), Soul or Jiva is the same. It is this self due to wrong belief (mithyadṛṣṭi) that commits sin of violence or does cruelty to other creatures. 26
Buddhist tradition pays greater attention to the intention of the doer. It posits five necessary conditions in the crime of killing: the knowledge that life exists, the assurance that a living being is present, the intention to take life, some actions must take place and some movements towards that action, the life must actually be taken.27
4. Justification of violence to the self
4.1. Self-suffering, Self-mortification, self-purification, selfrestraint in religion
There are debates whether one is allowed to take one's life in the process of saving oneself or others. In other words, how are selfmortification, self-persecution and the like are justified? Can a person harm himself/herself or others to safeguard one's own interests?
We see in the Brāhmaṇic tradition the sacrifice of animals, birds, etc. in order to obtain wealth and prosperity to the owner of the sacrifice or the yajamāna. Sacrifice of these birds and animals were justified by stating that the victims will enjoy a better status in the life to come.28 L.C. Burman argues against this contention saying that the same soul works in all and it is sinful to kill any kind of animal at any time and at any place: Śruti does not set down injunctions to kill. Self-protection is the aim of every creature and Atman has no narrow domains. It is all and everywhere.29 It is this sacrificial attitude of the Brāhmaṇas that led Hemacandra to call the Law of Manu as 'himsā śāstra' or the Law of Violence.30 The Jaina Ācāryas, particularly Amṛtacandra and Amitagati, maintain absolute Ahimsa and preach that it is wrong to kill even destructive animals.3 31
26. 27.
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31.
Ibid., 2.4.3.
Narada Thera, A Manual of Buddhism, A text book of Buddhism for the SSC, The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon, Colombo, 1951, p. 81. Purusārthasiddhyupāya, 79-89, Amṛtacandra, Sacred Books of the Jainas, Vol. 4, P.S.V. Ed. Ajit Prasada, The Central Jain Publishing House, Lucknow, 1933.

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 Self-mortification is usually understood as inflicting pain upon oneself. But in a religious and ethical sense it does not result in pain. It is rather the joy of offering oneself in sacrificial service. To an observer the act might evoke sympathy, etc. but the motivation offers tremendous satisfaction and joy to the one who is involved in such a practice.
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In Buddhist tradition, there are examples of self-sacrificial attitude in a Bodhisattva. According to Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, Śikṣāsamuccaya and certain other Mahāyāna texts, a Bodhisattva shows compassion or karunā by resolving to suffer the torments and agonies of the dreadful purgatories during innumerable aeons, if need be, in order to lead all beings to perfect enlightenment.32 The story of Purna in the Samyutta Nikaya explains to what extent forbearance of an individual can go.3: A Bodhisattva is the greatest forgiver and embodiment of forbearance. Even if his body is destroyed and cut into hundred pieces with swords and spears he does not conceive any anger against his cruel persecutors.34
33
Jaina moral tradition upholds a practice called Sallekhanā. This vow is taken with the objective to fulfill what is known as samādhi marana or peaceful passing away, sannyāsa marana or disease in asceticism, pāṇḍitya marana or the wise man's demise. This practice has been frankly recognised as religious self-purification and it is highly commended for both the laity and the monks. It is described at length in the first anga of the Acārāngasūtra (i. vii. 6ff) and its preliminaries are described in detail in the Aurapaccakkhāna, the Samthārā, the Mahāpaccakkhāna and the Candavejjhaya, the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of the Painnas. Jaina tradition also gives a list of those who took to Sallekhanā: Tirthankara Parsva and Ariṣṭanemi35, monk Khandage36, Layman Ambada37 and all those celebrated in the Uvāsagadasão. From middle age till recent years this practice of extreme asceticism is seen:
32. Śikṣāsamuccaya, P.L. Vaidhya, edn. The Mithila Institute of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, Darbhanga, 1961, p. 148.
Samyutta Nikaya, C.A.F. Rhys Davids and F.L. Woodward, The Book of the Kindred Sayings, Vol. 1-5, London, 1917-1930, Vol. 4, p. 60. 34. Śikṣāsamuccaya, ibid., p. 103.
35. Kalpasūtra, 168, 182, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 22.
36.
Bhagavatisūtra, Comm. Abhayadeva, Bombay-Ahmedabad, Vik. Sam. 1974-1988, p. 300.
37. Ovavaiya Sutta, 100.
33.

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Hemacandra in 1172 A.D., King Kumārapāla38, a monk at Ahmedabad 39 and a nun at Rajkot and so on.
A Jaina monk undertakes this extreme form of self-mortification when he suffers from a fatal disease or when he is unable to follow the rules of his Order40 or when he is faced with obstacles to follow his religion. The Purusārthasiddhyupāya claims that Sallekhanā is not suicide because the passions are attenuated. But he who acts with full of passion is guilty of suicide. There are five desires that are fatal at the time of Sallekhanā : desire to live, desire to die, attachment to friends, recollection of pleasures and desire for future pleasures.41 It is almost killing of activity in oneself besides the abnegation of desires.
Extremism is not accepted in Buddhism as it chooses the middle path for its goal. Hence suicide is condemned without qualification : A monk who preaches suicide, who tells man, 'Do away with this wretched life, full of suffering and sin; death is better' in fact preaches murder, is a murderer, is no longer a monk.42 Buddhists object to thirst for non-existence (vibhāvatssņā) as they object to thirst for existence (bhāvatrsnā). A saint must abide in indifference without caring for life, without caring for death. He will not commit suicide in order to reach Nirvāṇa sooner. Is not suicide a desperate act of disgust and desiredisgust with existence and desire for rest? The pilgrim I-tsing says that Indian Buddhists abstain from suicide and, in general, from selftorture. 43
But there are number of stories 44 to show that suicide in certain cases may be the actual cause of or occasion for the attainment of Arhatship, one step lower than the ideal of Buddhahood, although in certain other cases it may be pre-mature and sinful. The Mahāyāna Buddhism praises suicide as self-surrender and worship. The
38. S. Bühler, Uber das leben Jaina Monches Hemacandra, Vienna, 1889,
p. 50f.
39. for 41 days, 1921 A.D.
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. 4, p. 484, ed. James Hastings, Clark T and T Publication. Purusärthasiddhyupāya, ibid. p. 177-178.
Parajika III, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 13, p. 4. 43. J. Thakkasu, Tr. A Record of Buddhist Religion, Oxford, 1896, p. 197ff. 4. Story of Siha (Therigāthā, 77); of Sappadasa (Theragathā, 408); of Vakkali
(Theragāthā, 350); of Godhika (Kathāvatthu, 1.2); also Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 35, p. 273ff.

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 Bodhisattva of the past practised in that way45 any heroic deed (duhkara), for instance, in the ancient Buddhist canon Cariyapitaka, Jataka
Religious suicide is approved in India. But it is significant to note that it has been in the case of men who have lived a full life and acquired a high measure of power. Suicide in other cases has never been authorized; rather it has been strongly condemned. In Buddhism as well as in every Indian system (except Cārvāka) it is held that suicide results in another life still burdened with the consequences of the individual's previous karma
4.2. Duty and promotion of social good
Apart from religious suicide and self-mortification that are justified on religious grounds, both Buddhism and Jainism seek justification for violence in certain other cases. Although Jainism is absolute about non-injury to life and living beings, it prescribes a practical way of life to the laity who engage daily in unavoidable injuries to living beings because of duty and responsibility.
To ascertain the truth that absolute non-injury is the only requirement for Mokşa, Jaina tradition believes that as long as one engages oneself in worldly life one cannot attain salvation. Hence one has to become a monk for sometime in life or aspire to religious life in order to practise Ahimsā in a more perfect manner. History reveals that there had been Jaina kings, generals and soldiers who, by duty, had to engage themselves in political wars. But the Jaina Ācāryas do not call them heretics (mithyādssti) because of blood they shed during
wars. 46
Such illustrations as these show that unavoidable circumstances and duty consciousness make allowance for violence. While the Jains profess that there is no himsā, which has purely pleasant and agreeable consequences47 they also concede to certain activities of the laity performed by way of duty (for instance, punishment), etc. Buddhism considers danda or punishment as unattached violence. The crime includes both punishment of criminals and waging a righteous war.
45. Story of the future Säkyamuni giving his body to feed a starving tigress,
Jātakamālā, 1, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, Vol. 1. 46. Example of Chandragupta Maurya (4 cent. B. C.); Kumārapāla, King of
Gujarat (12 cent. A.D.), Jaina Gazette, Vol. 12, p. 266. 47. Ācārāngasūtra, ibid., 1.4.2.6.

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In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva can kill a person who intends to murder a monk or his own parents : 'it does not matter if I suffer in purgatory for this sin but I must save this misguided creature from such a fate."48 Harsh speech is sometimes permissible to a Bodhisattva : 'he may speak harshly in order to retain foolish persons from evil actions.49
While Buddhism is more liberal in its understanding of himsā, Jainism holds on to its ideal way. For instance, it condemns Euthanasia or mercy killing. The Puruşārthasiddhyupāya warns against wielding a weapon in the false belief that those living in great pain ought quickly to be released from their misery. Even those who are suffering should not be killed. 50
Generally violence is not justified except as a necessary evil, an evil done out of love, piety, pity or duty, and this is the most controversial part of the doctrine of Ahimsā. Questions are asked as to when violence is justified and in what forms and to what extent.51 There can be situations in which the use of violence alone can set the process of transformation in motion. What is important is not to know whether violence is required or not, but to know whether violence is necessary at all and whether it is oriented towards positive, meaningful changes in the social order or whether its objectives tend toward its total destruction.
For instance, to fight against unjust authority, to participate in military or revolutionary violence in order to attain social just objectives,
not condemned. To refuse to take relevant action while injustice does its work and subsequently the poor die of hunger is one way of promoting the unjust system. It is often violence of the oppressor that prompts counter violence of the oppressed. Although debatable, today in practical circumstances, it is violence that assures the defence of the poor and it is violence that stands in the face of exploitation, coercion and oppression by the rich and the powerful. Today people realize that poverty is not a result of fate, but the result of forms of social and economic oppression. Anything that tends to perpetuate poverty or to divert forces that should be devoted to this collective struggle against oppression is treason to the poor. Jacques Ellul says that remaining silent or passive in the face of evil reinforces evil.52
48. Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature,
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., London, 1932, p. 208. 49. Ibid., p. 202. 50. Purusārthasiddhyupāya, ibid., 85. 51. Ahimsā Voice, January 1990, p. 33. 52. Jacques Ellul, ibid., p. 33-34.

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 Indian history, even until Gandhi53, has accepted violence as a means to promote social good. The Mahābhārata says that there are two things : 'abstention from injury and injury done with righteous motives. Of these two, that which brings in righteousness is preferable. There is neither act that is entirely pure nor any that is entirely simple. In all acts, right or wrong, something of both prevails.'54 Violence as such is ethically bad, but in life one has to consider the whole situation before deciding whether the use of violence is justified as a mixed good. The whole situation may not be dominated by one, single ethical principle.55
5. Countering the many faces of violence : The Śramaņa-call to
Life. 5.1. Social inequality and caste discrimination
Śramana culture is said to be a reaction to the Brāhmanical system of social stratification and to the authority of the Vedas. Dharmakīrti
53. For Gandhi 'to cause pain or wish ill to or take the life of any being out
of anger or a selfish intent is Himsā. On the other hand, after a calm and clear judgement to kill or to cause pain to a living being with a view to its spiritual or physical benefit from a pure, selfless intent may be the purest form of Ahimsā.... the final test to its violence or non-violence is after all the intent underlying the act' (Young India, 4.10, 1928, published in book form by Tagore and Co., Madras, 1972). As such, killing is not himsā when life is destroyed for the sake of those whose life is taken (Sharma: Gandhi as a Political Thinker, Indian Press, Allahabad, First impression, p. 52); Violence is admissible to Gandhi, (i) if non-violence would cause the sacrifice of some other values of great worth like honour of women, freedom and honour of the nation, overall strength and growth of the race, or survival of democracy was at stake (N.K. Bose : Selections from Gandhi, p. 155, 156, 168, 170), (ii) if a sufficient number of people were not ready and could not be persuaded to believe in and practice true Satyāgraha, violent struggles for just causes would be justified (ibid. p. 169, 174), (iii) if there is a little prospect of the conversion of the oppressor to the course of justice through Satyāgraha, the victims must defend themselves violently (The heart of the doctrine of Non-violence is the principle of 'universal convertibility' i.e. the belief that all evil-doers, anywhere and in all circumstances, can be persuaded to give up their course of evil if their victims practise
Satyāgraha) (N.K. Bose, Selections from Gandhi, pp. 159, 175-177). 54. Mahābhārata, śāntiparvan, 15.48-50, Ādi to Bhisma parvans, ed. V.S.
Sukthankar and others, Pune, 1927; Ed. T.R. Krishnamacharya and
T.R. Vyasacharya (Kumbakonam edn.), 6 Volumes, Bombay, 1906. 55. Tahtinen Unto, Non-violence as an Ethical Principle, Turku, 1964, p.
66.

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:
says that there are five sins or folly of those who have lost their intelligence belief in the validity of the Vedas, belief in a creator, expecting ethical merit from ablutions, pride of caste and engaging in violence to be rid of sin.56 All these five elements are linked to the Brāhmaṇical system of life and society.
The social system was such that the Brahmanas as priestly community occupied the prime place of honour, were propitiated and consulted not merely in religious matters but also on every aspect of social and political life. Their authority was the authority of the Vedas. Their sanctity was the sanctity of the various gods. Their honour was the propitiation of these gods by way of gifts and sacrifices. Until postVedic period, Sannyasa was not considered as the last stage of life and everyone who wanted to renounce this world had to go through the other stages of life. Gṛhastha dharma or the householder's life was considered meritorious and significant. Only certain types of people were admitted to Holy Orders of priesthood and women could not have access to it. Similarly, recitation of the Vedic texts was restricted only to the Brahmaņas and no outcast was accepted to the learning and life of a Brahmacārin.
It is during the post-Vedic time (the time of the Upanisads and the great Epics) we see a drastic change in the thinking pattern. The Śramaņas must have made a significant influence on the Brahmanic society and its traditional ideals. For instance, there is a reversal in the traditional understanding of a Brāhmaṇa. In the new definition, there are five requisities for being regarded as a Brāhmaṇa: Varṇa (ubhato sujato hoti), Jāti (avikkitto anupakutto jātivādena), Mantra (ajjhayako hoti mantradharo), sila and panditya. But what really makes a person Brāhmaṇa is conduct and learning. 57
173
The Vajrasuci Upanisad 8 traces the source of Brāhmaṇhood to the purity of heart. In the Mahābhārata59, king Yudhisthira is asked, 'who, O king, is a Brāhmaṇa?' The answer is 'a Brāhmaṇa is one who evinces the truth, liberality, forbearance, virtue, mildness, austerity and pity. Anyone who possesses these qualities should be called a Brahmana; anyone bereft of these should be called a Śūdra.' It is no
56. Dharmakirti's Verse.
57.
58.
59.
Dhammapada, 396-423, ibid., p. 91ff.
Vajrasuci Upanisad, 9, Vasudev Laxman Shastri Pansikar, One Hundred and Eight Upanisads, Pub. Pandurang Jawaji, Bombay, 1925; T.R. Ayyangar Srinivasa, The Samanya Vedanta Upanisad, p. 422-425. Mahabharata, Ajāgaraparvan in Vanaparvan.

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more by birth that someone claims to be Brāhmana, but by austerities (tapas) and good conduct (cāritra). Viśvāmitra, a kşatriya, claims the birth and rights of a Brāhmaṇa by austerities. 60 The Jaina canon asserts that it is by one's deed that one becomes a Brāhmaṇa : one does not become a Sramana by tonsure, nor a Brāhmana by the sacred syllable Om, nor a Muni by living in the woods, nor a Tāpasa by wearing clothes of kuća grass and a bark. One becomes a Sramana by equanimity; Brāhmana by chastity, a Muni by knowledge and a Tāpasa by penance.61 Anti-caste attitude is noticed in the legend of Harikesa Bala in one of the early Jain canons, Uttarādhyayanasūtra, 62
There are instances of declaration that the status of Ksatriya was higher than that of the Brāhmana.63 The Ksatriyas placed themselves in a superior position decrying the caste hierarchy, in favour of spiritual learning and achievement : khattiyo settho jane tasmim ye gottapatisārino/ vijacarana sampanno so settiho deva manuse ti (Among those who claim a lineage or gotra, the Ksatriya has a superiority. However, the person who has learning and character is superior to men as well as gods).
To a question relating to gotra Buddha answered Sundarika, a Brāhmaṇa of the Bhāradvāja gotra : 'I am not a Brāhmaṇa, or the son of a king or a vessa; having taken a gotra that of common people, I wander about in the world, without possessions, meditating. Clad in the Sanghāti, I wander about houseless with my hair shaven, tranquil, and not consorting with men in this world. Inopportunely O Brāhman, does thou make enquiry of my gotra. '64 Implicit in the words of Buddha is that ascetic life itself becomes a protest against the tyranny of caste. An ascetic surpasses caste, and other such institution of mundane life. He is casteless, not because he is below caste but because he is above it. An ascetic is free from the bondage and artificial restrictions of society, which an ordinary man might not transgress.
The Šramana movement was a threat to class/caste division and Brāhmana supremacy. It was originally a monastic structure. The Sangha or the Holy Order admitted all types of people, even outcasts
60. The rivalry between the two great Orders or castes: the story of Vaśistha
and Viśvāmitra in the Mahābhārata, Adiparvan, 6638f. 61. Uttarādhyayanasūtra, 25.31-32, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 45, p.
130-140. 62. Ibid., 12. 63. Kalpasūtra, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 22, Part I, pp. 225-226. 64. Sutta Nipāta, 3.4, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 10, pp. 74-75.

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and women. 65 This was not possible in the Brahmaṇic set up. Even the administration of the Sangha was similar to the tribal organisation. Democratic form of government was followed especially with regard to admission into the Order, regular meetings and consultations, authority and accountability among the residents, general governing of the Body, etc.66 All these were prompted by the belief in social equality and understanding of hierarchy on the basis of conduct and experience. 5.2. Accumulation of wealth and private ownership
The attitude towards wealth and riches among the Śramanas was highly contemptuous. They were well aware of the transient nature of things, of the harm these riches did to the moral progress of human persons: 'great wealth and women, a family and exquisite pleasuresfor such things people practice austerities. All this you may have for your asking. What avail riches for the practice of religion, what a family, what pleasures? We shall become Śramaņas possessed of many virtues and wander about collecting alms.67 In the Uttaradhyayanasutra there is a dialogue between a father and his sons. The father tells his sons, 'the study of the Vedas will not save you; the feeding of the Brāhmaṇas will lead you from dreaminess to darkness and the birth of sons will not save you...pleasures bring only a moment's happiness, but suffering for a very long time, intense suffering, but slight happiness, they are an obstacle to the liberation from existence and are a very mine of evils.'68 Finally the father persuades his sons to embrace the life of renunciation: 'my sons, after you have studied the Vedas and fed the priests, after you have placed your own sons at the head of your house and after you have enjoyed life together with your wives, then you may depart to the woods as praiseworthy sages.'69
175
One of the major ethical principles of the Jains is Aparigraha, literally meaning non-grabbing. The metaphor generally refers to nonaccumulation of wealth and simplicity of life. Several instances in the Jaina canon point out to the deadly nature of wealth persuading the believer to follow the course of religious mendicancy. Every attachment is a cause of sin70, an accumulation of karma for which one has to
65. Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha, National book Trust, India, 1971, p. 92.
Rahul Sankrityāyan, ed. pp. 25-29. Uttaradhyayanasūtra, ibid., 14.16-17.
66.
67.
68. ibid., 14.12-13.
69.
Ibid., 14.9.
70.
Sūtrakṛtānga, ibid., 1.3.2.13.

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reap the consequences. They call for subduing desire by desirelessness71, giving up the world72, his possessions and relations and all undertakings and become a wanderer and homeless without worldly interests. 73 A Muni is said to be the one who knows the doctrine of sin, who knows the time, the occasion, the conduct, the religious precept and disowns all things as not required for religious purposes. In him there is no worldly desires and attachment.
176
The Uttaradhyayanasūtra describes a conversation between King Nami and the god of gods Śakra, in the guise of a Brāhmaṇa. Śakra asks King Nami, 'Your place is on fire, why do you not look after your seraglio?' To this the king replies, 'Happy are we, happy we live, we who call nothing our own; when Mithila is on fire, nothing is burnt that belongs to me. To a monk who has left his sons and wives and who has ceased to act, nothing pleasant can occur, nor anything unpleasant. There is much happiness for the sage, for the houseless monk, who is free from all ties, and knows himself to be single and unconnected (with the rest of the world).75
Ideas cherished by such mendicants give us a different perspective to the understanding of wealth and the rich blessings of the world. Such an attitude towards wealth keeps Religion as priority and religious living as the sure means to attain the goal of life. 'Making faith his fortress, penance and self-control the bolt (of its gate), patience its strong wall... making zeal his bar, its string carefulness in walking (iriya) and its top (where the string is fastened content, he should bend (this bow) with Truth, piercing with the arrow, penance, (the foe's) mail, karma (in this way) a sage will be the victor in battle and get rid of the samsāra.'
⚫76
74
From the Śramana perspective, wealth cannot give what is necessary to man: 'If there were numberless mountains of gold and silver, as big as Kailasa, they would not satisfy a greedy person; for his activity is boundless like space." .77 Wealth cannot really save me : It is only a fool who thinks that his wealth, cattle and relations will save him; they him or he them. But they are no help, no protection.'78 Fourteenth chapter of the Uttaradhyayana describes how two sons took refuge in the path of the Jina. As the father discourages and
71. Walter Fernandez, ibid., p. 18.
72. Acārāngasutra, ibid., 1.2.2.1.
76. Ibid. 9.20-22.
77.
Ibid., 9. 48.
78.
Sūtrakṛtānga, ibid. 1.2.3.16.

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177 dissuades his sons from a life of austerities, the sons reply to him, 'if the whole world and all treasures were yours you would still not be satisfied, nor would all this be able to save you. Whenever you die, O King, and leave all pleasant things behind, the law alone and nothing else in this world, will save you a monarch.79
It is easier for a monk to lead a life with frugal means. The life style of a mendicant provides austerity measures. An individual may be weak and slip back into his old ways80 but by assisting one another the mendicants would strengthen one another's efforts. The mendicants' way of life has provided rules for begging food, clothes, couch, bowl and it also regulates the possession of a mendicant.81 A householder, on the other hand, is in the midst of a world with vast differences in attitude and hehaviour. When the worldly ways pose a challenge to a life of Dharma and Moksa, a householder is at a loss to balance between needs and wants, between extremes of life.
5.3 Attachment and dominence
The word Parigraha refers to possession and private ownership. Aparigraha is an attitude of detachment, and in the economic realm it may mean non-obsession with material things or, simply, nonpossession. Aparigraha, besides being a vrata or vow, is an attitude
d specifically toward the material universe. Implicit in the vow is the great reverence to the autonomy of the material universe. What we call wealth, possessions and the pleasures, outside one's self. They may be meant for oneself but does not really belong to the self. This basic understanding comes from the idea that Jīva or the self is identical only with consciousness and all others like pleasures, activity, etc. are extraneous to it. This is the quintessence of Jaina philosophy. Hence, in order to attain the objective of life, namely, the realization of the true self devoid of all that is extraneous to it, Aparigraha or the vow of detachment and non-possession is proposed. Aparigraha clarifies the vision regarding the true nature of the self and, at the same time, to respect the autonomy of the material universe.
A question arises whether it is really possible for embodied beings to be detached from the empirical world. Jaina tradition says that it is
79. Uttarādhyayanasūtra, ibid. 14. 39-40. 80. Paul Carus, ibid. Ch. 17, verse 2. 82. Daśavaikālikasūtra, 6.20, Ārya Sayyambhava, tr. and notes by K.C.
Lalwani, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1973.

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 possible from an absolute, ideal attitudinal or niscaya point of view. Whereas from an actual, practical or vyavahāra point of view, one cannot be without the material universe, because the embodied being itself is a combination of mind and body, spirit and flesh. And one has an intimate relationship with the material universe. But this relationship could be one of domination or of mutual collaboration and the Jaina visionary would prefer the latter. In domination one is a slave to the passions and in collaboration there could be the attitude of detachment and healthy indifference. Thus Aparigraha helps one to achieve this mental equanimity and allows a sort of ownership achieved not by grabbing the material possession or by fighting for it but through a detached acceptance and use of the same. Any possession out of greed and other passions would come under violence to the material world, in other words, dravya himsā.
Amitagati82 points out that violence is committed for the sake of accumulation of wealth or possession. Hence a householder should constantly try to limit his activity to obtain possessions. Ownership can have two results : attachment and aversion. The former manifests itself as a tendency to accumulate wealth by possessing, garbing, etc. and the latter in the form of violence. Ownership is in possession of land, house, jewels, money, livestock, servants and other luxury items.83 Attachment to wealth and a desire to accumulate it are seen when one is found extremely sad at a loss incurred in some transaction, or in hoarding grains and other items to sell them at a higher price or at a later date, overloading animals and extracting more work from servants, etc.84 Parigraha is evident when one takes things that are not one's own or when not given85, when dealing with illicit business86, indulging in adulteration, use of false weights and measures87 and writing false statements or forgery, etc.88
Jaina ethical literature elaborately deals with the way one has to acquire the means of livelihood. In order to be detached, one has to
nen
83. Caritrasāra by Cāmundarāya, Māņikacandra Digambara Jaina
Granthamālā, No. 9, Bombay, 1917, p. 12. 84. Ratnakarandakaśrāvakācāra, 62 by Ācārya Samantabhadra, with
Comm. of Prabhācandra, Māņikacandra Digambara Jaina Granthmālā,
No. 24, Bombay, 1926. 85. Ibid., 57. 86. Pūjyapāda on Tattvārthasūtra, 7.27, Sarvārthasiddhi, Tr. Reality, S.A.
Jain, Viraseva Sangha, Calcutta, 1960. 87. Tattvārthasūtra, ibid. 7.22; Ratnakarandakaśrāvakācāra, 58. 88. Upāsakadasanga, 1.46, with Comm. of Abhayadeva, ed. with tr. by
Hoernle, Bibliotheca Indica, No. 105, Calcutta, 1890.

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179 keep a check on oneself mainly in the way one acquires wealth and other possessions. Firstly, the Jaina householder chooses a profession that involves least violence to sub-human beings89 and he does least violence to his partners in business, his servants, the customers, etc. 90 Secondly, he takes to Dig vrata, literally meaning control of directions. This vow restricts one's movements minimizing greed and violence. It limits one's freedom of movement by climbing, ascending mountains, descending into the well or underground, storehouse etc., entering a cave, etc.91 Desavakaikavrata limits the extent of territory for movements and objects of senses. 92
Thirdly, the Jaina householder takes to Bhogopabhogaparimāna vrata, which puts a limit to the use of objects in order to minimize attachment to them. They include meat and honey, intoxicants, ginger, faddish, carrot, butter, unsuitable means of conveyance or unsuitable ornaments, the use of bizarre dresses.93 The householder should avoid the use of five udumbara fruits 94 and abandon the use of non-sentient but life-substances like roots, fruits, seeds, etc. without boiling them.95 Finally a Jain householder is expected to fast on aştami, caturdasī and purimā.96 Āsādhara, Vasunandin, Amstacandra and others have prescribed the procedure for fasting97, meditation, study of scriptures, worship of Jina, saluting and feeding the sādhus, vigilance in conduct and thinking of anuprekşās or themes of contemplation, etc. 98 Such a
89. Fifteen forbidden trades are listed in Sāgaradharmāmrta of Āsādhara,
see R. Williams, Jaina Yoga, London, 1963, p. 117-121. 90.
There is a general impression that the Jains, being a business community, have an objective of accumulating wealth by any means. There are several ideas and values in Jaina ethics to show that they are consistent with the spirit of capitalism (Arvind K. Agarwal, Jaina Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism-A Critical Reappraisal of Weber' in Ideal, Ideology and Practice, Studies in Jainism, ed. N.K. Singhi, Printwell Publishers, Jaipur, 1987, p. 199-202; also see another article in the same book 'Jainism and its perversion in actual practice' by Tarachand
Gangwal, p. 124-136). 91. Tattvārthasūtra, ibid. 7.25. 92. Kartikeyānupreksā, 367 by Swāmi Kārikeya, Comm. by śubhacandra,
ed. A.N. Upadhye, Agas, 1960. 93. Sāgaradharmāmrta, ibid., 5.15-17. 94. Puruşārthasiddhyupāya, ibid. 61. 95. Kartikeyānuprekşā, ibid. 379. 96. Siddhasena on Tattvārthasūtra, 7.16, Surat, 1930. 97. Sagaradharmāmrta, ibid. 5.36-38. 98. Ibid. 5.36-38.

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 means of livelihood according to the tenets of religion not only prepares a Jaina householder mentally with attitudes of detachment, but also externally curtails him from hoarding.99
180
A significant practice among the Jaina householders, which further helps in minimizing attachment to the material universe, is gift offering or Dāna. It is popular among the Buddhists as well. In the absence of this practice no ascetics can survive and consequently there could be no transmission of their sacred doctrine. Dana as understood in its largest sense includes the giving of one's daughter and the transmission of property to one's heirs, the exercise of charity, the construction of temples and community institutions such as common kitchen or poṣadhaśāla, or even the performance of pūjā viewed as the giving of flowers, incense, flag staff and similar offerings.
Generally ascetics are given food and drink, clothes, blankets, bedding and other necessary accessories. Ahara, abhaya, śāstra and bhaiṣajya are the four types of gift-offering made to the ascetics. Acārya Vasunandin says that in any act of gift-offering five factors have to be considered the recipient (pātra), the giver (dāṭr), the thing given (dātavya, dravya), the manner of giving (dānavidhi) and the result of giving (dāna phala). 100 Like other meritorious acts, it can contribute to the extinction of karma or to the amassing meritorious karma or may find requital in the present life.
Acārya Hemacandra proposes a scheme wherein illustrious disciples sow their wealth on the seven fields with compassion for those in great misery. 101 They are:
99.
i. Jaina images: wealth is spent on them by setting them up, by performing the eight-fold pūjā, by taking them in procession through the city, by adorning them with jewels, and fine clothes; ii. Jaina temples: wealth is spent on building new domes and for old ones to be restored;
The ideal of Aparigraha (non-possession of wealth) is an underlying tenet for the simplistic, austere life of a Jain householder which provides ample empirical and logical evidence that the earning of profits is not for the sake of non-productive consumption but for reinvestment. This tenet also explains the large scale philanthropic activity done by such the miniscule Jaina community in Indian society', Idea, Ideology and practice, ed. 'N.K. Singhi, p. 200.
100. Jnanapitha Murtidevi Jaina Granthamala, Prakrit Series No. 3, p. 200. 101. Yogasāstra of Hemacandra, iii, 120.

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iii. Jaina scriptures: wealth is spent on copying the sacred texts and giving them to learned monks for writing commentaries; iv. Monks wealth is spent on alms giving and for taking care of the monks;
:
V.
Nuns wealth is spent on alms giving and for taking care of the nuns;
181
vi. Layman: wealth is spent on inviting the co-religionist to birth and marriage festivals, distributing food, betel, clothes and ornaments to them, constructing public posadhasālās and other buildings for them, and encouraging them in religious duties. Charity is to be extended to all those who have fallen into evil circumstances; and,
vii. Lay women: all the duties under the last head apply equally to
women.
Hemacandra goes on to say that an illustrious householder (mahāśāvaka) should use his wealth indiscriminately to assist all who are in misery or poverty, or those who are blind, deaf, crippled or sick etc. 102 Such sowing of one's substance is to be made with limitless compassion.
For a Buddhist lay person practice of generosity has been cast in certain routine forms since earliest days of Buddhism. It consists largely in remunerating the monk's services to villagers. Thus a lay person gains merit by giving food, robes, money (often to the head of monasteries for the community's needs) to monks or, sometimes, land or materials or labour for building a new monastery or Vihāra. 103
Both Jaina and Buddhist traditions have given much importance to gift-offering, an act of sharing of one's substance or wealth. It only shows the rational understanding of the concept of Jiva as entirely different from the material (Ajiva) and the earnestness of the Jaina believer to realise the real self, the ultimate objective of life.
102. It is important to note that Jaina householders pay attention to this aspect of gift offering or Dāna and we could see in any Indian city and elsewhere hospitals, community halls, etc. for public consumption. Social service and welfare has become one of the key notes of Jaina morality. 103. Anathapindikā, a man of unmeasured wealth was called the supporter of orphans and the friend of the poor, offers Jetavana and Visakhā, a wealthy woman, offers Pubbarama or Eastern Garden, Paul Carus, ibid., Ch. 24 and 25.

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6. Conclusion
As contemporary India is going through a slow process of development and growth, the land and its people encounter different forms of violence in different spheres of life. Cultural and religious fundamentalism, inequality and social dominance and subjugation between ethnic and linguistic groups, economic imbalance and unequal distribution of wealth, environmental degradation and so on seem to tear the social fabric of India and tarnish the life-style of its people. While different social and political forces are at work to redeem a situation such as this, religious and spiritual resources offer permanent solutions to the contemporary evils in society.
The Śramana religions like Jainism and Buddhism propose their basic ethical principles like non-injury to life and detachment in procuring and use of wealth, etc. as the only source of remedy. The simple life-style and the generous attitude prompted by their sages and spiritual masters is a sure step to meet the challenges of the contemporary world of consumerism and hoarding mentality. Ultimately it is violence done to life out of greed and other passions that causes conflicts among individuals and communities. Even more harm is done to life at the level of attitude. Violence to human and environmental life is prominently seen as life is categorized as high and low, and subsequently treating humans and others as lesser beings. It is the same narrow attitude that prompts people to violence in the use of language, that lodges people in a ghetto world, that refuses to allow changes, accommodations in one's own thinking and behaviour.
Jaina and Buddhist attitude to life prompts a dhārmic way of life which, in general, promises to preserve and to promote life with dignity and freedom. This prompting could be a happy lead to cross over a life of sorrow and danger in contemporary India, if only the call of the Śramaņas could be meaningfully heard.

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JAINISM UNDER CĀLUKYAS OF KALYANA
DR. HAMPA NAGARAJAIAH The age of imparial Cālukya rule was a period of intense political, cultural, literary and socio-religious activities in Karnataka. They extended the empire of the Rāştrakūtas that they inherited, covering the border areas of the present day states of Andhra Pradesh, Mahārāṣtra, and the north-eastern belt. The long and active rule of the members of Cālukya dynasty between 973 and 1186 C.E., had made significant contribution. Numerically speaking the largest number of inscriptions are of the Cälukya monarchs. Tailapa-II, his sons, grand sons and the successive rulers expanded the kingdom in all directions, establishing political stability. Karnataka witnessed highest number of Dukes and governors during this aeon.
From Tailapa downwards upto mallikāmoda Jagadēkamalla Jayasimha, all the early monarchs were Jains, according to available inscriptions. "(Jainism) covered many parts of Karnataka and exercised such a powerful influence among its inhabitants that it enjoyed for sometime the privilege of almost universal doctrine. During the sway of the Gangas and the Rāstrakūtas in particular, until the advent of later Cālukyas, Jainism played the conspicuous role of a state religion. Jainism has contributed immensely to political history and cultural dimensions of Karnāțaka, particularly its literary eminence and architectural grandeur" (A History of Karnataka, p. 301).
The above observation is vouched by a number of contemporary charters. The Cālukya dynasty was highly indebted to a particular Jaina family of the noble lady Attimabbe. Her father Mallapa, her uncle Punnamayya, her husband Nāgadēva and her son Anņigadeva-were the illustrious generals in the army of Tailapa. They fought bravely and in the process Nāgadēva and Punnamayya lost their lives on the battle field, the latter on the banks of river Kāveri, on the extreme south. Gundamayya and Abhavamalla, brothers of Attimabbe also joined the army and enhanced the glory of the family. Dallapa, fatherin-law of Attimabbe was the chief minister, chief of army and chief of the royal records. Thus, an entire family assisted the kingdom for generations with their gallantry and dedication.
Nāgamayya, supermo of Punganūr in Vengidesa gave away gifts and encouraged Jainism. His sons, Mallapa and Punnamayya were

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV. No. 4 April 2000 devout Jains, noted scholars and connoisseurs of art and literature. When Jinacandra, preceptor of their family and ascetic of great fame, passed away, Mallapa and his brother commissioned poet Ponna (C.E. 965) to author Santipurāṇa, biography of Tirthankara, for the merit of
monk Jinacandra.
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Attimabbe strictly adhered to the principles enunicated in the gospel of Jina. She helped the scholars, creative writers, singers-both vocal (gāyaka) and instrumental (vādaka), story tellers, reciters, dancers, actors, soldiers, the destitute and orphans. She founded an amazing figure of 1501 Jaina temples and distributed 1500 images of Jinas, 1500 gold coated glittering lamps, 1500 festoon, 1500 gong and bells to ring while worshipping the god and 1500 mandasanas, wooden chests for placing Jina-pratimas. She got 1000 copies of Santipurāṇa re-copied on palm-leaf and distributed freely to the householders. She also patronised Ranna (C.E. 993) a major poet of the period who composed Ajitapurana, biography of Ajitanatha Tirthankara. Thus she earned the title of 'Dana-Cintamani-Attimabbe' from the Calukya emperor.
Tailapa (973-97) was the lay votary of the adept Jinacandra-muni and his son Satyāśraya Iṛivabedanga (997-1008) was a lay pupil of Vimalacandra panditadeva. Uninterrupted assistance continued during the reign of these two emperors, father and son, who evinced personal interest. After usurping the Rāṣṭrakūṭa kingdom and establishing his own dynasty, Tailapa and his son continued Malkhed as their residence and Jaina officers, who were under the hegemony of their predecessor's rule, in different cadre and hierarchy were continued to serve the new monarchy. Surprisingly most of the crucial and consequential bureaucracy had Jainas. Besides, the Calukyas had emerged to the Imperial status with the support of Jaina community and Jaina friars. Śāntivarma, one of the governors of Tailapa, founded a Jina sanctuary at Saundatti and dedicated it to Bahubali Bhaṭṭāraka, in C.E. 980. At Mulgunda, Kereyamma a subordinate, erected a monlith mānastambha in front of Jaina shrine, in C.E. 977. King Tailapa, while camping at Rodda, near Pavagada, in C.E. 992, granted land, completely exempted from all taxes, to the Jaina temples of Kogali and the endowment was entrusted to Gaṇadhara Bhaṭṭāraka, chief of the Kogali diocese.
Tailapa honoured Ranna, poet-laureate and polyhistor, with the title of 'kavi-cakravarti' (poet-emperor) and presented him with 'Madanavatāra' a parasol of rarity. Till then such an unique distinction was awarded only to Puniseya Maruļadēva the Ganga prince, son of Būtuga and son-in-law of Kṛṣṇa-III, the Rāṣṭrakūṭa soverign; again, all the three of them being Jainas.

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Ranna (C. 950-1010 C.E), a versifier of eminence, was more than a match to any lyrist of the Cālukya dynasty. Ranna, started as a soldier in the army of the Gangas, rose to high rank by the favour of Cāmundarāya, shifted his allegiance to Cālukyas. After attemptin composing inscriptions, and two poems Parasurāma-carite and Cakrēśvara-carite, are not extant. Of the surving works, Ajitampurāņa (C.E. 993) and Sāhasa-Bhima-Vijaya olim Gadāyuddha are considered as the best poems of this time.
King Satyāśraya, educated under Jaina pontiff, profusely showered favours on Jaina community. During his period Jainism held its sway over the elite and the common folk alike. A post-obitum slab was set up at Angadi, for the memory of his Jaina teacher in C.E. 990. Satyāśraya endowed Brahma-Jinālaya with Cakravarti-datti and a golden kalasa, at Lakkundi built by the celebrated Attimabbe as her 1501th Jaina temple that she alone had commissioned, in the year C.E. 1107-08. Ranna had authored an epigraph, his last work with which he has bid good bye to his magic wand of creative genius.
Satyāśraya's daughter Mahādevi was the queen consort of IsivaNolambādhirāja-Ghateyankakāra, a dedicated Jaina, who had endowed the Jaina house of worship at Maravoļal. Satyāśraya had expressed his deference to the venerable Jaina nun Nāyibbarasi-abbegal, Jainadharma-samuddharane, a saviour of Jaina faith. During his reign, Rācațūri Jogasāmi has caused to be made a Jina image and a house of prayer at Rāghava Puram (Andhra).
A pillar at Cilūr (A.P. : Hyderabad Dt) records a grant of land made by Dandanāyaka Padmanābhaiah, a general of Vikramāditya-V, to the Annal-Atiśaya-Pārsvadeva of Indra-jinālaya attached (prati-baddha) to the Antara-Vasadi of Cilakūru. Annal is a Dravidian word, equivalent to Sanskrit Arhat. Atisaya implies an extraordinary glory phenomena of the image of Pārsva. The nomen Indra-Jinālaya clearely suggests that the Jaina shrine was a creation by the Rāştrakūța emperor IndraII or Indra-III.
After Vikramāditya-V, (1008-14) Ayyana-II (1014-15) also generously contributed to the upkeep of Jaina basadis. Jainism blossomed to its best during the government of Jagadekamalla Jayasimha (1015-42). He had two typical Jaina cognomen of Mallikāmoda, delectable like Jasmine, and Vadiraja Jagadekamalla, a pupil of Jaina ācārya. He founded a Jaina shrine at Maski (Raichur Dt) named after him as Jagadekamalla-Jinālaya.
One of the earliest of the inscriptions of the period of Jayasimha,

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 dated C.E. 1015 is from Kodakani, a famous Jaina centre where Nemisetti of Nunnavamsa commissioned a Jaina shrine. Jayasimha founded another Jaina temple dedicated Säntinātha Jina at Balligave and the grants he had made were again renewed by Vikramāditya-VI in C.E. 1068, at the time of his elder brother's coronation. Āyca Gāvunda, for the merit of his spouse Kancikabbe, built a basadi at Hosūr (Gadag Dt) in C.E. 1028. Jaina temple and cloister of Jaina monks at Marola (Bijapur Dt, Hungund tk) thrived in this time with a number of Jaina ascetics actively preaching the tenets of their creed; gifts of land to the Jaina temple here is recorded in an inscription of C.E. 1028.
Sõmaladevi, daughter of Jayasimha and Akkādevi, sister of Jayasimha favoured Jainism. Aggalayya was a famous Jaina physician of the kingdom. He had the titles of Vaidya-ratnākara, an ocean of medicine, and Prānācārya, master of the (human) soul, and elevated to the status of royal physician. At the request of Aggalayya, wizard of Ayurveda sāstra, Jagadekamalla made a gift to two Jaina temples of Buddhasēna-Jinālaya at Muccananapalli and VaidyaratnākaraJainālaya at Ikkuriki (A.P. Nalgonda Dt). Jayasimha who certainly professed Jainism gave an added impetus to the cause of Nirgrantha creed.
Trailokyamalla (1042-68] continued backing Jainism. Akkādevi gifted land to a Jinālaya at Arasibīdi (Vikramapura) for the maintenance of the establishment and of the attached monks and nuns, in C.E. 1047, grants were given to another Jinālaya in C.E. 1044, and to Balligāve basadi in 1048. Baladeva, minister for war and peace, gave an estate to Nayasēna-I, a Jaina monk, as trustee for the supply of food to the Jaina-āyatana at Mulgund in 1053. Lakşma-nrpa, Duke of Banavāsi-12,000, granted estates to the Jaina temple at Annigere, which was later renewed by general Rācidēva. About a dozen lithic records establish that Trailokyamalla was more auspicious to Jaina church. Śrīdharadeva authored Jātakatilaka, a work on Astrology.
During the period of Bhuvanaikamalla (1068-75) all the conditions were propitious to a smooth sailing for Jainism. Lakşma-nrpa again continued to help it to bloom without let at Annigere, Puligere and other holy places
Tribhuvanamalla, who had Vikramāditya-VI as his first name succeeded Bhuvanaikamalla, and alone ruled for over half a century (1076-1126). That was the best of prosperous years for Jaina community. Never before or after, Jaina society flourished without hindrance for such a long period under one particular king. The only

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parallel example would be of Amõghavarşa. Like him, Vikramāditya was also born and bread, educated in a Jaina atmosphere, moulded in the Jaina crucible. Scores of charters speak of his and his vassals very many consistent gifts and endowments to the Jaina sanctuaries and monastries. Hundreds of new basadis were commissioned and many more renovated. Jaina monks and nuns were respected everywhere.
Enthusiastic Jaina pious votaries expanded their wealth on basadis, tanks, reservoirs, channels, feeding houses and digging wells. In their frenzy for glory, Jains had built too many temples, far larger when compared to their smaller ratio of population. Perhaps at a later stage they realised that their ancestors had spent too much of wealth and energy on places of prayer. Basadis constructed, north to south and east to west, marked an effective penetration of Jaina activities in Cālukyan territory.
The Cālukya rulers gave a distinct character to Jaina art and architecture. The temples and caves of this period are in fact a precursor to a distinct Jaina style that was translated into a more elaborate, impressive and integrated style during the later periods of the Hoysalas, where it reached its zenith in the decorative element.
Towards the closing decades of the Cālukyas, things did not move well with Jainism. It was desperately struggling against hostile forces. Jainism was hardly able to establish structures of the size and splendour of the period of the Gangas and the Rāştrakūtas, and even the Cālukyas upto 1184. They could at best safeguard their cultural inheritence. Therefore, they tried to repair and restore the disintegrated structures.
The Yāpaniya sangha, a Jaina sect, flourished during these years and it deserved foremost attention. It followed the middle path of bridging the gulf between the two extremes of the Digambara and Śvetāmbara sect, within the orbit of Jaina philosophy and code of conduct, especially regarding the issue of nudity. 'Yāpaniyas went naked in the forest but wore a single piece of clothing when in populated areas. They recognised the authenticity of the Svetāmbara scriptures, and they propounded two doctrines traditionally acceptable only to Svetāmbaras; that women can attain salvation and that the omniscient being partakes of food' (Jaini, P.S. : 1979: 15)
Since the Yāpaniya sangha suggested a compromise and a reformation, if faced formidable challenge. Even the slightest departure is censured by traditionally conservative forces. But, those who were

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 receptive to new ideas, warmly welcomed Yapaniya. The Yapaniya sangha started its chapter in Karnataka at Kalyāņa olim Basavakalyāṇa (Bidar Dt), in C.E. 159, and by fifth century it had assumed the vulnarable position of receiving royal reception by way of frequent endowments from the Early Kadambas of Banavāsi. Later on, the Yapaniyas took virtually every sphere of life by storm.
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By the time of the Calukyas, the Yapaniya sangha had prospered so rapidly that it had reached its apex. The Calukyas respected and encouraged all sects, but the Yapaniyas seemed to have received more attention.
After the sustained royal patronage of banavāsi Kadambas, the Yapaniya sangha never looked back. It grew from strength to strength upto the period of Kalacuris and Cālukyas. The period between 980 and 1180 C.E. was the golden age of Yapanīya sangha; that was the best of time, and the year after 1184 was the worst of time for them.
"Male and female ascetics of Yapaniya sangha had their listeners and adherents, from the king to common citizen. Festivals and modes of worship, pilgrimage centres were common to Digambara tradition. Yapaniya pontiffs and high ranking teachers with their amazing achievements and mastery in the realms of philosophy, logic, grammar, yoga, spirituality, literature, medicine and other akin branches of knowledge, have been revered most by one and all, Jains and nonJains alike. Many epigraphs mention Yapaniya preceptors and their pupil of three to four generations. Thus, a systematic and authenticated genealogy of the illuminating personality of Yapaniya ācāryas can easily be traced. There were many noted centres of this sect during the Calukya age" (Kamala Hampana : 1995. 30-31]
The Yapaniyas transmitted a very rich Nirgrantha cultural tradition exercising their sway for over eight hundred years in Karnataka. Like their predecessors, the Calukyas widened unstinted patronage to Jainism: "The Yapaniyas seem to have eventually merged into the larger Digambara community by which they were surrounded, their tendencies toward a more ecumenical Jainism died with them" (Jaini, : 15]
Bibliography
Bhavanendra Kumar, S.A.: (ed) Jinamañjarī, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1994.
Desai, P.B.: Jainism in South India and some Jaina Epigraphs; Solapur,
1957. Jawaharlal, G: Jainism in Andhra, 1994.

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189 Kamala Hampana : Attimabbe and Chalukyas, Bangalore, 1995. Nagarajaiah, Hampa : 1. Later Gangas and Mandali Thousand, Bangalore,
1999-A. 2. Aprops of Vikramāditya-VI and Jainism, Tumkur,
1999-B. 3. Jina Pārśva Temples in Karnataka, Hombuja, 1999
C.
4. Yapaniya sangha (in Kannada), Hampi, 1999-D. Nagaraja Rao, M.S. ed. The Chālukyas of Kalyāna, Bangalore, 1983. Padmanabh S. Jaini : The Jaina Path of Purification, Berkeley, California,
1979. Saletore, B.A. : Mediaeval Jainism, Poona, 1938. Upadhye, A.N. : Upadhye Papers, Mysore, 1981.

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THE RĀṢTRAKŪTAS AND JAINISM
PROF. KAMALA HAMPANA
After vanquishing the Calukyas of Bādāmi (Vātāp:) the Rāṣṭrakūtas, the greatest of India's imperial dynasties, founded a great kingdom, vaster than any before their times, which included most of Dakṣinapatha. The Rāṣṭrakūța era ushered in the golden age of Jaina renaissance in all walks of life. The Rāṣṭrakūta kingdom was so enormous that it was considered as one of the four major kingdoms in the world, according to Suleman (A.D. 851), the famous Arabbi travellor.
The powerful Dantidurga had conquered the shaky Calukyas and invading northern India had seized Avanti, assumed the imperial title of Rajaparameśvara in A.D. 753. Kṛṣṇarāja-I (C.E. 758-72) succeeded his uncle Dantidurga, sealed the fate of the Calukyas and started constructing Ellora temple. Reputed Jaina logician BhaṭṭaAkalankadeva lived as a contemporary to these two monarchs. According to Peterson, Akalankadeva and his brother Niskalanka were the sons of Subhatunga alias Kṛṣṇaraja-I, the Raṣṭrakuța emperor. Akalanka has been regarded as the founder of the medieval school of logic. He confuted the Buddhists at the court of Himasitala in Kanci in C.E. 788. It is also believed that he studied at Sravanabelagola and became a monk at Maleyur, also known as Kanakagiri (Mysore Dt).
The dialectician Akalankadēva has a number of works to his credit, prominent among them being 1. Tattva-ratna-rāja-vārtika, a commentary on the Tattvārtha-sūtra of pontiff Umāsvāmi, 2. Siddhiviniscaya, 3. Laghiyastrayi, 4. Aṣṭasati, the earliest commentary on the Aptamimāmsā (Dēvāgama-stōtra) of Samantabhadradeva (7th cent. A.D.), and other works on Jaina epistomology and logic.
The Mallisena-Prasasti of Śravanabelagola mentions Akalankadēva as a prestigious dialectic disputant at the court of Sahasatunga Dantidurga. It states that there was no other grandeur king like Kṛṣṇarāja on earth and no other erudite scholar like Akalanka. He remained a popular poet and his works are highly venerated.
Vidyananda alias Patrakēsarin wrote Apta-mimāmsālankära (Astasahasri), an exhaustive commentary on the Apta-mimāmsā of Samantabhadradēva. Vidyananda has followed Aṣṭasati of Akalankadeva as his guide. The illustrious Jaina connoisseur

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191 Kaviparamēşthi completed his magnum opus called Vagartha-Samgrana or Gadya-kathā, the earliest Mahāpurāņa in Sanskrit.
Subhatunga Indra, father of Dantidurga, governor of Lāța, constructed śubhatunga-Vasati, a Jaina temple in Vāțagrāmapura (Vāțana-gara, Vādnēr in Nasik Dt). Two of the greatest Jaina savants of the Rāştrakūța age, Svāmi Virasēnācārya of Pañcastūpānvaya and his adroit pupil Jinasenācarya lived at this Vāțanagara monastery.
Puspadanta and Bhūtabali (circa 5th cent. A.D.) had compiled the traditional canonical and primordial Prakrit text Satkhandāgama. Scriptures require the skills of interpreters. Virasenācārya, proficient in agamas launched his voluminous commentary of 72,000 verses on the Satkhandāgama during the rule of Jagattunga-Govinda-III. Though, Virasēna could not complete his work, and wrote 20,000 verses, it did cover an important section of the vast lore of Jaina āgama. He completed this Dhavalā in 816-17 A.D. when Amõghavarşa-I (C.E. 814-77) was on the Rāștrakūta throne. Because he commenced the commentary during the reign of Govinda, who had the title of Tribhuvana-Dhavala, Virasena christened it as Dhavalā.
Jinasenācārya-II, scholar pupil of Virasēna, and a grand disciple of Āryanandi, continued the commentary from where his guru had left incomplete and merrily completed it in A.D. 837-38. He named it after his king disciple Nypatunga Amõghavarsa who had the title of Atisaya-Dhavala.
Jinasenācārya-I belonged to Punnāța-samgha, an ancient Jina congregation in Karnataka. He wrote his mahā-kāvya Harivamsapurana and completed it in A.D. 784. It is one of the early Jaina creative works in Sanskrit that inspired the later Jaina writers to compose in Sanskrit also, in addition to Prakrit. Jinasena-II, versatile in Prakrit and Sanskrit, wrote Pārsvābhyudaya-kāvya, much earlier in A.D. 782, completed Jaya-Davalā in A.D. 837-38 composing 40,000 verses to his preceptor's 20,000. By far the most widely and the most influential of his works in Adipurāņa. Dexterous Jinasenācārya started composing Adipurāņa, but when the work had progressed to 10,380 verses, he passed away.
Ācārya Guņabhadra, poet-scholar and pupil of Jinasena, continued, in all earnestness, the incomplete work of his preceptor and added, 1,620 ślākas to Adipurāņa (Pūrvapurāna), first part of Mahāpurāņa Guņabhadrācārya successfully completed the second part of Mahāpurāna called Uttarapurāņa by composing another 9,500 verses (C. 850 A.D.) Thus, Mahāpurana, containing 20,000 verses, is a

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 significant Mahā-kāvya which has been the source for all Kannada Jaina Purāņas. Ātmānu-śāsana is another philoshophical work of Acārya Gunabhadra, who was also a preceptor to Kṛṣṇa-II, son of Amōghavarsa. Jinasena's greatest gifts were poetry and commentary in both of which he displayed uch remarkable sensibility that makes it difficult to judge in which he excelled better. Adipurāņa is relevant to contemporary times, steeped in material acquisitions and blind to the voice of the spirit.
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The period of Amōghavarsa is considered as the Augustan age of Jaina literature. Mahavirācārya, a skilled mathematician and courtpoet, states in his Ganita-sara-samgraha that the subjects under the rule of Amōghavarṣa were happy and the land yielded plenty of grain, 'may the kingdom of Amoghavarṣa, the follower of Jainism', ever increase far and wide.
Grammarian Palyakirti Sākaṭāyana, also a court poet of Amōghavarṣa, wrote his famous grammar Sākaṭāyana along with auto commentary Amogha-Vṛtti, named after the monarch. This work is a vivid example of the Jaina school of grammar.
Śrīvijaya was another Jaina author and poet-laureate in the court of Amōghavarṣa. He wrote kavirāja mārga, a treatise on Indian poetics, at the instance of his master. Śrīvijaya heralded a new era of practically opening the flood gate for a rich harvest of Kannada literature in all genre. In the context of Karnataka, Kavirājamārga, poet's avenue, was the first grammar, first treatise on poetics and prosody, first work to speak of Karnataka's boundary, people and the dialects of Kannada language, and it has some other firsts to its credit.
Śrīvijaya also wrote Candraprabhapurāṇa and Raghuvamsapurāṇa based on the material from Kaviparameṣṭhi's Vagartha Samgraha (C. 8th cent. A.D.), a biography in Sanskrit of 63 great men of Jaina mythology. Śrīvijaya, a trend setter, was the earliest to depart from the traditional tract of writing commentaries as his predecessors did. He preferred to deviate and compose creative works of eminence. Candraprabhapurāṇa, on the life of Candraprabha, the eighth Tirthankara, is the first Jaina purāņa in Kannada language. Similarly Raghuvamsa purana is the earliest poem in Kannada on the theme of the Rāmāyaṇa. Probably, Śrīvijaya has identified Amoghavarṣa with Rama, and Raghuvamsa with Rāṣṭrakūta dynasty. The verses on the theme of the Rāmāyaṇa quoted in Kavirajamārga are evidently from this work.
Poet Asaga (C. 9th cent. A.D.), another noted Jaina genius during

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193 the Rāșțrakūța time and a contemporary writer of Śrīvijaya, Śākațāyana, Mahāvirācārya and Guņabhadrācārya, has composed a good number of Jaina puranas in Sanskrit. Candraprabha-purānam, Santipurāņam and Vardhamāna-puranam are his famous kāuyas. According to the statement of Jayakīrti's Chando nušāsana(A.D. 935), a Sanskrit work dealing with Kannada metres, Asaga has written five Kannada kāvyas of which Kumāra-sambhava was celebrated.
Motivating spirit of Jaina literature under Rāştrakūtas has been both spiritual and secular. Jains from time immemorial have nurtured refined tastes and tendencies conducive to the development of art, architecture, medicine, grammar and literature. Ugrāditya (A.D. 770840), a pupil of Śrīnandi and a confrere of Lalitakirti Ācārya, composed his Kalyāņa-kāraka, a medical work, at Ramagiri, the modern Rāmakonda (Andhra Pradesh : Višākapatnam Dt). Ugrāditya, famed Jaina ascetic, visited the court of Amoghavarsa where he delivered a discourse on meatless diet and advocated vegetarianism for a healthy and spiritual progress.
Nộpatunga Amõghavarşa, Jaina Asoka of the Rāştrakūța empire, a pupil of exalted Jinasēnācārya-II, was a faithful follower of Jainism. "The king Amõghavarşa remembered himself to have been purified that day when the lustre of the gems was heightened in consequence of his diadem becoming reddish by the dust-pollen of Jinasēna's footlotuses appearing in the stream of waterlike lustre flowing from the collection of the brilliant rays of his nails" (Uttarapurāņa). Amõghavarşa, having bowed to Vardhamāna Jina, wrote Praśnõttara-ratna-mālikā in Sanskrit.
Nrpatunga-Amõghavarşa-I, was a tiny tot and a precious child of 14 years when he ascended the throne of an imperial dynasty. Having grown and nurtured in the learned Jaina matha, he was sensitive and sagacious, but pious, possessing an independent spirit. He had appointed Guņabhadra as the preceptor for his son Krsna-I. Amõghavarşa was the originator of the ritual of the Jaina monasteries at Banavāsi. The Ganita-sāra-samgraha, a work of his protege, graphically describes his initation to Jainism.
Amoghavarsa shines like a polar star on the firmament of the Rāştrakūta kingdom. He had a long innings of over three score and more years, sufficient to irk his son Krsna. The prince could not wait any more to succeed to the throne, lost his patience and came out openly claiming his legitimate right to the Rāştrakūta simhāsana. For an aged father this was too much to swallow. Paradoxically, for the over grown and long awaited son, this was the question of now or

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 never. Thus, peculiar situation of the prince revolting against the crown would have been fatal to Amoghavarşa, but for the timely intervention of Bankēya of Cellakētana family, Jaina dynasty, who stood firm by the king like Olympus. Bankēya alias Bankarāja, with his political wisdom tactfully handled the aggravated and complex situation, bridged the gulf and saved the prestige of both the king and prince. Bankēya, Duke of Banavasi, was amply rewarded by the overwhelmed emperor who showered bounties. The modern Bankāpura town in Dharwar District was named after Vira-Bankēya. Lokațe alias Lākāditya, son of Bankēya, was made the governor of that provine. During Lākāditya's time, ācārya Gunabhadra completed the last cantos of Mahāpurāņa, at Bankāpura in the year A.D. 897.
Since he was deeply interested in Jainism Amõghavarşa formally renounced the Rāştrakūta throne and took to practising the tenets of Jainism. His son Subhatunga Kșsna-II Akālavarşa was trained under the guidance of ācārya Guņabhadra. Thus, Nrpatunga Amoghavarşa and Krsna, the father and son, were the disciple of Jinasena and Guņabhadra, guru and sisya. Krsna-II also extended his patronage to Jainism.
Jaina writers continued to flood the early phase of Rāştrakūta period. Māņikyanandin wrote Parikṣāmukha on which a commentary was written by his follower Prabhācandra, called Pramēya-kamalamārtanda. Prabhācandra also wrote another commentary on Akalanka's Laghiya-straya, called Nyāya-kumuda-Candrodaya. Later Indranandi (C.E. 930) produced Samayabhūsana, Śrtāvatāra, Nitisära and Jvālinikalpa Indranandi was the preceptor of Ponna (C.E. 965), a major Kannada poet of the Rāştrakūta period. Indranandi has recorded some of the orthodox and heterodox Jaina schools and sects in his Nitisāra.
Again during the reign of Krsna-III (A.D. 938-968), the last recognised emperor of the Rāştrakūta dynasty, Jainism reached greater heights expanding on all fronts. Sõmadevasūri was the distinguished productive writer of the age. He was a monk disciple of Nēmadēva of Dēva-samgha, a cohort of Mülasamgha, the original congregation. Sõmadevasūri composed Yasas-tilaka-campūin A.D. 959-60, the date synchronising with the then Rāştrakūța emperor's victorious camp at Mēlpāti. Krsna-III, repulsing the Pandyas, the Simhaļa, the Auca and the Cērama, had camped at Mēlpāți. Vägarāja alias Baddega, elder son of Arikesari-II, a feudatory of Krsna-III and king of Vēmulavāda branch of Cālukyas, had patronised the work of Yasastilakacampū, an unmatched classic of its type, composed in Sanskrit. It can be compared with the Kadambari or Tilak-Manjari. Sõmadevasūri has also authored

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195 another important work Niti-Vakyāmsta which is on a par with Kautilya's Artha-śāstra.
Along with Sanskrit, Prakrit also flourished under the patronage of Rāştrakūta monarchs. Most illustrious writers in Apabhramśa like Svayambhū and Tribhuvana-Svayambhū wrote the major works in Prakrit literature. Kavirāja, king of poets, Svayambhū, son of Padmini and Mārutadēva had two consorts, Amrtāmbā and Adityāmbā. In his brief biographical note he introduces himself as being physically weak and ugly with a flat nose. Whatever be that, his works are of very high quality. His patron was Dhananjaya. He belonged to Apuli-samgha. In the period of Subhatunga Krsna-I, Akālavarsa he wrote two works, Pauma-Cariu (Sk. Padma-Carita) and Rittha-nemi-cariu (Harivamsa purāņa). He wrote upto 82 chapters and later his son, TribhuvanaSvayambhū completed the remaining last eight chapters of Harivamsapurana Svayambhū-Candas, another work of Svayambhū, deals with various metres employed in Prakrit and Apabhramsa kāvyas. Tribhuvana-Svayambhū lived during the time of Prabhutavarşa Govinda-II (A.D. 773-80).
Perhaps the greatest of Apabhramsa literature, Puşpadanta flourished during the age of Krsna-III. Mahākavi Puspadanta has written three kāvyas: 1. Tisatthi-Mahāpurisa-Gunālankāru (Sk. TrişastiMahāpurusa-Gunālankārah). 2. Jasa-hara-cariu (Sk. Yasodhara-carita) and 3. Nayakumāra-cariu (Sk. Nagakumāra-carita). Of the three, the first one is an epic, dealing with the lives of Tirthankaras, Cakravartis, Baladēvas, Vāsudēva and Prati-Vasudevas. Jasahara-cariu deals with most popular Jaina narrative theme of king Yasodhara and his queen Amstamati. The story of Ņayakumara-cariu extols the merit. of śrutapañcami. Puşpadanta is credited with lucid and mellifluous style that has contributed to the glory of Prakrit literature. He has carved a niche in the hall of fame.
Nemicandra-Siddhānta-Cakravarti, abbot of Sravanabelagola monastery and preceptor of Cāmundarāya, minister and general of the Ganga kings. His felicitous approach and mastery in Jaina canonical knowledge is transparent in his Prakrit works. Thus, he was able to give the very quintessence of Jaina philosophy to his pupil Cāvuņdarāya, crystellizing it in his Gommața-sāra containing two books, Jivakānda and Karmakānda. This work is based on both Satkhandāgama and Dhavalā commentaries. Of Nemicandrācārya's other works, Dravya-samgraha deals with the Jiva and ajīva concept. His gāthas reflect an extraordinary grip over Prakrit language, and thus form a solid contribution to the Prakrit lore.

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During the Rāştrakūta period Kannada language and literature received greater impetus. The earliest extant Kannada work.. Kaņāța-Tikā, also known as Vaļņārādhane was authored by a great Jaina saint called Bhrājişņu. (circa 800 A.D.). It is a commentary on Śivakoti ācārya's Prakrit work Ārādhāna, a treatise on the varieties of death. Bhrājişņu's proficiency in Kannada, Prakrit and Sanskrit languages is remarkable. He quotes profusely from a number of Prakrit and Sanskrit texts. His work in Kannada prose stands unique in its narrative style. The Arādhanā-karnata-Tikā contains 19 short stories, each glorifying the virtues and special features of Jaina monkhood and nunhood. The work is a mixture of sage and prophet.
Pampa, Ponna and Ranna, considered as Jina-samaya-dīpakas' and 'ratnatrayas', took Kannada to a literary level not previously achieved. Of the trio, Ponna was a poet laureate in the court of KrsnaIII who conferred the title of 'kavi-cakravarti' on Ponna. Pampa (A.D. 941) had his laureateship in the court of Arikesari-II, king of Vemulavāda branch of Cālukyas and a feudatory of the Rāştrakūta. Pampa and Ranna started their carrier as soldiers and ended up as great epic writers of the age.
Pampa, the greatest of Kannada poets, has composed two epics in campū style, immortalising Kannada language. In Vikramärjuna Vijaya, he has freely rendered the story of Vyāsa Bhārata, in 14 cantos. Identifying Arikesari, his patron, with Arjuna of the Mahābhārata, and making him the hero of the epic is a special feature and an innovation of the poet. Similarly, Pampa has abridged the story of Rşabha in 16 cantos in his Adipurana, borrowing the theme from Jinasēna's work of the same title. His inimatable style is a happy blend of Sanskrit and Kannada. Pampa has been a model and a source of inspiration for many a poet. Pampa has translated the magic of Vyasa's Sanskrit into the magic of Kannada language. It is impossible to read even a page of the poem without being stirred in the depths of our consciousness. The verses are of freshing beauty and edifying.
Ponna, another celebrity of the epoch making age of Rāştrakūtas, has written Bhuvanaika-Rāmābhyudaya a laukika kāvya and Santipurana, an agamika kävya. Emperor Krsna and two brothers of a Jaina family of warriors, Mallapa and Punnamayya, were his patrons. Ponna was a direct disciple of Indranandi, a Jaina patrirach in Mānyakhēța.
Cāmundarāya, one of the greatest patrons of Jainism, took up the cause of his faith only towards the last decade of his life. Till then, he spent most of his time on the battle field, participating in a number of

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197 successful wars in favour of his over-lords, the Gangas and the Rāstrakūtas. But when he and his immediate masters, the Ganga chiefs, could not save the sudden collapse of the Rāștrakūța dynasty, Camundarāya wisely bid adieu to political life and turned all his faculties towards religious life. He befriended Ranna, a famous litterateur of his times, and translated, in an abridged form, the entire Mahāpurāņa of Jinasēna and Guņabhadra. He completed TrisaștiLaksaņa-Mahāpurāna, also known as Cāmundarāyapurana in A.D. 978. He has also written Caritrasāra in Sanskrit and Vira-mārtandi in Kannada, but the latter work is not extant.
Cāmundarāya was a follower of Ajitasenācarya and Nemicandrācārya, two eminent ascetics of his time. He had two other aliases of Rāya and Anna. He constructed a huge and magnificient Jaina temple on the smaller hill at Śravanabelagola which was named after him as Cāmundarāya basadi But the greatest feat of his life's achievement is the commissioning of 58' huge monolith collossal of Bāhubali on the crest of bigger hill at Sravanabelagola in A.D. 981, which has been rightly considered as one of the wonders of the world. This heralded a new trend in Jaina art and architecture.
The history of Jainism of Rāştrakūta period will not be complete without reference to the Gangas, who ably and faithfully assisted their overlords. Though they had crossed swords initially, they soon realised the importance of moving together to foster the greater interest of the state. They had a common faith to serve. Because of their joint efforts, Jainism attained the status of a state religion. With their marriage alliances, men and women of both the houses liberally patronised Jaina temples and monastries throughout the kingdom. In the hours of political crisis they stood by each other, even at the cost of their precious lives. Mahāmandalesvara Būtuga, his sons, daughters and four wives all extended maximum support to the glory of Jinadharma by constructing Jaina temples at different places like Annigere, Puligere (Lakşmēśvara), Naregal, Koppaļa, Hungunda, Kõgaļi and Sravanabelagola.
Rāștrakūta Šubhatunga Indra, father of Dantidurga, had built Subhatunga Jinālaya in Vādnēr in Nāsik Dt. Amõghavarsa founded Amõghavasati Jainmandir at Candanapuri (Nasik Dt) for which later in A.D. 915, Indra-III donated two villages. Amoghavarşa also granted a village and lands for the Jaina temple at Konnur (Dharwar Dt) constructed by Bankēya in A.D. 860 and a grant of land for the Nāgulabasadi to its ācārya Nāganandi. Mahāsāmanta Prithvirāja founded a Jinendra bhavana at Savadatti (Belgaum Dt) during the rule of Krsna

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II, in 875-76 A.D. Biṭṭayya, a noble person, constructed a Jaina church at Bandalike (Shimonga Dt) in A.D. 902, for which Lōkaṭeyarasa, governor of Banavāsi under emperor Kṛṣṇa-II. Nāgayya constructed a Jaina temple in A.D. 925 at Asundi (Gadag Dt) and the chief abbey of Dhōra-Jinālaya of Bankapura (Dharwar Dt) diocese was administering this basadi also.
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Mahāsāmanta Śrīvijaya built a Jaina temple at Mānyapura (Bangalore Dt) and prince Raṇāvaloka Sauca Kambadeva donated Pēruvvadiyur village in A.D. 802. Vijaya-pasati Jinālaya at Talakāḍu was so famous that the preceptor Vardhamāna guru received a grant Vadanaguppe village. Jalamangala town was donated by JagattungaGovindaraja-III for the maintenance of the Jaina temple in Saligrama in A.D. 813. Samkaraganda built Jaina temples at Koppala and Andhradeśa. Jainism continued to be a paramount religion of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa empire with the flag of Ahimsa fluttering a top Jaina places of worship at Malkhēd, Lakṣmeśvar, Hombuja, Śravanabelagola and a number of places in Andhra-deśa, Mahārāṣṭra, Tamilnadu and Gangaväḍi, the homeland of Jaina creed. Mārasimha accepted sallēkhanā at Bankapura and died in A.D. 974. Indra-IV, the last emperor of Rāṣṭrakūṭa dynasty, also ended his life at Śravanabelagola by the rite of sallekhana in A.D. 982.
The Rāṣṭrakūta patronised Jaina literature in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Kannada languages, founded and endowed Jaina temples and mathas, revered the Jaina monks and nuns and encouraged Jaina art and architecture to reach its climax.
Bibliography
Altekar, A.S.: The Rashtrakutas and their Times: (1934) 2nd ed., Poona, 1967.
1.
2. Gopal, B.R. (ed) The Rashtrakutas of Malkhed, Bangalore, 1994. Nagarajaiah, Hampa: A History of the Raṣṭrakūta Monarchy and Jainism, Bangalore: 2000.
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5.
Rajasekhara, S: Rāṣṭrakūṭa Art in Karnataka; Dharwad : 1991. Yazdani, Gulam: (ed) The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII-XI (1960), 2nd ed. 1982.

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Spiritual Affinities in Rishabha & Shiva
Like Buddha who founded Buddhism, Mahavira was not the archfounder of Jainism. According to the Jaina scriptural tradition there have been twenty three tirthankaras before Mahāvīra who propounded Jainism from time to time.
Dr S Radhakrishnan says that "The Bhagavata Purana endorses the view that Rishabha was the founder of Jainism. There is evidence to show that so far back as the first century B.C. there were people who worshipped Rishabhadeva, the first tirthankara. There is no doubt that Jainism prevailed even before Vardhamana Mahāvira or Pärśvanatha. The Yajurveda mentions the names of three tirthankaras-Rishabha, Ajitanatha, and Arishtanemi."
The idea of Rishabha tirthankaras being an epoch-making man is found deep-rooted in the Jaina scriptures. He was the son of the fourteenth kulakara or manu, known as nabhi. He is also known as Adinatha. Rishabha inaugurated the karmabhoomi and pioneered human civilisation and culture.
Rishabha was the first preacher of the ahimsa dharma, the first tirthankara or ford-maker to mokṣa according to Jaina path of purification and liberation. He attained nirvāņa on the summit of Mount Kailasa in Tibet. The point to be noted is that there is a consistent tradition found in the Jaina religious literature and also in Hindu purāņas from earliest times of invoking Rishabha Deva as Rudra or Shiva. The following stanza in Shiva Purana brings out clearly this association meaning: Rishabhadeva, Jaineshwara, the omniscient and the all pervasive incarnated himself on the magnificent Kailasa, Asthapada mountain.
It is the definite opinion of Sir John Marshall that the Vedic aryans adopted Shiva worship (Shiva-Pashupati-Rudra) from Indus valley culture. It is significant as suggested by various scholars that the nude standing images in the Indus valley in a typical Jaina ascetic yogic pose-Kayotsarga-abandonment of the body in meditation-beat a striking resemblance to the oldest Jaina sculpture and further that there is a link between the Indus bull-seals and the bull insignia, lanchhana of Rishabha.

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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 From Vedic times to the present Rudra or Shiva and Rishabha has been considered usually as alternate names or designations which are Digambara, Digväsa, Tapomaya, Charukesha, Shanta, Akshobhya, Ahimsa, Jnani, Kapardi, Jati. These are such attributes as become perfectly applicable in their meaning to Rishabha Tirthankara. His nudity, matted hair is well-known. The characteristic mark of Shankara is found in Jaina creations and images known as Triratna, which is found clearly marked in the cave of Saratakharavela at Udaigiri in Orissa. It is found marked on the palms of the ancient images of Rishabha and other Tirthankaras.
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The arch-form of this mark is found in the form of tri-horn on the Indus valley seal images. It should not be surprising if the same mark evolved later as a phase of moon. Om, svastikā and the cross of Christianity as well as the moon and star of Islam, as noted by the eminent Jaina scholar Dr Hiralal Jain.
The disciples of Shiva are collectively called Gana, whose leader is called Ganapati and Ganesh. The group of munis established by Rishabha is also called Gana and its leader, his chief disciple, is called Gaṇadhara. The tradition of Gana and Ganadhara is found unbroken till the last tirthankara Mahavira.
Rishabha occupies a very important place in the Shaiva sect. In Linga Purana he is described as a king revered all the kshtriyas and in Vayu Purana he is described as the ancestor of all the kshatriya kingssarva-kshatrasya purvajah. Such parallels and spiritual affinities since prehistoric times between Rishabha and Shiva show unmistakably that new Jainism and its first propounder have been the precursor of the later Shaiva doctrine.
The most notable example of the fusion and synthesis of not only the Jaina, Shaiva, but also the Brahmanic. Vedic, Buddhist and other Indian philosophies is found in the great Himalayan centre of pilgrimage, Badrinatha or Badri Vishala. In the Badri Vishala temple in the daily worship the following stotra is recited: "One who is honoured as Shaiva by the Shivas, as Brahma by the Vedantins, as Buddha by the Buddhists, as the Cause by the Naiyayikas, Arhan by the Jainas, Karma by the Mimansakas, such god of the three worlds may grant us our longed for fruits. This illustrates how the Badrinath embodies the true secular synthesis of the India.

From the The Times of India, New Delhi, December 30, 1999 by Bal Palit.

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Below Akbar's Fatehpur Sikri lies an ancient Jain City
It was a jungle on December 7, 1999. That was a day before the surveyor from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) identified the mound near the fort of Fatehpur Sikri and ordered the felling of trees.
And within a fortnight, the ASI team laid open the superstructure of an 11th century Jain temple, just half a km away from Mughal Emperor Akbar's famous fort complex.
"There was habitation and it was destroyed. The divine images were broken and scattered helter-skelter by the latter-day invaders,” is how ASI Director General Ajay Shankar briefly put it.
While digging out the trenches at the site, the ASI team came upon one of the richest archaeological caches found since the glorious days of Sir John Marshall.
"Dumped one upon the other, it seemed the sculptures were just waiting for us to bring them out into the open," said 26-year-old archaeologist from Orissa, Arakhita Pradhan. In fact, the Indian Express team which visited the site saw scultprues of Jain Tirthankaras and carved red-stone potteries, still half-buried between the layers of earth.
Not one or two. But at least 34 exquisite sculptures, of various sizes-small, medium and one big-have already been retrieved by the ASI team from a 250-sq yard plot at Bir Chha-bili-ka-Tilla in Sikri village. And these findings have pushed back the antiquity of Fatehpur Sikri to 2nd Century AD.
"We've found branded redstone potteries, ornamented with mica dust, from the Gupta period. And the most remarkable thing about these sculptures is that they have inscriptions on them making their dates indisputable,” said RK Dikshit, assistant conservator, in charge of the Fatehpur Sikri.
Most breathtaking of the entire lot was, of course, the six-foothigh partly broken, tribhanga Saraswati from the Jain pantheon. Of a rare beauty, it was found in a face-down position.
"It was dug out on January 20. It's changed the entire worth of the site," said Dharamvir Sharma, ASI's superintending archaeologist who is responsible for initiating the excavation.
The excavation, according to Sharma, shows that Fatehpur Sikri was a pre-Mughal city with temples around its periphery. "But we are

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 yet to ascertain when they were demolished,” he said, clearly voicing the premise of his project but hedging on whether it was the Mughals or a Hindu invader of a previous period who was responsible for the wide-scale destruction.
Says historian Harbans Mukhia, who specialises on Medieval India and plans to take a trip to the site : "I'm not surprised by the findings. Medieval society worked in a different manner. Demolitions in that age were conducted as an act of conquest or as an act of rebuilding. One needs to see them in the right perspective."
The excavation at Bir Chha-bili-ka-Tilla is fascinating for more reasons. It shows layers of civilizational deposits, beginning from 2nd Century A.D. (a medium-sized redstone figure of Ambika with an infant Ganesha on her lap and Kartikeya on right side) to 9-10th Century Jain sculptures (a Saraswati from the Gurjar Pratihara dynasty).
However, more than the unique Saraswati (incidentally, dressed only in ornaments) is the 60-cm redstone kund in which 23 of the other sculptures were found dumped, including a black marble Tirthankara.
"We just picked them up one by one. Obviously, they were disposed of in a hurry," a woman archaeologist from Manipur at the site pointed out, as she brushed away the fine dust accumulated on the ancient structure.
From The New Indian Express, Chennai, Wednesday, February 16, 2000
by Santwana Bhattacharya.

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