History of Jaina Monachism

SR No.: 001727
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute
Publication Year: 1956
Total Pages: 616
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Principle, & History
File Size: 12 MB

Page 51

S. B. DEO
Not only in the ascetic community but in the field of intellectual activity also, the Samaņas were deemed to be equal with the Brāhmaṇa. "According to WINTERNITZ, all intellectual activities in ancient India were not confined only to Brāhmaṇas : there was not only Brāhmanical literature, but there was also the Paribbājaka, Bramaņa or ascetic literature. These two representatives of intellectual and spiritual life in ancient India are well recognised by the phrase 'Samanas and Brāhmaṇas' in Buddhist sacred texts, by reference to 'Samana bambhana' in Asokan inscriptions, and by Megasthenes distinction between Brāhmanai and Samanai."15 Sramana and Brāhmaṇa in Jaina Literature :
Some of the utterances in early Jaina texts also prove this effort of elevating the Samana and the idealisation of the qualities of rather than the birth as a Brāhmaṇa.
This insistance on the learning of the Brāhmaṇa is clear from the same epithet applied to Mahāvīra.16 Texts like the Uttarādhyayanal7 go eloquent in describing the qualities of an ideal Brāhmaṇa which were perhaps the same that were expected of a good śramana.
The equality of all those who had become monks is effectively borne out by expressions which say that even a low caste person who became a monk was honoured by the king.18
Thus the whole approach was against the caste superiority of the Brāhmaṇa and his ritualism, and a Samana and a Brāhmaṇa, both leading a spotless life, were placed on the same level. Mutual Reactions :
These communities which were numerous, but had a somewhat identical course of monastic life and a similar approach towards the then priestly class, could not possibly have remained in isolation from one another. There must have been mutual contact, and with that, an exchange of monastic ideas and practices between them.
The similarities between the Buddhist, Jaina and Brāhmanical practices has already been proved by scholars like JACOBI,19 Debates between members of rival sects, members of one faith going to another for further
15. UPADHYE, Bphatkathakosa, Intr. p. 13. 16. Uväsaga., HOERNLE, pp. 108, 127; Sūtrakr., SBE., Vol. XLV, p. 301. 17. Chapt. XXV. 18. Ibid, Chapt. XII: Story of the Candāla Harikeśa. 19. SBE, XXII, Intr. pp. XXII-XXIX.