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 69

S. B. DEO
disciples of Pāráva (pāṣāvaccijjā therā) met Mahavira, and accepted his fivefold dharma (pañcajāma dhamma) which was but an extension of the fourfold religion, as we shall presently see.
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Mahāvīra :
The gap between Pärsvanatha and Mahavira, possibly, saw the rise of innumerable sects and subsects in the religious life of India. This is evidenced by the mention of as many as three hundred and sixty-three sub-divisions of the four principal schools in the Sutrakṛtänga.49 Besides these schools, the Aupapätika50 refers to a number of monastic communities who differed from each other in the peculiarity of ascetic conduct.
Inspite of this vast number of sects, it may be noted that these were not water-tight compartments which seldom came in contact with one another. On the other hand, "we have to imagine a time when there was no organised religion or established Church in the country to interfere with the freedom of speculation by imposing upon its adherents its professed dogmas, and when conversion implied, in the case of a learner or truth-seeker, no more than a transition from one mode of self-training to another, which he deemed more suitable to his temperament. Nor even in the case of a layman did it ever demand that unflinching devotion or that profession of blind faith which leads men by imperceptible steps to harbour bigotry, to become religious fanatics, and to shut the gates of benevolence upon every stranger fellowbeing who is a stranger" 51
Inspite of this individualistic setting of religious frame which BARUA advocates, it may be noted that in the society of Mahavira's time, such liberty and broad-mindedness were lacking. He had, therefore, to assert the equality of birth and status as against the claim to superiority by birth in a Brahmin gotra. It may be made clear here, that Mahavira was not against the Brahmins as a whole. But he was against the demoralised priestly class which went to the extent of not only chaining the society by the rigid framework of the caste-system, but also limiting the powers of the king. Therefore, we find the Jaina texts52 depicting the ideal qualities of the Brahmin and designating their samanas as brahmana as well. It is wrong, therefore, to look at Mahabrāhmaṇa
48. Bhag. pp. 136ff.
49. SBE., xlv, p. 315; Stkṛ. ti. pp. 208ff.
50. pp. 170ff; for detailed expl. of these, see A. SEN's "Schools and Sects in Jaina Literature'.
51. BARUA, Hist. of Pre-Buddhist Phil., p. 385.
52. Uttar. XXV.