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CHAPTER III
HISTORY OF JAINISM AFTER MAHĀVĪRA
Internal History of the Church For a few centuries after the nirvāņa of Mahāvīra the internal history of Jainism is characterised by schismatic tendencies, growing complexity in the church organisation, gradual decline in the volume and substance of the original canon, development of religious dogmas, and a shift in the centre of gravity of the new brotherhood which spread slowly to the west and south of Magadha, its original home. After the Master's nirvāņa, Indrabhūti Gautama, the Ganadhara, headed the Jaina church for the next 12 years, followed by Sudharmā (12 years) and Jambū (38 years), all the three being Kevalins. Then came, one after the other, five Śrutakevalins who possessed full and complete scriptural knowledge but could not attain the spiritual status of an arhat kevalin. The total period covered by them was 100 (or 116) years. Bhadra-bāhu I was the last of them, and after him the succession diverged, that of the Svetāmbaras running independent of that of Digambaras.
The two sects had not yet come into existence, but the beginning of the great schism which led to their birth and the consequent division of the church are traced to the terrible famine lasting for twelve years, from which a considerable part of northern India, particularly the Magadha country, severely suffered. To
