Jaina Community a Social Survey

SR No.: 007019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Vilas Sangve
Publisher: Popular Book Depot Bombay
Publication Year: 1980
Total Pages: 484
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 420

394
Jaina Community-A Social Survey Gachchha assemble on festival and other ceremonial days. At Kārañjā in Vidarbha the members of Sena Gana and Balātkāra. Gana have their own temples. Further, in many places the members of some important castes have their different temples. Again, the main sects have their own types of idols, methods of worship, places of pilgrimage, sacred books, Sarnskāras or sacraments, religious teachers and fasts and festivals. These differences have so much been magnified by both the main sects that every sect considers itself as a true follower of Jainism while it regards the other sect as fallen from the real path of Jainism. The differences have penetrated into the social field also. Formerly, marriages used to take place between the members belonging to different sects and sub-sects; but now there is a marked tendency to restrict the marital relations within the members of a particular sect or even a sub-sect. Each sect or sub-sect provides for its students facilities like boarding houses, scholarship funds, research grants etc. There is hardly any association which caters to the need of students irrespective of sect or sub-sect. Even their religious educational institutions like Gurukulas and Pāțhaśālās are separate for each sect or sub-sect. The members of practically every sect or sub-sect are being organised on an all-India basis. The Digambaras have three organisations of an all-India character, viz., All India Digambara Jaipa Parishada, Delhi; All India Digambara Jaina Mahāsabhā, Delhi; and All India Digambara Jaina Sangha, Mathura; and among the Śvetāmbaras each sub-sect has an allIndia organisation, viz., All India Śvetāṁbara (Mūrtipūjaka) Jaina Conference, Bombay; All India Svetāmbara Sthānakavāsi Jaina Conference, Bombay; and Sri Jaina Svetāmbara Terāpanthi Mahāsabhā, Calcutta. These organisations have their provincial branches and official news-paper organs through which they try to stabilise their respective positions. It is true that there are some organisations of national and local and regional character like Bhārata Jaina Mahāmandala, Bombay, and Bombay Jaina Yuvaka Sangha, Bombay, which are meant for all Jainas, but it is a fact that they are not popular as other sectarian organisations are. Sometimes it is reported that even the religious pontiffs of different sects and sub-sects try to accentuate the religious differences and to sever the social relations, if any, existing between them.
Thus it is quite evident that the Jainas have been segregated into different hostile camps on religious grourds. As a conse