Mahavira and his Teaching

SR No.: 008019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 509
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Biography, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 12 MB

Page 284

THE GENESIS OF THE DIGAMBARA-SVETĀMBARA SPLIT 277
It is clear from old texts that in early times monks and nuns could wear clothes. The Sthānānga Sutra permits garments in certain cases', the Ācārānga Sūtra lays down rules for the begging of clothes and the Uttarādhyayana Sutra refers to the clothes of monks getting worn and torn and counsels them not to worry about it?. But the clothes which the Jainas used at least at the time of Mahāvīra, were white in contrast to the red robes worn by the Buddhists. It is significant that in the Darśanasāra of Devasena Buddhakīrti (Buddha) is called raktāmbara (redrobed)4 while in Pali texts the lay followers of Nigantha Nātaputta (Mahāvīra) are called Odātavasana (white robed). It appears that the Buddhists and Jainas adopted red and white as the colour of their respective clothes to emphasize and accentuate their distinction. However, among the Jainas there was difference of opinion about being clothed or living naked, which is clear from the dialogue of Kesin and Gautama, cited above, and which burst into the dispute over succession and the attendant division of the order after the death of Mahāvīra.
The history of the Buddhist and Jaina orders, following the death of Buddha and Mahāvīra, reveals a parallelism which can be utilized to understand their underlying trends. We know that in the very first year of the death of Buddha, a council was held at Rājagrha to codify the law (dharma) and the discipline (vinaya) with a view to setting at rest the controversies and dissensions that had become rampant But all monks did not accept that version of the teachings of Buddha and some challenged the accent 1. Sthånāingasūtra, II, 71. 2. Ācārängasutra, II, 5, 1-2. 3. Uttaràdhyayanasūtra, II, 12. 4. Darśanasära, ed. Nathurāma Premi, verse 7
तिमिपूरणासणेहि अहिगयपवज्जाओ परिभट्ठो। रत्तबरं धरित्ता पवट्टिय तेण एयंतं । See also Pravacanasäroddhāra, verse 732. सक्का य सुगयसीसा जे जडिला ते उ तावसा गीया। जे धाउरत्तवत्था तिदडिणी गेरुया ते उ ।।