Religious Quest of India

SR No.: 011031
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J N Farquhar, Griswold
Publisher: J N Farquhar Griswold
Total Pages: 365
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 104

Vajra
svāmi.
78
HISTORY OF THE
Khaputa who lived in Broach, and the founding of Śatruñjaya1 in the state of Pālitāṇā.
Vajra
sena.
The next spiritual leader 2 of great importance for our purpose was Vajrasvāmī, the last and greatest of the Dasapūrvi. It was in his time that the sixth schism took place. A Jaina sadhu called Rohagupta3 taught that there are not seven but only three constituent elements of the earth, viz.: Jiva, Ajiva and Nojīva; the schism is accordingly called the Nojiva schism and is believed to have arisen in A. D. 71. A seventh schism, led by Goşța Mahal, also took place under Vajrasvāmi's rule. The Jaina believe that Vajrasvāmi was able to call up at will a magic carpet which conveyed him and his friends to any distance, and that once by its means he transplanted the whole community from a faminestricken district to the town of Puri. The more enlightened Jaina say that this carpet really represents some modern mode of locomotion (steam engine, motor car, or aeroplane) the secret of whose construction Vajrasvāmi had anticipated. Vajrasvāmī had a famous disciple, Āryarakṣita, who had originally been a Brahman and had studied all knowledge at Benares. His mother spurred him on to study the Jaina Pūrva, and whilst doing so he was converted to Jainism and learnt from Vajrasvami the whole of the nine-and-a-half Pūrva. He is famous amongst the Jaina for having arranged the Sutra into four divisions that they might be the more casily understood.
We now come to the great division of the community. Vajrasvāmi was followed by Vajrasena, and under his leadership the Digambara finally separated from the main Schism. community. The new Head had not the personality of his
The Great
1
Satruñjaya, the Jaina say, was built by a monk who had the power of rising through the air, and by a disciple of his who had the power of creating gold. This fortunate conjunction of talents has resulted in one of the loveliest temple cities in the world.
Indradinna had been followed by Dinnasuri, and he by Simhagiri, and then came Vajrasvāmi.
3 Rohagupta had a disciple called Kanāda who was, according to the Jaina, the founder of the famous Vaiseṣika philosophy.