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________________ 212 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN EARLY TEXTS " based upon the principle of unity and concerted action which characterised the life and constitution of a Khattiya tribe forming an oligarchy. The difference between the two organisations lay in the fact that the Jaina Order was based upon the idea of confederacy, while the Buddhist Order professed the regimental unity of a single ruling clan. But the popular predilections for kingship and overlordship were not without their influence on the Jain and Buddhist minds, Farticularly on the latter. The Pali canonical texts reveal throughout a growing tendency to establish parallelism between the position of a righteous king as an earthly overlord and that of the Buddha as the supreme founder of the Kingdom of Righteousness 1 as well as between the attributes and functions of the two. Even with regard to the disposal of the body of the Buddha after his demise, the direction was to adopt the method which applied to the funeral of a king-overlord. The ultimate result of adaptation to the monarchical tradition was that within a purely democratic constitution of the Buddhist Sangha, the Master came to be enthroned as the supreme Lord of Righteousness with Sāriputta and Moggallana as his two Dhammasenāpatis and an inner circle of eighty great disciples (asīti-mahäsävakā). 1 Note that in the Aupapătoka Sutra, seo. 16, Mahāvira in praisedm As Dhamma vara-cāuranta-oalkavath,
SR No.011047
Book TitleIndia As Described In Early Texts Of Buddhism and Jainism
Original Sutra AuthorN/A
AuthorBimla Charn Law
PublisherBimlacharan Law
Publication Year
Total Pages279
LanguageEnglish
ClassificationBook_English
File Size9 MB
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