Lord Mahavira and His Times

SR No.: 011080
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 427
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

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Jainism before Lord Mahāvira of the Brāhmaṇas and the straggling culture of the Munis and Sramaņas, most probably going back to pre-Vedic and preAryan times. During the later Vedic period, the two streams tended to mingle, and the result was the great religious ferment from which Jainism appears to have originated. Jainism and other Sramika religious sects grew up among the imperfectly Aryanised Communities of the East in response to the cultural atmosphere and social needs. These sects spread out, flourished and became highly popular there. On the other hand, Brahmanical religion had its stronghold in the North and the West.
PĀRŚVANĂTHA AS AN HISTORICAL FIGURE
H. JACOBI and others have tried to prove on the authority of both the Jaina and the Buddhist records that Pārsva was a historical personage. Their arguments are as follows:
1. In the Buddhist scriptures, there is a reference to the four vows (Chaturyāma Dharma) of Pārśva in contradiction to the five vows of Mahāvīra. The Buddhists could not have used the term Chāturyāma Dharma for the Nirgranthas unless they had heard it from the followers of Pārsva. This proves the correctness of the Jaina tradition that the followers of Pārsva, in fact, existed at the time of Mahāvīra.
2. The Nirgranthas were an important sect at the time of the rise of Buddhism, as may be inferred from the fact that they are frequently mentioned in the Pitakas as opponents of Buddha and his disciples This is further supported by another fact. Mankhali Gośāla, a contemporary of Buddha and Mahāvira, divided mankind into six classes, and of these, the third class contained the Nirgranthas. Gośāla, probably, would not havé ranked them as a separate class of mankind if they liad recently come into existence. He must liave regarded as members of a very important and at the same time an old sect.
3. The Majjhima Nikaya records a dispute between
1. SBE, XLV, pp. xx-xxiii.