________________
HISTORY OF JAIN SECTS AND SCRIPTURES The version so prepared was not found acceptable to most of those who had migrated to the south. They considered the version unauthentic and contended that the original Agams had gotten lost. This was the first major schism among the followers of Lord Mahävir. In this connection it would be interesting to dwell a little on the background of this cleavage. When the Lord renounced the worldly life, he seems to have retained a single cloth to cover His body. During the first year of His renounced life, that cloth seems to have been worn out, torn or entangled in a thicket somewhere. After that He did not care to get another one. For the rest of life He therefore stayed without clothes. His immediate followers were also presumably unclad. Later on, followers of Pärshva traditions acknowledged His leadership. They were covering their bodies with two pieces of cloth. While admitting them in His fold, the Lord does not seem to have objected to their being clad. Thus His Order (Sangha) constituted clad as well as unclad monks amicably staying together. The amity between these two however might not have survived after the age of Omniscients. Though there was no open dispute, there could have been some misunderstanding and unfriendliness between these two groups.
Venerable Sthulibhadra and most of those who stayed in the north used to cover their bodies with plain, white cloth; while those who had migrated with Bhadrabähuswami were mostly unclad. They had clear doubts on the authenticity of the Agams compiled under the leadership of Sthulibhadra. They took pride in them being true unclad followers of the Lord and in due course came to be known as Digambars, which means Sky-clad. Those on the other side came to be known as Shvetämbars (Shvet means white and ambar means cloth) on account of the white cloth that they wore. The history of the Agams from that time onwards thus takes two different courses.
Even after the Patliputra convention, Agams remained unwritten and continued to be passed on orally from preceptor to pupil. Memorizing must have taken its own toll. Moreover with the fall of the Mauryan dynasty in 150 B.C., Patliputra ceased to be the main center of Jainism, because the Mitra dynasty that took over was not favorably inclined to it. There was therefore a large-scale migration of Jain monks and laymen towards Udaygiri (Near present Bhuvaneshwar) in the southeast and towards Mathura in the west. All these factors contributed once again to variations in the version of Agam Sutras. By the end of the first century, most probably in 97 A.D., another convention was called at Mathura under the leadership of Honorable Skandilächärya. Curiously enough, another convention was simultaneously held at Vallabhipur in Gujarat under the leadership of Honorable Nägärjun-ächärya. There were some differences in the versions arrived at the two conventions. We are not exactly sure whether any attempt was made to reconcile the varying versions. Anyway, this is called the second Vachana of the Agams.
Even after this, the Agams remained unwritten. Variations in the versions were therefore bound to occur. Ultimately one more convention was held at Vallabhipur in 454 A.D. under the leadership Devardhi-Gani Khshamäshraman. An Authorized version of all the Agams was prepared at that convention and they were written down for the first time. At the present time the following 45 Agams are available that are acceptable to Shvetämbar Murtipujak sect :- 11 Angas (The 12th one is lost long back), 12 Upangas, 4 Mul Sutras, 6 Chheda Sutras, 10 Prakirnas and 2 Chulikäs.
JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE I
129
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
