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Divisions in Jainism :: 99
Bhadrabāhu, abdicated his throne in favour of his son Bindusāra, joined Bhadrabāhu's entourage as a monkdisciple, and stayed with Bhadrabāhu at Shravanabelagola. Chandragupta, the devout ascetic disciple of Bhadrabāhu, lived for 12 years after the death of his teacher Bhadrabāhu, in about 297 B.C. and after practising penance died according to the strict Jaina rite of Sallekhanā on the same hill at Sharavanabelagola. This Bhadrabāhu-Chandragupta tradition is strongly supported by a large number of epigraphic and literary evidences of a very reliable nature.
When the ascetics of Bhadrabāhu-sangha returned to Pāțaliputra after the end of twelve-year period of famine, they, to their utter surprise, noticed two significant changes that had taken place during their absence, among the ascetics of Magadha under the leadership of Āchārya Sthūlabhadra. In the first place, the rule of nudity was relaxed and the ascetics were allowed to wear a piece of white cloth (known as Ardhaphālaka). Secondly, the sacred books were collected and edited at the council of Pāțaliputra specially convened for the purpose. As a result the group of returned monks did not accept the two things, introduced by the followers of Achārya Sthūlabhadra, namely, the relaxation of the rule of nudity and the recension of the sacred texts, and proclaimed themselves as true Jainas. Eventually, the Jaina religion was split up into two distinct sects, viz., the Digambara (sky-clad or stark naked) and the Svetāmbara (white-clad).
In connection with this Great Schism it is pertinent to note that the practice of nudity, strictly observed by Tīrthankara Mahāvīra and the ascetic members of his sangha, was later on found impracticable and discarded gradually by some sections of the Ascetic Order of the Jainas. That is why Dr. Herman Jacobi, the pioneer of Jaina studies in Germany, has made the following observation:
"It is possible that the separation of the Jaina Church took place gradually, an individual development going on in both the groups living at a great distance from one another, and that they became aware of their mutual difference about the
