________________
Divisions in Jainism :: 105
opposed to various religious practices, as according to them, these are not real Jaina practices. The Terāpantha had performed a valuable task of rescuing the Digambaras from the clutches of wayward Bhattārakas and hence the Terāpanthis occupy a peculiar position in the Digambara Jaina community. The Terāpanthis are more numerous in Uttar Pradesh, Rājasthān and Madhya Pradesh.
It is pertinent to note that even though the name Teräpantha sub-sect appears both among the Digambara and the Svetāmbara sects, still the two Terăpanthis are entirely different from each other. While the Digambara Terapanthis believe in nudity and idol-worship, the Svetāmbara Terāpanthīs are quite opposed to both.'
(3) Tāraṇapantha
The sub-sect Tāraṇapantha is known after its founder Tarana-Svāmī or Tāraṇa-tarana-Svāmī (1448-1515 A.D.). This sub-sect is also called Samaiya-Pantha because its followers worship Samaya, i.e., sacred books and not the idols. TāraņaSvāmi died at Malharagarh, in former Gwalior State in Madhya Pradesh, and this is the central place of pilgrimage of Tāraṇapanthis.
The Tāraṇapanthis strongly refute idolatry but they have their own temples in which they keep their sacred books for worship. They do not ofter articles like fruits and flowers at the time of worship. Besides the sacred books of the Digambaras, they also worship the fourteeen sacred books written by their founder Tārana-Svāmī. Further, Tāraṇapanthis give more importance to spiritual values and the study of sacred literature. That is why we find a complete absence of outward religious practices among them. Moreover, TāraņaSvāmī was firmly against the caste-distinctions and in fact threw open the doors of his sub-sect even to Muslims and low-caste people.
These three main traits of the Tāraṇapanthis, namely, (a) the aversion to idol worship, (b) the absence of outward religious practices, and (c) the ban on caste distinctions, were
