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have established the fact that at eirst he ( mahauira ) belonged to the order of Parsavanath mentioned above, a body of medicants leading a more or less regular life, and that in accordance with their custom he wore clothes; but many Jains will not acknowledge that a Tirathankara could have belonged to any order even for ever so short a time; they agree however that for thirteen months he did wear one cloth. Further on page 3õ she again observes: “And so before long Mahavira found the discipline af Parsavanath's monk to lax, and after a year he left them, to wander alone in a state of absolute nudity."
Dr. Vincent Smith also lends support to the view expressed in our book. On page 5C, “Oxford History of India,” he says:—"He ( Mahavira ) gave up his honourable rank and joined the ascetic order of Parsavanath in which he remained for some years. Becoming dissatisfied with the rules of that order, he started on his own account as a religious leader when about forty years of age. ....... In the course of his minstery he organized a new order consisting of professed friars and nuns, lay brethren and lay sisters."
Even on his own admission our critic believes that the parents of the latter ( Mahavira ) were the followers of the order of Parsavanath. It is very
