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[ 53 ) His religious order consisted of monks and nuns, besides--lay brothers and sisters who waited upon them.
He did not believe in God as the maker of the world, as a potter makes a pitcher or a gold smith a bangle. He believed that the world with its men, animals, birds, mountains, rivers, etc., existed from ever. According to him not only men but also animals, trees, birds, insects, and even lower forms of life, possessed souls, were capable of feeling, and were equally affected by pleasure and pain.
The main teaching of Jainism is the doctrine of Ahinsa, that is, not to injure any kind of life as far as possible. The belief that even the lowest forms of life possessed souls makes the Jains particularly careful about the protection of life.
The Jains are not supposed to believe in caste, but in modern times we find them as particular about it as any other Hindus. They are divided into two main sects the Swetambaras or the followers of the white--robed, and the Digambaras or those of the naked.
The Jains offer worship before images of their twenty-four Tirthankaras ( Deliverers.) The Sthaakvasis, a sub-division of the Swetamberas, however, do not believe in such worship.
