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Dr. Charlotte Krause: Her Life & Literature
each other in eternal alternation, during each of which twenty four omniscient Tirthankaras, Jinas, or Arhats, arise, who, independent of one another, proclaim the doctrines of Jainism. Western Jainology, believes at present, the two last Tirthankaras of this Avasarpiņi, viz., Pārśvanatha, who lived in the eighth century B.C., and Vardhamana Mahāvīra, who lived at the time of the Buddha, to be historical personalities. It has also become an established fact now, that Jainism is indeed a very ancient doctrine, by far older than Buddhism.
At present, Jainism is represented by numerous sects, which, differing from one another in several points, have been engaged, since many centuries, in violent mutual polemics. The two great branches of Jainism are the Śvetambaras and the Digambaras. The Digambara Jainas maintain that, as the Tīrthankaras, on their highest stage, never wore clothes, in the same way the monk should be naked, too, in order to symbolize his freedom from bodily care. This is why they have been called 'Digambaras', i.e., the 'Sky-clad ones'. The Digambaras maintain, moreover, that, after the attainment of the highest mental perfection, Kevalajñāna or Omniscience, the body of the saint becomes so purified as to require no longer any food, and can still exist for many years to come. According to their doctrine, woman, moreover, cannot attain salvation without having been re-born as a man. The genuine words of the Tīrthankaras they believe to be lost, and all the present writings ( Āgamas ) to be unauthoritative.
The Śvetambaras, i.e., 'the white-clad ones', are named so, because they believe the last Tīrthankara to have worn scanty white clothes, and accordingly, allow their monks to wear the same kind of clothes, in conformity with the etiquette and usage of the world. (The lemon-coloured robe, by-the-bye, which has, since the twelfth century, been adopted by a special school of Śvetāmbara monks, is merely meant to distinguish the true, renouncing ascetic from the 'Yati' or half-ascetic, who wears all the insignia of the monk too.) For Private & Personal Use Only
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