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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
A. L. Basham is quite positive in his views : "Out of this migration arose the great schism of Jainism, on a point of monastic discipline. Bhadrabāhu, the elder of the community, who had led the emigrants. had insisted on the retention of the rule of nudity, which Mahāvira had established. Sthūlabhadra, the leader of the monks who had remained in the North, allowed his followers to wear white garments, owing to the hardships and confusions of the famine. Hence arose the two sects of Jainas, the Digambaras (“space-clad" or naked ), and the Svetāmbaras (“White-clad"). The schism did not become final until the 1st Century A. D."9 Mrs. Stevenson also says the division became final in A. D. 79 or 82.10
Though there never were any fundamental doctrinal differences between the two sects, the division continues to this day. The minor differences between the two sects are: (1) The Svetāmbara monks wear white clothes and their idols are decorated with gold and diamond ornaments, with glass eyes and silk jackets. The Digambara monks of the ideal type are naked as also their idols of Tirthankaras. (2) Digambaras hold that on account of their physical conditions and social disabilities, women as women cannot attain liberation. The Śvetāmbaras hold the contrary view. (3) It has already been noted that according to the Digambara tradition Mahavira was unmarried while Śvetānbaras hold that he was married and had a daughter. (4) The Svetāmbaras believe in the validity and sacredness of canonical literature that is the twelve Angās and Sūtras as they exist now while Digambaras hold that the original and genuine texts were lost long ago. (5) The Svetāmbaras hold the view that the Omniscient or the liberated Kevalins took food while the Digambaras do not support it. (6) The Svetāmbaras hold that seventeenth Tirthankara Mallinātha was a female by name Malli while the Dig hold that he was male. (7) The Svetāmbara monks collect their food from different houses while the Digambara monks take food standing in one house only where there preconceived idea (sankalpa) is fulfilled.
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