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Vajra - svāmī.
HISTORY OF THE Khapuța who lived in Broach, and the founding of Śatruñjaya 1 in the state of Pālitāņā.
The next spiritual leader 2 of great importance for our purpose was Vajrasvāmī, the last and greatest of the Daśapūrvi. It was in his time that the sixth schism took place. A Jaina sādhu called Rohaguptas taught that there are not seven but only three constituent elements of the earth, viz. : Jiva, Ajiva and Nojiva; the schism is accordingly called the Nojiva schism and is believed to have arisen in A. D. 71. A seventh schism, led by Goşţa Mahāl, also took place under Vajrasvāmi's rule. The Jaina believe that Vajrasvāmi was able to call up at will a magic carpet which conveyed him and his friends to any distance, and that once by its means he transplanted the whole community from a faminestricken district to the town of Puri. The more enlightened Jaina say that this carpet really represents some modern mode of locomotion (steam engine, motor car, or aeroplane) the secret of whose construction Vajrasvāmi had anticipated. Vajrasvāmi had a famous disciple, Aryarakṣita, who had originally been a Brāhman and had studied all knowledge at Benares. His mother spurred him on to study the Jaina Pūrva, and whilst doing so he was converted to Jainism and learnt from Vajrasvāmi the whole of the nine-and-a-half Pūrva. He is famous amongst the Jaina for having arranged the Sūtra into four divisions that they might be the more easily understood.
We now come to the great division of the community. Vajrasvāmi was followed by Vajrasena, and under his leadership the Digambara finally separated from the main community. The new Head had not the personality of his
1 Satruñjaya, the Jaina say, was built by a monk who had the power of rising through the air, and by a disciple of his who had the power of creating gold. This fortunate conjunction of talents has resulted in one of the loveliest temple cities in the world.
· Indradinna had been followed by Dinnasūri, and he by Sirhhagiri, and then came Vajrasvāmi.
* Rohagupta had a disciple called Kaņāda who was, according to the Jaina, the founder of the famous Vaiseşika philosophy.
Vajrasena.
The Great Schism.
