________________
Pārsvanātha and Vardhamāna Mahāvīra
was Mahāvīra who showed a decided inclination for the enumeration and classification of rules of conduct.239
After attaining omniscience he expressed it to the people in their own language, i.e., Ardha-Māgadhī.240 Besides the local people, Mahāvīra absorbed almost the entire following of Pārsvanātha in his Church.241 The practical genius of Mahāvīra is abundantly evident from his reorganisation of the four-fold order of the followers comprising monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen.242 He led a touring life and came in contact with people belonging to various castes, creeds, etc.243 He, thus, built a strong laity which displayed extraordinary devotion towards him and went to the extent of even deifying him.244 In the system established by Mahāvīra both laymen and laywomen could aspire to monkhood by accepting the discipline of the Jaina Church in stages.245 Thus, unlike Buddhism, Jainism produced a succession of godly men and women through the ages who could endure the storm and stress that drove Buddhism out of India.246 The moral injunctions prohibiting the eating of animal foods, drinking, gambling, hunting, stealing, adultery and debauchery, have produced high-souled men and women from the Jaina laity.247 Even these days the Jainas sing the praises of the ideal domestic woman, the chaste Sulasā. 248 Some scholars have attributed the doctrine of Syādvāda to Mahāvīra.249
239. AOIU, p. 42. 240. HJM, p. 77. 241. Ibid. 242. HOIC, I, p. 164; JSS, p. 21. 243. HJM, p. 77. 244. Ibid. 245. HOIC, 1, p. 164. 246. Ibid. 247. Ibid. 248. Ibid. 249. JSS, p. 21.
75
