ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

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Shauripur near Mathura and later on the Y davs migrated to Gujarat (Dwarka was their capital). All the Pandavas and even Balrama and Krs a were his disciples and practiced penance in different parts of Gujarat. Vedics were busy in yajñas and sacrifices to achieve their worldly objectives while Jains were busy in pursuing right conduct to achieve liberation. This was also the period when emphasis was shifting to knowledge over rituals and saw emergence of famous Hindu epics like Rm ya a, Mahābhārata and Upanişads and the practice of giving up (nivratti) and development of mysticism over engagement (pravritti) of Vedics. Thus the period after Mah bh rat saw the rejuvenation of
rama as and decline of Vedic cult. Nemi N tha attained liberation from mount Girn ra in Distt K thiav da Gujar t.
P rsva N tha, 23rd tratha kara of Jains and son of the N ga dynasty king of Vr asi was born in 877BC in Vrasi. He renounced the world at the age of 30 and after penance attained omniscience. After this he roamed all over India to rejuvenate Jainism and made it popular till southern parts of India. He attained liberation at the age of 100 from Sammeda ikhar, which is now named after him. Ahiksetra in Distt Bareily of UP had been an important place of penance of P rsva N tha. Families of both Mah vra amd Buddha were his followers. About 300 years after him, Mah vra was born in Bihar and Jainism, as we know today is his teachings and path of spiritual purification. He tried and succeeded to a large extent to divert the Br hma as to Jain fold again and was extremely popular with the kings of Magadh and that area. Mah vra is a historical person and his period and thoughts are well documented.
Historians like Furlong, Charpentier, have established existence of Jain monks (called V rtyas or C syaps) in central Asia and Greece. The name Caspian see is assigned to these Jain monks and a number of temples, believed to belong to Jains, are being discovered in this area and Europe. Words like Jimanosophist, Jimnet i, Oret i (from rtiya) and Verit i, which are representative of Jains, are found in Geek literature. Recently there was a news item telling discovery of over 400 temples in Europe which appear to belong to Jain culture. Further we find that Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and others were vegetarians and practiced non-violence and other ethical postulates of Jains.
1.1.2 Historical Studies. Mah v ra till now. Beginning of the 5th r
1. Mah v ra Mah vra was born in the year 610BC to Siddh rtha (a district chieftain of Vaishali (prosperous democratic district in the present state of Bihar) having royal lineage as most of his paternal and maternal aunts were the queens of different kings in that area. He became the 24th tratha kara of Jains. His family practiced the religion of Prova N tha. Mah vra renounced the world at the age of 30 and attained omniscience at the age of 42 and Nirva at the age of 72. He preached his philosophy for 30 years after attaining omniscience. A number of modern historians believe him to be the founder of Jainism but he was the 24th trtha kara and a rejuvenator of Jainism (earlier called by different names such as Arhat, Niggantha, un t dharma, V rtya etc.) Jainism was at its pinnacle during his time and adopted as a state religion by almost all kings from Kalinga (Orrisa) to Magadh (Bihar) and Ujjaini (MP). More than 500,000 people joined his creed when Buddha, and more than 5 other rama ika sects and 350 other sects were trying hard to establish themselves. His time saw a lot of philosophical discussions, spiritual sermons, rituals with sacrifices, extravagant consumption and display of wealth and women slavery. Mah vra tried to eliminate all the social ills and emphasized austerities, penance, non-violence, self-restraint and multiplicity of viewpoints as the founding principles to attain lasting peace and happiness. A number of learned Br hma a scholars joined his creed. He was followed by a number of omniscient with Jambu Sv mi (about 65 years of Mah vra's Nirva) being the last one who made Mathur his place of penance and salvation.
II. Mah v ra - 300BC After Jambu Sv mi's Nirva, the era of rutakevalis started with Bhadrab hu being the last one who died in 365BC. During this period the salient features were as follows:
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