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LASSEN ON THE JAINS.
SEPTEMBER, 1873.]
such as are kept by the other Hindus, e. g. the Vasantay átrá, or vernal festival. From the Buddhist priests, the pious among the Jainas, have taken to the custom of living quietly during the varsha or rainy season, of devoting themselves to the study of their sacred scriptures, and of practising fasting and meditationt during that time. The Vaisy as among the Jainas engage in trade only, and the names Brahmana, Kshatriya, and Sudra denote among them other occupations and ranks.§
Before bringing this to a close, I have only to add an outline of the history of the sect, and to lay before my readers a condensed view of the present extension of the Jainas.
Most probably Pâráva or Pârvanatha, the 23rd Jina, may be considered as the real founder of this sect.|| He was the son of king Asvasena by his spouse Vâma or Bhâmani, and was born in Vârânasi. The statement that he was a descendant of the old race, of Ikshvâ ku raises doubts, because Buddha's family, the Sâky a dynasty, which reigned in Kapilavastu, is well known to have belonged to that ancient Soma - va ǹ é a or solar race, and the Jainas would easily be tempted to attribute the same origin to the founder of their sect, especially as it had been attributed also to Rishabha, the first Jina. He died aged 100 years, on Mount Sameta Sikhara, in Southern Bihar, 250 years, it is said, before the demise of his successor, Vardhamâna or Mahavira. The opinion that this Jina was a real person is specially supported by the circumstance that the duration of his life does not at all transgress the limits of probability, as is the case with his predecessors. According to previous researches, that event took place during the first or second
Wilson, As. Res. XVII. p. 272 and p. 277.
+ See Ind. Alt II. p. 450 and p. 723.
J. Stevenson's Preface to his edition of the Kalpasútra, p. xxii., and p. 9 of the text. The expression for it is Paryushama, and in the vernaculars Payashan. This period of time is divided into two sections, 1. e. one which begins 50 days before, and another which commences after the 5th day of the bright half of the month Bhadrapada, i. e. about the 26th July. During the first portion the Svetâmbara sect, characterized by its white dress, fasts, and during the second that of the Digambaras.
On the Srawacs or Jains, by Dr. Buchanan Hamilton in Trans. of the R. As. 8. 1. pp. 531 sega: The Jainas of South Bihar are treated also in the following dissertation:-On the Srawacs or Jains, by Major James Delamaine, Bengal Army, ibid. I. pp. 418 seqq.
Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, vol. II. p. 812 and I. p. 381. According to this passage, he had also the name Lunchitakess generally in use among the Jainas,
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century of our era.† Of the next Jina, i. e. Vardhamâna or Mahavira, also Vira, we possess more extensive biographies than of any of his predecessors, since the Kalpasútra deals specially with this subject, and since it has been treated with predilection also in other writings of the Jainas; that book is moreover the oldest among the Jainas, the date whereof can be accurately fixed, because its author Bhadrabahu was a contemporary of the Vallabhi king Dhruvasena, and because the time of the Jina Suri Achâra, the author of the most important Purána, is not quite certain. One consequence of his great fame was that many miracles are related of him, and that supernatural power has been attributed to him.
His father's name was Siddhartha, and his real mother's Trisâlâ; the statement that his father was descended from the old epic monarch Ikshvá k u must in this case also be a fictions. The information that his wife was called Jaśod â must also be an invention, because, as is well known, one of the three spouses of the founder of the Buddhist religion bore a similar name, viz. Jasodhara. Mahavira renounced the world in his 28th year, devoted himself entirely to a pious and contemplative life, and after two years had advanced so far that he attained the rank of a Jina. During the next six years he laboured with great success in the propagation of his views, and then took up his habitation in the village Nålandâ, ¶ in Magadha, which is often mentioned in the oldest history of the religion of Så kyasiñha. Here he gained, among other persons as disciples, also Gośâla, and convinced Vardhanasena, an adherent of Chandracharya, of his errors. This latter ob
because, when he entered the priesthood, he cut off five handfuls of hair. Of him also the 5th chapter of the Kalpasitra, p. 97, treats, and Hemachandra v. 28, p. 6, where also he is called Paráva.
¶ Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 268.
Thus, e. g. his predecessor lived 1000 years, according to Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 212. [Vide ante, p. 139.]
+ See above, p. 197:
See above, p. 198.
Kalpasitra, I. p. 221 seqq.; Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 213 seqq., and Wilson, As. Res. XVII. p. 251 seqq. According to the last author he was born in the unknown town Pavana, in Bharatakshetra. The father of this Jina is also called Srey Ania and Yaiasvin, and. his son 8 ramana.
I See Ind. Alt. II. p. 68. Prince Sarvavira was the father of Jasoda
On this celebrated village see Ind. Alt. IV. 602.
