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Jain monks began placing emphasis on such rituals and introduced the concept of Devs and Devis associated with Tirthankars to make Jain practice appear similar to Hindu practice. By the 8th century, formal idol worship and pujäs were firmly estab lished and many temples had been created. The construction of temples and related rituals do not appear in Jain scriptures (Agam literature).
Not all changes in the practice of Jainism were made by ascetics. Lay people have also contributed to the evolution of Jainism. During the 15th century a merchant named Lonka worked as a scribe to make hand-written copies of the Jain scriptures. While reading these scriptures, he found idol worship to not be sanctioned in the original Jain tenets. He then established the Sthanakvasi sect. This sect, which is a sub-sect of Shwetambars, does not believe in idol worship.
Also during the 15th century, a Digamber monk also refuted idol worship. This monk founded the Taranpantha sect. Followers of this sect worship sacred books (similar to Sikhism) instead of idols and they do not use fruits or flowers in their worship.
During the 18th century, a Sthanakvasi monk named Bhikanji founded a new sub-sect called Terapanth. This sect was formed because he believed that ascetics should not get involved with charitable activities. Ironically, due to more changes that occurred later, today Terapanthis are known for performing far more charitable activities then any other sect of Jainism.
Jain lay people traditionally have not kept scriptures in their own possession. The prevailing belief had been that lay people are likely to misinterpret and misuse the scriptures, so only monks and nuns were encouraged to read scriptures. Towards the end of the 19th century, a layperson known as Shrimad Rajchandra de-emphasized temple worship and rituals and advocated lay people to keep scriptures themselves and study them. This led to the tradition of "swadhyaya" or gathering to study and discuss scriptures among laypeople.
All these new sects and sub-sects that had formed over the centuries focused on issues such as creating temples and worshipping idols. However, the four-fold order of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen remained intact. Around 1936, Acharya Tulsi created a new rank of apprentice monks and nuns known as Samans and Samanis. Although not full-fledged ascetics, these apprentices live similarly to monks and nuns; however, their code of conduct is not quite as stringent and they are allowed to travel overseas, eat at one place, and stay in the homes of laypeople.
Traditionally monks and nuns were only allowed to travel on foot because using other modes of transportation would involve violence to living creatures of the ground, the air, and the sea. In 1970, Gurudev Chitrabhanu, who was a monk at the time, made the controversial decision to travel overseas to participate in a Spiritual Summit Conference in Geneva to spread Mahavir's message of universal peace, compassion, and reverence for all life. A few years later, Acharya Sushil Kumar, recognizing the need to be able to teach Mahavir's message to people in other parts of the world, followed Chitrabhanu's lead and embarked on an international tour that
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Extending Jain Heritage in Western Environment
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