Jain Journal 1968 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 59

JULY, 1968
first who were most successful in carrying out the typical dualistic organization: the community of monks as the nucleus, the laity (upāśaka) as a community under religious rule of the monks.
Inspite of the predominance of the monk clergy, the laity have always exerted strong influence in Jainism. The laity could do so because it represented the possessing, pre-eminently bourgeois classes. The limitations, whatever they might have been, were to be imposed by the person concerned voluntarily, without any fixed limit. It gave much freedom to the laity with regard to the possession and utilization of wealth. They were free to invest and to earn profit to their respective risk-bearing capacities. This kind of freedom would naturally result into prosperity.
As with Puritans, the strict methodical nature of their prescribed way of life was favourable to such accumulation of wealth. The strict code of conduct resulted into a rigorous control over consumption of the lay followers. In this way, the ascetic influences were, however, consistent with their business philosophy in the sense that they strengthened their already high propensity to save114. Thus asceticism as well as rationalism tended to encourage economic application of knowledge and the propensity to invest. There was a definite decline in the importance of ritual and the priestly classes, which led to a reduction in waste and unproductive consumption. Viewed in this perspective the paradox of prosperity amidst austerity vanishes and it appears to be a quite a logical conclusion that the Jaina ethical ideals were not only not inconsistent but at times they have encouraged higher rate of savings and investment.
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1 Max Weber, The Religion of India, 1960, P. 193.
2 J. J. Spengler, Social Structure, the State and Economic Growth quoted by
S. Kuznets, Economic Growth: Brazil, India and Japan, 1955, Pp. 363-70.
8 W. E. Lewis, The Theory of Economic Growth, 1955, Pp. 106.
4 Max Weber, The Religion of India, 1960, Pp. 192-204.
5 Ibid.
na so pariggaho butto nayaputtena taina muccha pariggaho butto ii buttam mahesina. sabbatthubahina buddha samraksana pariggahe abi appano bi dehammi na'yaranti mamaiyam.
? jaha laho taha loho laha loho bevddavi.
8 iccha hu agasasama.
6
• jaha laho taha loho laha loho pavaddhai
domasakaym kajjam kodiye vi na nithiyam-Uttaradhyayana Sutra.
10 Max Weber, The Religion of India, Chap 1V, Pp. 192-204.
11
Ibid.
12 krsigauraksyavanjyam vaisyakarma svabhavajam-Bhagavadgita, 18, 44.
13 S. B. E. XLV, Uttaradhyayana Sutra, VIII, 16, 17, P. 34. Vikash Mishra, Hinduism and Economic Growth, 1962, P. 24.
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