Jain Journal 1973 01

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

Page 51

Kulakara System Of Society As Depicted
In The Jaina Agamas
J. C. SIKDAR
After countless years of the infancy of the human race there began a new Age with the emergence of different conditions of life. On the one hand, the means of subsistence decreased, on the other, the growth of population took place and the necessities of human life increased in unequal ratio. In this condition there started mutual strife, looting and anarchy, i.e., there began the struggle for existence among the people. The force of these prevailing circumstances brought about a change in the divine human qualities, such as, forgiveness, peace, equanimity, etc. The seed of criminal disposition started to sprout in the minds of the people ; and chaotic condition gave them an impulse to build up a new order of society. As a result of this inner urge and action of the people of that Age the Kulakara system (tribal or gentile system) came into existence.' They began to live, being organized into the society of kula (gens). They chose some one as their leader who was designated as Kulakara (tribal chief). He was vested with the power to award punishment to anyone found guilty. He made all necessary arrangements of the entire kula in regard to peaceful living with the requirements of life. He always kept in mind the welfare of his kula and made restraint over the criminal acts of looting, etc. This is the nucleus of the first form of primitive administration in India.
The picture of kula as depicted in the Jaina texts is in essence indentical with the genea of the Greeks and the gentes of the Romans and the American Indian tribe. “The American was the original form of the gens and the Greek and Roman the later, derivative form ; that the entire social organization of the Greeks and Romans of primitive times in gens, phratry and tribe finds its faithful parallel in that of the American Indians ; that (as far as our present sources of information go) the gens is an institution common to all barbarians up to their entry into civilization.”
1 Jambudvipa-prajnapti, 2. 29; "aham ca se damdam vattehami, tahe tesim jo koti
avarajjhati so tassa uvatthavijjai, tahe so tassa damde vatteti, ko puna damdo, hakkaro, ha tume dutthu kayam, se tena hakkarena janati sisam paditam", Avasyakacurni, pp. 128-29.
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, F. Engels, pp. 83-84.