Jain Journal 1975 07

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

Page 10

The Missions of Jaina Sangha
J. C. SIKDAR
It appears from the study of the evidences furnished by the literary and archaeological sources of information that a tribal religion of Iksvakubhumi (Ayodhya) under the leadership of the first Tirthankara Rsabhadeva has subsequently become one of the national religions of India, carrying the message of the oldest cultural tradition, since the advent of civilization on this land, spreading throughout its length and breadth from the Himalayas to the Indian ocean and from the western seaboard to the eastern frontier upto Bengal and far beyond to Ceylon, and thus enriching the cultural heritage of this great country in all branches of learning.
The Jaina missionaries founded Sanghas, Ganas, Gacchas, etc., consisting of monks and nuns, male and female laities in various parts of India in different ages and developed them according to the thoughts and ideas of different schools on the basis of the principles of Jainadharma laid down by the Tirthankaras for the people to lead their religious life by observing the well-determined rules and regulations without being divorced from the main stream of the fundamental tenets of this religion.
A direct foundation of Jainadharma, perhaps more rightly, of the ancient Jaina orthodoxy is to be found in North Indian soil (Uttarapradesa, Bihar and Punjab). This has occurred in the hoary past in the Age of Rsabhadeva when he had made his appearance as the first Tirthankara and as a missionary?. In spite of reverses, political turmoils and lapses of Ages the mission of Jaina Sangha had been maintained upto the Age of Mahavira’ in a systematic line of monastic hierarchy. This was supported by Kinghsip and Ksatriyahood based upon a magnificent feudal system and the requisite bureaucracy. The Jaina monastic
1 See Kalpasutra 190-200, pp. 247-275 ; Tiloyapannatti, pt. I, vv. 510-519,
pp. 206-7 ; Trisastisalakapurusa Caritra by Hemacandra, Parvas 1-10 ;
Avasyakacurni, p. 160. 2 Bhagavati Sutra, 20.8.678 3 Ibid., 33.383. Many feudal princes and princesses joined Jaina Sanghas of
the twenty four Tirthankaras as ascetic in different Ages and they formed the core of the Jaina monastic order in their respective Ages.