Jain Journal 1976 01

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

Page 38

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JAIN JOURNAL
was, of course, Saivism 112 and also Buddhism113 to some extent. There are evidences of the persecution of the Jaina monks and destruction of the Jaina temples 114.
Jainism in South India has undergone the inner transformation into a Brahmanical religion 115 in agreement with the impact of the scribe upon the character of the whole of South Indian Culture. The disputations and religious controversies peculiar to India were there116. Jainism in South India remained immune to any penetration of Sakti religion 117 in general, although there is evidence that the Jainas are also called Satkas. From the outset South Indian Jainism has been a purely monastic church consisting of monks and. laities. The Jaina monastery contained also the temples with images of the original Jinas and secondary Jinas118, e.g. Bahuvali, etc. and a whole band of deities borrowed from Brahmanism119. The community of the cloister was preserved by the fact that each monk had the right to be a guest in any monastery.
Quite in the Indian manner the Jaina monasteries split into different schools. Obviously, this was essentially in agreement with the spirit of Jaina revivals which spread out over the mission territory. At the time of the first import and as late still as the time of the resettlement the later conclusions of the Jaina doctrine had as yet not been elaborated.
South Indian Jainism has in part attempted to achieve a unified religion through reception of the great saints of other systems. The character of later South Indian Jaina monkdom was essentially established through its increasingly feudal nature. A daily cultus-holy teaching, solitary or more characteristically joint meditation by sitting and ascetic virtuoso accomplishments borrowed from the ancient Hindu folk asceticism of magicians are the distinctive features of Jainadharma in South India.
112 Jainism in South India, pp. 11-12. 23, 24. Virasaiva Chief Linga, the son of
Santa persecuted the Jainas in Andhra in the beginning of the 16th Century. Jainism in South India, pp. 2, 4, 9 and also the eleventh chapter of Dharmamrta
by Nayasena. 114 Jainism in South India, p. 12.
Jainism underwent inner transformation into a Brahmanical religion in
South India. 118 Jainism in South India, pp. 11-12. 23, 24. 117 sakte cantargata devi cinah kapalikah sive bauddha jainastate devi divyah Kaulastatha sive
---Saktisangamatantra, 1/188., 190, 192-193. 118 For example Bahubali is worshipped by the Jainas as secondary Jina. 119 The Digambara Jainas followed all Brahmanical customs and usages and
even priesthood. They regard themselves as the true Brahmanas.