Jain Journal 1978 07

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

Page 37

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JAIN JOURNAL
principles 49 excluding dayādharma 50 (compassion ) and is found in Western realm of Jaina Sangha. Now its prese it leader Acarya Tulsi is leading the aņuvrata movement (movement of smaller vows) for the laities throughout India.
South Indian Jaina Sanghas:
It is generally believed that the original characteristics of South Indian Jaina Sangha or Sanghas bore the stamp of North Indian Jaina Sangha,61 as Jainism spread from North India to the South. But no one knows when the change for different characteristics of the branches of this original Sangha (Mula Sangha)52 occurred in the course of the evolution of Jaina Sangha. Nor it is known how the specialization of southern Jaina Sanghas came about or what relationships southern sub-Sanghas bear to each other.
Modern Southern Jaina Sanghas, particularly Digambara, occur naively in two separate parts of South India-Karnataka and Maharastra. It is the historical fact that Jaina Sangha originated in North India and from there a part of it migrated to the South to those localities–Karnatadesa, Andhradesa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.53 The evidence that the Southern Jaina Sanghas were once present along with the Southern and South-eastern coasts of India is supplied by the South Indian traits of native culture and archaeological records.54 But the relationship between the South Indian Jaina Sangha and the South Indian people is still undetermined. Most of the Southern Jaina Sanghas have native tinge of culture. 55
49 (1) ahimsa (non-violence), (2) satya (truth), (3) asteya (non-stealing), (4)
brahmacarya (continence), (5) aparigraha (non-possession), (6) iriyasamiti, (7) bhasasamiti, (8) esanasamiti, (9) adanabhandamatraniksepanasamiti, (10) uccaraprasravanakhelasimghanaparisthapanikasamiti (self-restraint in walking, speech etc.), (11) kayagupti, (12) managupti and (13) vakagupti (control of body, of
mind and of speech). 50 See Jain Sraman Sanghaka Ithihas, p. 108. 51 e.g. Nirgranthamahasramanasangha of South India bears the stamp of Nirgran
tha Sangha or Gana or Gaccha of Mathura (U.P.). See Jaina Silalekha
Sangraha, Pt. II, pp. 69-70. 52 Jaina Silalekha Sangraha, Pt. II, No. 94, p. 61 (paramarhatasya vijayakirteh,
...mulasanghenanusthitaya, etc.) 53 See Jainism in South India by P. B. Desai. 54 Ibid. 55 See Jainism in South India. Land grants to Jainacaryas in charge of vasathis
for maintenance of Jaina monasteries and other Brahmanical characteristics of South Indian Jaina Sanghas indicate their native tinge of culture. Also see Jaina Silalekha Sangraha, Pt. I-IV, dealing with South Indian inscriptions.