Jain Journal 2000 04

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

Page 18

174
JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000
more by birth that someone claims to be Brāhmana, but by austerities (tapas) and good conduct (cāritra). Viśvāmitra, a kşatriya, claims the birth and rights of a Brāhmaṇa by austerities. 60 The Jaina canon asserts that it is by one's deed that one becomes a Brāhmaṇa : one does not become a Sramana by tonsure, nor a Brāhmana by the sacred syllable Om, nor a Muni by living in the woods, nor a Tāpasa by wearing clothes of kuća grass and a bark. One becomes a Sramana by equanimity; Brāhmana by chastity, a Muni by knowledge and a Tāpasa by penance.61 Anti-caste attitude is noticed in the legend of Harikesa Bala in one of the early Jain canons, Uttarādhyayanasūtra, 62
There are instances of declaration that the status of Ksatriya was higher than that of the Brāhmana.63 The Ksatriyas placed themselves in a superior position decrying the caste hierarchy, in favour of spiritual learning and achievement : khattiyo settho jane tasmim ye gottapatisārino/ vijacarana sampanno so settiho deva manuse ti (Among those who claim a lineage or gotra, the Ksatriya has a superiority. However, the person who has learning and character is superior to men as well as gods).
To a question relating to gotra Buddha answered Sundarika, a Brāhmaṇa of the Bhāradvāja gotra : 'I am not a Brāhmaṇa, or the son of a king or a vessa; having taken a gotra that of common people, I wander about in the world, without possessions, meditating. Clad in the Sanghāti, I wander about houseless with my hair shaven, tranquil, and not consorting with men in this world. Inopportunely O Brāhman, does thou make enquiry of my gotra. '64 Implicit in the words of Buddha is that ascetic life itself becomes a protest against the tyranny of caste. An ascetic surpasses caste, and other such institution of mundane life. He is casteless, not because he is below caste but because he is above it. An ascetic is free from the bondage and artificial restrictions of society, which an ordinary man might not transgress.
The Šramana movement was a threat to class/caste division and Brāhmana supremacy. It was originally a monastic structure. The Sangha or the Holy Order admitted all types of people, even outcasts
60. The rivalry between the two great Orders or castes: the story of Vaśistha
and Viśvāmitra in the Mahābhārata, Adiparvan, 6638f. 61. Uttarādhyayanasūtra, 25.31-32, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 45, p.
130-140. 62. Ibid., 12. 63. Kalpasūtra, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 22, Part I, pp. 225-226. 64. Sutta Nipāta, 3.4, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 10, pp. 74-75.