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Jaina Community--A Social Survey or Śripūiya from his office ".125 In this connection H. Jacobi rightly remarks as follows. “It is evident that the lay part of the community were not regarded as outsiders, or only as friends and patrons of the Order, as seems to have been the case in early Buddhism; their position was, from the beginning, well defined by religious duties and privileges; the bond which united them to the Order of monks was an effective one. . . . . . . . It cannot be doubted that this close union between laymen and monks brought about by the similarity of their religious duties, differing not in kind, but in degree, had enabled Jainism to avoid fundamental changes within, and to resist dangers from without for more than two thousand years, while Buddhism, being less exacting as regards the laymen, underwent the most extraordinary evolutions and finally disappeared in the country of its origin."126
Another important reason for the survival of the Jaina comnity is its inflexible conservatism in holding fast to its original institutions and doctrines for the last so many centuries. The most important doctrines of the Jaina religion have remained practically unaltered up to this day and, although a number of the less vital rules concerning the life and practices of monks and laymen may have fallen into disuse or oblivion, there is no reason to doubt that the religious life of the Jaina community is now sub-. stantially the same as it was two thousand years ago. This strict adherence to religious prescriptions will also be evident from Jaina architecture and especially from Jaina sculpture, for the style of Jaina images has remained the same to such an extent that the Jaina images differing in age by a thousand years are almost indistinguishable in style. Thus an absolute refusal to admit changes has been considered as the strongest safeguard of the Jainas.127
The royal patronge which Jainism had received during the ancient and medieval periods in different parts of the country has undoubtedly helped the struggle of the Jaina community for its survival. The Karnātaka and Gujarātha continued to remain as strongholds of Jainas from the ancient times because many rulers, ministers and generals of renowned merit from Karnāțaka and Gujarātha were of Jaina religion. Apart from Jaina rulers many non-Jaina rulers also showed sympathetic attitude towards the Jaina religion. From the edicts of Rājasthan it will be seen that in compliance with the doctrines of Jainism orders were issued in
