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Religious Divisions in the Jaina Community
Pārsvanātha flourished towards the end of the ninth century B, C., i, e., 250 years before Mahāvīra. He was a religious teacher of great eminence and had to fight against the Brahmanic tyranny of caste system and the preponderance of himsä' (i. e. killing ) of animals in Vedic sacrifices which was gradually filtering into the East from the Western part of India. He, therefore, threw open the doors of his religion to all persons without any distinction of caste, creed or sex. Both males and females could enter the Order of Pārsvanätha on the basis of equality. He preached the four great vows, i.e., ' Ahimsā” (i.e. non-injury), 'Satya’ (i.e. truth);
Asteya' (i.e. abstinence from stealing and Aparigraha' (i.e. non-attachment to worldly things ) and emphasised the necessity of observing strict asceticism as a means for the attainment of salvation. Moreover, Pārsvanātha divided the followers of Jaina religion into four categories according to sex and the strictness with which the members practise the injunctions laid down by the Jaina religion, viz., (i) Yatis or Sädhus or Munis, i. e., male ascetics; (ii) Arjikās or Sadhvīs, i. e., female ascetics; (iii) Śrāvakas, i.e., male laity and (iv) Śrāvikās, i. e., female laity. This foundation of four orders in the community with their leaders to look after and supervise the conduct of members comprising the order shows that there was a pretty good arrangement to govern and organise the Jaina community from the earliest times. In fact, this is one of the important reasons put forward for the survival of Jainism in India as against its rival Buddhism.3
After Parsvanatha, Mahāvīra became the leader of the Jaina Church. The religion preached by Mahāvīra was substantially the same as preached by his predecessor Pārsvanātha. It is said that Mahavira added ' Brahmacharya' (i.e., chastity, perhaps already included in Aparigraha) as the fifth great vow to the four great vows already preached by Pārsvanātha 4. Mahā vira continued further the practice of fourfold division of the community and it is stated that at the time of his death there were 14000 Yatis, 36,000 Sadhvīs, 1,59,000 Śrāvakas and 3,18,000 Srā vikās.5 Mahāvīra had in all eleven Ganadharas. They were all religious teachers wellversed in Jaina scriptures. After the nirvana of Mahāvīra, the fifth Ganadhara Sudharman became the head of the Jaina Church, others either having attained salvation or 'Kevalinship’ (i. e. omniscience ) before the death of Mahāvīta. Sudharman is said
