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Fourthly, owing to its strict code of conduct even for a householder, it was not easily adaptable for foreigners. For this very reason, however, it could retain the faith of a common man and its own entity in India. Thus the extremism of the Jaina religion on the one hand prevented its expansion in India and abroad, but, on the other, it proved the sole cause of its survival in India. It is because of the strict austerities associated with Jainism that it remained a closed sect, little understood beyond its adherents. Even the unusual absorbing power of Hinduism could not absorb it. This speaks eloquently for its originality which could withstand the challenge of Hinduism.
Last but not least among the causes of the extinction of Buddhism on Indian soil was that it never tried to develop the order of laymen and lay-women. By the word Order they meant the Order of monks and nuns, while Jainism always laid stress on the Four fold Order- the monks, the nuns, the laymen and the lay-women, and that is why it did not lose its identity.
Thus the two parallel religions drifted wide apart and had altogether a different history. Buddhism died in India, but remained in China, Japan, Sri Lanka and many other countries; Jainism remained in India.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF TIRTHANKARA
The concept of Tirthankarais the pivot, around which the wheel of Jaina religion revolves. In Jainism the Tirthankaras are regarded as the founders of religion as well as objects of worship. Generally, the Jaina concept of Tirthankara seems to be similar to that of incarnation (avatāra) in Hinduism. Both have the same object in view: the propagation of religion but there is a fundamental difference between the two concepts. According to the Gita, the
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