Jainism Early Faith of Ashoka

Author(s): Edward Thomas
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

Page 40

6
THE EARLY FAITH OF AṢOKA.
from one individual, Sudharma-swámí. Two only out of eleven survived Mahávíra, viz. Indrabhúti and Sudharma: the first, identified with Gautama-swámí, has no spiritual successors in the Jaina sect. The proper inference seems to be, that the followers of this surviving disciple are not of the sect of Jina, rather than that there have been none.
"I take Párṣwanátha to have been the founder of the sect of Jainas, which was confirmed and thoroughly established by Mahávíra and his disciple Sudharma. A schism, however, seems to have taken place, after Mahávíra, whose elder disciple, Indrabhúti, also named Gautama-swámí, was by some of his followers raised to the rank of a deified saint, under the synonymous designation of Buddha (for Jina and Buddha bear the same meaning, according to both Buddhists and Jainas)."-Transactions of the R.A.S. (1826), Vol. I. p. 520; and Prof. Cowell's edition of Colebrooke'a collected Essays, vol. ii. p. 278.1
At the time when Colebrooke wrote, the knowledge of the inner history of Buddhism was limited in the extreme. Our later authorities contribute many curious items and suggestive coincidenees, tending more fully to establish the fact that Buddhism was substantially an offshoot of Jainism. For example, Ananda is found, in some passages of recognized authority, directly addressing Gotama himself in his own
....
1 Professor Wilson, writing in 1832 on the "Religious Sects of the Hindus," objected to this inference of Colebrooke's, on the ground of the supposed contrast of the castes of the two families. It is, however, a question, now that we know more of the gradual developments of caste in India, whether the divisions and subdivisions, relied upon by Prof. Wilson, had assumed anything like so definite a form, as his argument would imply, at so early a period as the date of the birth of Sakya Muni. Professor Wilson's observations are as follows:"When MAHAVÍRA's fame began to be widely diffused, it attracted the notice of the Brahmans of Magadha, and several of their most eminent teachers undertook to refute his doctrines. Instead of effecting their purpose, however, they became converts, and constituted his Ganadharas, heads of schools, the disciples of MAHAVIRA and teachers of his doctrines, both orally and scripturally. It is of some interest to notice them in detail, as the epithets given to them are liable to be misunderstood, and to lead to erroneous notions respecting their character and history. This is particularly the case with the first INDRABHUTI, or GAUTAMA, who has been considered as the same with the GAUTAMA of the Bauddhas, the son of MÁYÁDEVÍ, and author of the Indian metaphysics. That any connexion exists between the Jain and the Brahmana Sage is, at least, very doubtful; but the Gautama of the Bauddhas, the son of SUDDHODANA and MAYA, was a Kshattriya, a prince of the royal or warrior caste. All the Jain traditions make their GAUTAMA a Brahman originally of the gotra, or tribe of GOTAMA Rishi, a division of the Brahmans well known and still existing in the South of India. These two persons therefore cannot be identified, whether they be historical or fictitious personages.""-H. H. Wilson's Essays, vol. i. p. 298; Asiatic Res. vol. xvii.