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III. IDEALISM AND REALISM (CHARACTERISTICS : RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL)
JAINISM AS IT WAS
Jainism as it was, at the time of its introduction into Karnāțaka, was in many respects quite different from what it came to be later, owing to the conditions obtaining there. But, in order to be able to appreciate this metamorphosis, it is necessary to comprehend clearly the basic ideas and principles of the pristine faith. The sources for this are, no doubt, of a comparatively later date; but it is not difficult to distinguish between what was original and what was transformed. For, as Carpentier has rightly observed, "the inflexible conservatism of the small Jaina community in holding fast to its original institutions and doctrine... has been its strongest safeguard"; and in spite of periods of severe affliction, has enabled the Jainas to preserve their canon to a large extent untainted, 1 There are indications in inscriptions and bas-reliefs of the first and second century A. D. of their authenticity going back to a much earlier period, and its oldest elements "may very well go back to the time of the first disciples of Mahāvīra, or at any rate to the Council of Pătaliputra which was held according to tradition under the Maurya king Candragupta at the end of the fourth (or beginning of the third) century B. C.”2 The transformations were principally in matters of detail,--and the unconscious modifications which all religions and institutions tend to undergo in matters of practice rather than in the principles underlying them.
1 Carpentier. The Cambridge History of India I, p. 169. 2 Macdonnel, India's Fast, p. 71; Jaina Sütras, S.B.E., XXII, Introd.,
Pp. Il-xlii ; Gbosal, Dravyasamgroha, SBJ. 1, pp. 3-4.
