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separate identity on the other. The Jains can be considered distinct from the Hindus in more or less the same way in which the Sikh and the Buddhists are.
German scholar Max Weber maintains that the Jains are an exclusive "merchant sect" (sic) and that there is apparently "a positive relationship between Jainism and economic motivation which is otherwise quite foreign in Hinduism". Weber seems to suggest that although Jainism is spiritualised in the direction of world renunciation, some features of inner worldly asceticism are also present in it.
In Max Weber's typology of religions the basic orientation of Jainism is characterized as "other worldly asceticism”. As Weber (1958: 195) put it, “it is spiritualized in the direction of world renunciation. Homelessness is the basic holy concept. It signifies the break of all worldly relations. Thus, above all, indifference to all sense perceptions and avoidance of all action based on worldly motives”. The ultimate aim of a Jain ascetic is to attain nirvana, which means "salvation from the body, the source of all sin and lust of all limitations of spiritual power”. Corresponding to these goals, an elaborate and severe code of conduct exists for the Jain monks.
It must be pointed out here that Weber's ideal typical form of extreme asceticism is required to be practiced only by a minority of monks and that, too, step by step. The layman, unless he wishes to do so, is not required to follow this path of salvation. As Basham (1959: 292) rightly maintains: "Full salvation is not possible to the layman. In this Jainism differs from Buddhism and Hinduism, which concede it in very exceptional cases”. According to Jain belief Mahavir was the last Tirthankar to reach Nirvan. In these degenerate days, the only hope for layman and even for monks lies in ending up in one of the 16 heavens, depending upon their past and present karmas (incidentally, there are 7 hells). This dualistic (or, better to say "stratified") ethical code and corresponding religious organization and their organic integration into a single continuum is a unique feature of Jainism. The following rather lengthy quotation from Jaina Yoga by Williams (1963: xxi) adequately summarizes the ethical dualism present in Jainism:
128 Jains in India and Abroad
