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Jainism is a religion of great antiquity which first flourished in eastern India in the region of Banaras and Bihar. It has a recognized series of 24 Jinas or teachers, their own canons and a well-organized body of monks and lay community that has existed through the centuries. (cf. J. L. Jaini 1916; Stevenson 1915) Two of the last great Jinas, Parsva and Mahavira, lived and preached in the 8th and 6th centuries B.C., respectively. Mahavira's family already professed Parsva's doctrines; he himself renounced his worldly ties when he was about thirty years old, after meeting his family obligations and taking due permission of his elder brother. He did not run away like Gautama Buddha at dead of night leaving his wife and child uncared for. He searched for the truth for about twelve years, meditated and practised severe austerities through which he came to understand and fully control his feelings and passions. He became fully aware and fearless like a lion, he became the perfected one. He became the Jina, "conqueror" of feelings and passions (equivalent to the Buddha as "the enlightened one") and could now go and preach his path, a path which unlike that of the Buddha, was not a new one. This was the same path that Parsva had preached about 250 years earlier and 22 Jinas before Pārsva. Mahavira claims no originality for his doctrines. He reformulated the system which already existed and there were other followers of Parsva even before Mahavira became a Jina and main spokesman for the Niganthas as the Jainas were known in the 6th century B.C. Mahavira, however, more heavily emphasized the ascetic rules for the monks than had Pārsva. Mahavira may have noted the moral laxities found in contemporary monks whether Jaina, Ajivika or Buddhist. He set an unusually high standard of ascetic morality which has led many an earlier student of Indian philosophy and religion to regard him as an originator of a new system
Jainas enjoyed the support and patronage of contemporary kings like Cetaka of Vaisali, Śreņika (Bimbisara) and Kuņika (Ajātaśatru). Later on the Mauryan emperors Candragupta and Aśoka also patronized them as did the "Jaina King" Kharavela of Kalinga. It is also certain that a number of prominent merchants and aristocrats and nobles also showed their appreciation for Jainism during the preChristian era. It was apparently in the days of Candragupta Maurya (4th century B C.) that a section of the Jaina community moved south under the leadership of Bhadrabahu. The emperor Candragupta Maurya himself is said to have renounced his throne under the impact of this great Jaina ascetic and accompanied his followers to Karnataka (Mysore). This migration is said to have been caused by a twelve-year
226 JAINTHOLOGY
