Jamali his Life and Point of Diference from Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Prithviraj Jain
Publisher: Z_Vijay_Vallabh_suri_Smarak_Granth_012060.pdf

Page 1

JAMĀLI: HIS LIFE AND POINT OF DIFFERENCE
FROM LORD MAHĀ VĪRA
Prof. PRITHVI RAJ JAIN, M.A., Shastri 1. Sources
The particulars about the life of Jamāli, who was responsible for causing the first schism in the history of Jaina Church, are recounted mainly in the Vyākhyāprajñaptit or the Bhagavati Sūtra, the fifth? Anga of the Jaina canon. The frequent references to his name are found in other scriptures as well where the descriptions of certain events are almost identical with those of Jamāli as narrated in the Bhagavati. Such references, firstly, point out the processå through which a particular person comes to know about the arrival of a Tirthankara or an Acārya in his home-town or a place nearby and gets ready for a visit in order to pay obeisance to him and after hearing the religious discourse resolves to enter the ascetic order on obtaining the consent of his parents. Secondly, they describe the order of grand procession, which is piloted through the principal streets and bazaars of the city with great eclat and show, on the auspicious occasion of one's renunciation. According to the Sthānānga Sūtra", the Antakyddaśā, the eighth Anga of the canon contained as its sixth chapter "The Chapter on Jamāli", but unfortunately that is not extant. Exegetical literature on some scriptures, i.e., the Sthânănga, the Uttaradhyayana and the Avaśyaka, etc., also provides information about Jamāli.
It is remarkable that all references in regard to Jamali are narrated only in Svetambara literature. The scriptures accepted by the Digambara sect of Jainas have not mentioned his name anywhere. It was a natural corollary that the Digambara Ācāryas could not refer to him as nephew or son-in-law of Lord Mahāvīra; they did not believe that Mahāvira had a sister or that he ever married. What an impartial student of Jaina literature fails to explain is that the name of Jamāli is not mentioned by the Digambara Acāryas even as one of the disciples and fellow-workers of Mahāvīra who ended by opposing him. 1. Šataka 9, Uddeśaka 33. 2. Nandisūtra 44. 3. a. Anuttaraupapātikadaśa section 3, Story of Dhanna.
b. Nirayāvali section 5, Chapter 1, Story of Prince Viranga. 4. Jñatādharmakathā part 1, Chapter 8, Story of Malli Kumari. 5, Sutra 755.