Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 78

which cannot be found among the Svetārbaras: "They represent ideologically (in terms of doctrine) and in practice (through austerities and ethicization in general) a uniform model of religious life both for the dhanik varga and the samanya janata" (82). R. K. Jain concludes that in the case of Digambara lay ascetics there is a "convergence rather than separation or even encompassment between what Laidlaw (1985: 50-70] has called the moksa and punya discourses" (71).
Chapter six ("The Digambar Jains of North India: Society and Religion in Baraut, Uttar Pradesh') is based on fieldwork conducted by the author himself in 1994 on the social organisation of the predominantly Terāpanth Digambara Jains in Baraut near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. In this chapter he acknowledges the difference between doctrine and practice with regard to the observance of caste (and sect) taboos, and the efforts of different reformers favouring (a) the unifying practice of intra-religious (Jain) marriages disregarding caste membership, or (b) the abolishment of received rules of gotra exogamy (83f.). He further explores the dominant cleavages in the Jain community in Baraut: Jats vs. Jains, Delhi-Meerut vs. Baraut, old City vs. new Market, Digambara vs. Svetāmbara, and Bisapanthi Digambara vs. Terāpanthi Digambara (the large majority). The most significant cleavage being the one between the supporters of Kānji Svāmī, who was favoured by the poorer and lower caste Digambaras and the national 'super-patrons' of the Mahāsamiti, on the one hand, and Āryikā Jñanamātā, which was supported by the conservative All India Digambara Jain Mahāsabhā and the associated All India Digambara Jain Tirtha Raksa Trust, on the other (89f.). The chapter also offers observations on the more 'flexible' Sthānakavāsī attitudes towards caste differences.
The final chapter of the book (The Kanji Swami Panth: Contestation, Cosmology and Confrontation') is the most interesting one, because it does not merely compile background information, but describes a series of dramatic events. On seventeen fascinating pages it documents the dispute between
For Private 74 ersonal Use Only