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Society and Religions / 59
A good number of the Mandali charters register the extent of spontaneous support which Jainism enjoyed. The pontifical genealogy of the Jaina preceptors recorded in the inscriptions is just outstanding and betrays zeolously the respect they commanded by the state and its subjects. These preceptors were more than exponents of rigid dogmas. Some of the friars were political advisors to the kings, ministers, the queens and generals; they taught the lay person, who is an adherent of Jainism, initially aņuvratas the five basic lesser vows, applicable to laymen of abstaining from evil conduct. These bhattaraks, the religious teachers, maintained good libraries (śrtabhandaras).
Saints still ruled the society at large. People sought them out for, spiritual or otherwise, guidance. Their grandiloquence to a larger extent determined state policy. Ascetics could exert so much influence on the society, because of their simplicity-simple living and high thinking, ochre-clad renouncer, a portrait of homeless almsman, possessing nothing but bear hands and piñci, a peacock-feather whiskbroom, whose ordained duty was to seek truth, peace, enlightenment and infuse a sense of similar detachment in their followers.
Jaina Temples - the Basadis
The Jaina temples of Digambara and Svetāmbar the two main and prominent sects, are very much similar in every respect, except that the images of the Tirthankaras of the latter sect are decorated with precious stone and necklace of gems or similar rich ornaments of jewels, where as in the former sect absolutely unclothed and unornamented figures are found. Nakedness is in accordance with the monastic rule of the archaic period, the rigid form of the perfected saviours, representing a condition of absolute detachment from the world. In the Mandalinad, practically there are no Svetāmbara sanctuaries; only Digambara shrines abound.
Building the basadis, installing the Jina bimbas and śāsana deities there in, making substantial provision for their permanent sustainance were acts of greater merit for the Mandali rulers.
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