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CHAPTER IV
TEACHINGS OF MAHĀVĪRA
Mahāvīra was not the founder but only a reformer of the existing faith of Jainism. His teachings are partly based on the religion of his predecessor, Pārsvanātha, and partly independent. He appears to be a religious philosopher who gave a philosophic justification for the rules of conduct propounded by Pārsvanātha. He was responsible for the codification of an unsystematic mass of beliefs inhering the earlier religion of his predecessor into a set of rigid rules of conduct for monks and laymen. Besides, he had to introduce changes in the existing religion in order to meet the needs of the time. There were several orthodox and heretical sects with their wellknown teachers going strong during his time. He understood and mastered the doctrines of the current philosophical systems such as the Kriyāvādins, the Akriyāvādins, the Vinayavādins and the Ajñānavādins. Sometimes he borrowed certain ideas from others in order to bring them into harmony with his own system. He also formulated his own doctrines under the influence of the controversies endlessly going on with his religious contemporaries. Some of his teachings also arose as a natural reaction against corrupt practices current in the society of this period.
No direct evidence regarding the teachings of Malāvira has been preserved. Originally, they are supposed to have been embodied in the Fourteen Pîrvas and the Eleven Augas. Thesc original texts are, however, according 10 thc Digambaras, lost without a trace, but the Svetämbaras do not subscribe to this view. According to them, an attcmpwas inade for the compilation of the Eleven Angas at the Council of Pājaliputra after a faminc of twelve year's duration in about the third century B.C., and the Pārvas were considered to be the twelftli Auga under the name of Drştirica. This type of Acoma
