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Rightful Exposition of Jainism in the West :
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authors have stated that Mahāvīra gave Jainism a more positive form (celibacy, penitential retreat etc.) than Pārsvanātha and he was renovator, modifier and time-tuner of Pārśvan system. Despite the opinion of Dr. Zimmer that Jainism existed (though under different name of Nirgrantha in pre-Aryan time of 1700-2700 BC), these authors seem to be lop-sided.
Almost all the books have biography of Mahāvīra based on Kalpasūtra (foetus transference, marriage, one daughter, divine cloth at initiation etc.). Some authors agree to some miracles in his life. However, his biography is not as marvellous as Christ, Mohammad and Buddha. That is why; most western scholars state his biography as unattractive, formal, less reliable and legendary. On the one hand, these authors agree Mahāvīra to be a staunch austerite, adventurous, deep philosopher and capable organizer (of four-fold order), on the other, they state him a sage engaged in extremely tormenting and inconscientious harsh austere life.
Though Jainism is said to be naturalistic, the descriptions of his foetus transference etc. are stated to be supra-natural. They seem to be more legendary. His period of 540-468 BC is said to be better historical than 599-527 B.C. On this basis, he is given contemporariness with Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse and Zermia etc. Similarly, he had seven other contemporary heretic scholars.
Many books have a number of mistakes about his life (1) his place of birth (Patna), (2) Age of initiation (28), (3) acceptance of only peacock-feather broom (Pichi) and (4) 70 years of fourth spoke remaining after Mahāvīra's salvation etc.
Almost all the authors have stated the harshness of austerities as sermonised by Mahāvīra. These are extremes. However, his philosophic concepts are fundamental and adventurous. He was a wrestler of spiritualism and escapist from the physical world. His sermons were generally meant for the minority of followers (monks). C. Jaina Tenets: (1) Ethics And Practices
The Jaina Society may be classified in two categories - (1) Majority (laymen) and (2) minority (monks). The monk practices are generally taken as model. In contrast, the conduct of laymen is practical. Currently, a third category intermediate between the two has
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