Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi

Page 15

JAINISM
Jñātriputra occurs in the Jaina and northern Buddhist books; in Pāli it is Nātaputta, and in Jain Prākệt Nayaputta. Jñāta or Jñāti appears to have been the name of the Rajput clan from which the Nirgrantha was descended."9 From the fact that in these Buddhist sources the bare name of Mahāvīra alone is not referred to, but with the name of the philosophical school to which he belonged, it is evident that Jainism was in existence even before the time of Mahāvīra. It is not disputed that the Buddha and Mahāvīra were contemporaries and since the Buddhist classics refer to the Jaina school of thought it can be concluded that Jainism was an independent religion having its roots in an earlier epoch. An old Buddhist canon, Sāmagāma Sutta refers to the death of a nigantha — Nātaputta in Pāvā. Another Buddhist text Magghima Nikāya refers to a dispute between the Buddha and a son of a nigantha. The mention, in the Buddhist texts, of the Jainas as a class re-affirms the view that they were certainly not a sub-class under the Buddhists.
Moreover, the Buddhist texts nowhere point out that the niganthas were a newly founded sect. So Jainism must have existed for a considerable time before the Buddha. Jacobi observes : “The Nirgranthas are frequently mentioned by the Buddhists even in the oldest part of the Pițakas. But I have not yet met with a distinct mention of the Bauddhas in any of the old Jaina Sūtras, though they contain lengthy legends about Jamāli, Gośāla and other heterodox teachers. As this is just the reverse position to that which both sects mutually occupy in all aftertimes, and as it is inconsistent with our assumption of a contemporaneous origin of both creeds, we are driven to the conclusion that the Nirgranthas were not a newly founded sect of Buddha's time. This seems to have been the opinion of the Pițakas too; for we find no indication of the contrary in them.”10 This lends support to our surmise that Jainism was in existence before the Buddha and Mahāvīra.
Another significant contributory factor to our position regarding the antiquity of Jainism is to be found in the sixfold classification of humanity by Gośāla, a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahāvīra. One of the classes he mentions is that of the Niganthas. Had Jainism come into existence just then Gośāla would certainly not have regarded the Niganshas as a dominant division of mankind.
91.A., VII, p. 143 10 L.A., IX, p. 161