Prolegomena to Prakritica et Jainica

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

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PROLEGOMENA TO PRAKRITICA et JAINICA
the contrary, the naişthika-śrāvaka (which is, in fact, equivalent to nai şthika-brahmacāri and which is again later on called kşullaka) is one who pursues his path upwards for spiritual attainment and practises the tenfold dharmas of the ascetic. As in his culminating point(nişthā) he leaves the household life, he is called naişthika śrāvaka. A Sādhaka is he who concludes (sādhayati) or renounces his human body by carrying out sallekhanā. (S.R. Banerjee, Introducing Jainism, Calcutta, 2002, pp 34, 36). The inclusion of this idea in the history of Jainism was due to some historical influences of the time. Sometimes these differences might also be due to some other reasons.
Jainism is very severe, very difficult to follow. Particularly the life of the Svetāmbara Sādhus who roam from place to place is very difficult to follow. They cannot cross the sea or water. As the Jaina Sādhus and Sādhvis could not cross the sea, Jainism did not spread outside India. But in the last quarter of the twentieth century, some groups of Jains travelled all over the world spreading Jainism. They are not Sādhus and Sadhvis in the real sense of the term, but they are called Sramana and Sramaņi. They are allowed to travel everywhere. This started almost at the end of the 20th century, and the Terapanthi Sādhu community was the pioneers in this respect. The Jaina monks and nuns should not stay in one place for a long time and they must be constantly on the move preaching their religion. They can halt in one place only during the rainy season and resume their journey as soon as the rains are over. Even our present Ācārya Mahāprajñaji has been constantly roaming for over 70 years now. He has perhaps now left Ahmedabad as well. I saw him moving in the years 1958-59 in Calcutta and that is where I met the Acāryaji for the third time, the first time I met him was in 1957 at Sujangarh in Rajasthan. Wherever they moved, the monks preached the Jaina philosophy and that is how the religion was propagated. People attended these preachings in large