Samayasara

Author(s): A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 96

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SAMAYASARA
since it implies the complete destruction of all the karmas which enshrowds the intrinsic purity of the self is also called Nirgrantha, who is devoid of all attachment. The term Kandazhi which occurs in the Tamil work Tholkpya means the same thing as Siddha or the self which is completely liberated from all the shackles of karmas. Though the temple-worship is associated with Arhat Parameştht or Tirthankars, Jainas have not forgotten the fact that the Siddha represents the highest spiritual development. Hence the practice of silent salutation, Namah Siddhebhyah or Siddhan Namah is a common practice among Jains whenever they begin any good work either literary or of ordinary kind. Probably this practice of beginning with adoration of Siddhan Namaḥ or Namah Siddebhyah was prevalent among the non-Jainas also especially in South India where the people when they begin their daily work in school are taught to start with this salutation Siddhan Namaḥ.
The Age of Jainism:-There is a good deal of incorrect views prevalent among even educated people as to the age of Jainism. It is an unfortunate fact that Indians had to learn their history from foreign scholars. Foreign writers with incorrect and insufficient knowledge of the Indian historical background wrote textbooks on Indian history which provided the historic information to Indian student in schools. These history text-books were mainly responsible for a good deal of erroneous views prevalent among the educated Indians as to the past history of their land. One of these deplorable errors is the view that Jainism is an off-shoot of Buddhism and Hinduism. This error we are glad to say is no more prevalent among the oriental scholars both in the West and East though the error persists among the educated Indians whose knowledge of history is not uptodate. The origin of this error is to be found in the fact that the founder of Buddhism Gautama Sakyamuni and Mahavira Vardhamana the last of the Jaina Tirthankaras were contemporaries. Buddhistic literature contains references to Mahavira and his followers, and similarly Jaina literature composed at the time of Mahavira contains cross references to the Buddha and his religion. Persons who studied first the Buddhist literature and who had no knowledge of Jaina scripture come to the hasty conclusion that Jainism must have been a branch of Buddhism. Later on when oriental scholars came to study the subject they corrected their erroneous views and were constrained to call that Jainism must have been earlier than Buddhism. As a matter of fact, the Buddha was a younger contemporary of Lord Mahavira. The Buddha himself in his conversation with his friend and disciple Sariputta, narrates the fact that he himself in his earlier days was adopting Jaina practice of austerity which he had to give up because of the rigorous discipline which he did not like. The date of Mahavira's parinirvana, 527 B.C. is accepted as a land-mark in the history of India. According to Cambridge History of India, the 23rd Tirthankara, Lord Parsva who lived 220 years prior to Lord Mahāvīra is also considered a historical personage. According to the view 11