Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

Author(s): Pranabananda Jash
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India
usually dropped and the wandering almsman is designated as a Bhikṣu or a Yati. Only the man who, with a Brāhmaṇical background, betakes himself to the wandering almsman's calling is called a Samnyāsin." The pravrajyā ceremony signifies the rejection of not only Grhasthya-life but also of the Vedic religious practices and symbols. He is called Samnyāsi (Sam+ni+as) because he 'casts off everything from himself'; Parivrājaka because he wanders about leaving home and Bhikṣu because without possessions he lives only as a beggar. But the ritual of prayrajyā which is found in the later Upanişads of the post-Buddhistic period may be treated as a subtle attempt to retain within Brāhmaṇical fold who has cast off completely the Brāhmanical religious culture. It may be also due to the influence of the Buddhist practice which solemnises the new life from 'home into homelessness' (agārasmū anagāriyam pabbajati).
Another point to be noted in this connection is that the Parivrăjakas hailed from both the Brāhmaṇical and non-Brāhmaṇical groups of people, but majority belonged to the non-Brāhmaṇical society. Parivrājakas were prevalent in the early and later Brāhmanical societies, there is no doubt about it, but the process was made popular in the Brāhmaṇical society by the great Advaitācārya Sankarācārya by establishing four mathas in four different quarters of the Indian subcontinent-Badri in the north (Jyotih or Josi matha), Sệngeri in the south (Srngeri matha), Dvārakā in the west (Sāradā matha) and Puri in the east (Govardhana mațha).
It needs to be clarified that the growth of wandering bodies of religieux, the Parivrājakas, was the result of an intellectual movement before the rise of Buddhism. It was in a large measure a lay movement, not a priestly movement. An analytical study of the contemporary religious trends and the activities of diffe. rent religious systems hardly substantiate the above conjecture. On the other hand, it may unhesitatingly be said that the move. ment originated neither in Brāhmaṇical reform, nor in Ksatriya revolt, nor in middle class convenience. It was a world renouncing ascetic moveinent, classless and casteless. In its essential idea and spirit it has no special affinity with the attitude and interest of any particular class or caste. They were basically mendicants who had renounced the world and followed certain norms relating to a set of rites, ceremonies, rules of discipline and tapas or asceticism.?