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A Short History of Jaina Law
(dhāraṇā) or an accepted practice, the following criterion always coming into force in absence of the preceding one (Vavahāra 10.2 = Viyahapanṇatti 383a =Ṭhana 317b).3 In practice, only the last four criteria are relevant.4 The rules of tradition (śruta) and the procedures of adjudication (vyavahāra) and execution (prasthāvana) of penances are detailed in the Chedasūtras of the Śvetambara canon and their commentaries, the niryuktis, cūrṇis, bhāṣyas and tīkās. The oldest passages of these texts must have been composed not long after Mahāvīra. After the emergence of differently organized monastic orders, gacchas or ganas, in the medieval period, the commonly accepted disciplinary texts of the Śvetambara tradition were supplemented by codified customary laws of individual monastic traditions, sāmācārī or maryādā (incorporating ājñā and dhāraṇā), which are still continuously updated by the ācāryas. Acārya Malayagiri (12th C.E.), in his commentary on Vavahara 10.9, notes that consequently it is possible to follow the dharma, while violating the law, or maryādā. In contrast to the Śvetambaras, Digambaras never developed organized monastic orders, and have only a rudimentary literature on monastic jurisprudence. They regard their own much younger Caraṇānuyoga texts as authoritative for monastic jurisprudence.
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Lay supporters of the mendicants, the upāsakas, supporters, or śrāvakas, listeners, were defined early on as part of the fourfold community (tīrtha or sangha) of monks (sādhus), nuns (sādhvīs), laymen, (śrāvakas), and laywomen, (śrāvikās), (Viyāhapaṇṇatti 792b), on condition of vowing to observe in part (desa-virata) the main ethical principles to which mendicants must be fully committed (sarva-virata). Categorising 'laity' as lower rank ascetics and devising rules based on monastic paradigms was the work of monks (4th to 14th century). Such rules achieve normative force through public vows, and can be individually chosen and selfimposed for specified times. In contrast to monastic law, observance is socially sanctioned qua status recognition, not enforced through juridical procedures.
