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become a monk it would only be natural to expand on their respective positions within the fourfold sangha. Again, in reply to the question whether the lay followers will in the course of time enter the monastic state, Mahāvīra merely says that he will be reborn as a certain class of deva ($ 62), and in a much later continuation of this reply Mahāvīra adds that the lay follower will be reborn and attain perfection (§ 90 ) but does not say whether it will be via the stage of monkhood.
We may therefore conclude that this canonical text is silent on certain theoretical points in favour of the idea that the basic structure of the Jaita sangha granted a relatively important position to the lay followers; in practice, however, this source offers evidence that the standpoint of the lay followers was already considered to be of determining importance for the preservation and survival of the entire spiritual community. That the tradition was kept and the lay followers acted upon it, is corroborated by later evidence, both inscriptional and literary.
Notes
1 H Jacobi, Jaina Sūtras, Part I. Oxford 1884, New York 1968. 2 To quote only a few : J. Ch. Jain, Life in Ancient India as depicted
in the Jain Canons. Bombay 1941, p. 30; K. K. Handiqui, Yasastilaka and Indian Culture. Sholapur 1949, p. 246 etc; V. A. Sangave, Jaina Community, A Social Survey. Bombay 1959, p. 45 et al.; D.
hargava, Jaina Ethics, Delhi 1968, p. 146; C. Della Casa, Jainism.
In Historia Religionum, Vol. II. Leiden 1971, p. 352. 3 R. Williams, Jaina Yoga, A Survey of the Mediaeval Śrāvakācāras.
London Oriental Series, Vol. 14. London 1963. 4 op. cit. p. xvi. 5 op. cit. p. xix.
W. Schubring. Die Lehre der Jainas. Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde, III. Band, 7. Heft Berlin und Leipzing 1935; W. Schubring, Der Jainismus. In Die Religionen indiens,
Vol. II. Stuttgart 1964. 7 E. Frauwallper, History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I-II. Delhi 1973.
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