Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
Mahāvira consisted of five vows and twenty-two endurances as shown subsequently. His chief contribution was the popularization of the principle of ahimsā (non-injury), on the basis of which he elaborated an ethical code for householders as well as for monks, and, as its background, he put forward the philosophy of the seven tattvas (realities). He organized the Jaina community, to which he admitted. all aspirants irrespective of caste or sex, and inaugurated a system of peaceful proselytization. This he did for thirty years and won a large number of followers, both monks and householders. He abandoned his mortal body at the age of seventy-two, in 527 B.C.
Mahāvīra left behind him a strongly organized religious Order, through whose efforts the animal sacrifices fell into disuse and non-violence became firmly established as a rule of life even amongst those classes of people who did not join the Order. His followers gradually spread over the whole country. Jaina monks were to be found on the banks of the Sindhu already at the time of Alexander's invasion. A band of Jaina monks under Bhadrabāhu migrated to the South and spread the religion throughout the Deccan, with Shravanabelgola in Mysore as their central seat. Royal patronage was also bestowed upon the faith, and it is claimed that the great Maurya emperor Candragupta himself joined Bhadrabāhu's march to the South as his disciple. A very old rock inscription at Shravanabelgola commemorates his visit to the South; a cave is dedicated to him, and the hill on which it exists is known as Candragiri.
During the second century B.C., King Khāravela of Kalinga professed Jainism and promoted its cause by setting up Jaina images himself. During the early centuries of the Christian era, Mathura in the North and Shravanabelgola in the South formed important centres of Jaina activities, as is proved by a large number of inscription's, images, and other monuments discovered at both places. From the fifth to the twelfth century the various royal dynasties of the South, such as the Gangas, Kadambas, Cālukyas, and Rästrakūtas, accorded their patronage to the faith. Some of the Rāştrakūta kings of Mānyakheta, from the eighth to