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SVASTI -Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
remarks against their opponents. On the other hand Lord Buddha uses these weapons freely towards Niggantha Nātaputta. In one of the Jātaka tales Buddha depicts himself as a peacock and Mahāvīra as a crow. Now, we will discuss the further sub-models which are in congruence with the chief model of non-absolutism.
A: The Model of Suitable Languages The capacity of the Jainas to adopt various languages is unparallel. This multilingual attitude is handed down to them by Lord Mahāvīra and further prominent Jain Ācāryas. Mahāvīra delivered his preaching in Ardhamāgadhī. Further Jain Ācāryas used Saurasenī and Māhārāstrī. Nearly ten centuries after Mahāvīra, Jain Ācāryas stuck to the regional languages viz. Prakrits. From the fifth century A.D. and onwards we see that Jain authors were interacting with others as intellectuals in terms of pan-Indian scholarly genre of Šāstra. Jainas transformed their tradition into a school of learning by presenting their writings in the pan-Indian scholarly language of Sanskrit. But Jaina authors re-defined Sanskrit treating it not as a sacred institution but a natural phenomenon. Jainas, such as Hemacandra wrote their own Sanskrit grammars to replace the Brahmanical system canonized by Pāṇini and Patañjali. Side by side, the Jain authors continued their writings in Māhārāstrī and various Apabhramśas, up till the 15th and 16th cent. A.D. Even today, the Sādhus and Sādhvīs can address people in three four languages very comfortably. This inherited model of acquiring suitable languages is proved to be beneficial even to the laity, which mostly owe to merchant class.
B: The Model of Choosing Less Harmful
Though Jainism gives utmost importance to non-violence, Jain thinkers are aware of the fact that for a normal person, it is impossible to avoid violence completely in his daily routine activities. The whole animate world is divided into five groups according to the possession of sense organs. When Jainas choose vegetarian diet and avoid meat, the model of accepting less harmful is exercised. Vegetable-bodied and waterbodied beings possess only one sense-organ. All other animates like shells, worms, insect, fish, serpents and four-legged animals possess two to five sense-organs. Among vegetables also the roots like potato, sweet potato etc. having sādhārana śarīra are avoided. It is advised that as far as possible the fruits containing many
* Durga Bhagavata, Jātaka-kathā, vol. 3 p. 105.
Samavāyānga 34. 6 The first Jaina Sūtragrantha is Umāsvāti's Tattvārthasūtra (4th-5th cent. A.D.). 7 Tattvärtha 2.23-24. 8 Varieties of vegetables : sādharana and pratyeka : see Jīvābhigama 1.68, 69, 72, 73; Pannavaņā 23.38, 121.
