Tenth Wonder Domestication And Reform In Medieval Svetambara Jainism

Author(s): Paul Dundas
Publisher: Paul Dundas

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PAUL DUNDAS
THE TENTH WONDER: DOMESTICATION AND REFORM IN MEDIEVAL
SVETAMBARA JAINISM
In the eleventh century A.D., Jinavallabha, one of the most eminent sūris of the Kharatara Gaccha, a Svetāmbara Jain reforming sect, wrote a jeremiad lamenting the state of the Jain religion. The Jains share with the Hindus the notion of the Kaliyuga, the Bad World Age 3, albeit visualising it as being more pervasive than do the Hindus, since for the Jains the Kaliyuga penetrates Benares which, according to Saiva tradition, is immune from external influence 4. However, Jinavallabha viewed the contemporary situation as so desperate that he could only explain it as resulting from either a particularly freakish period (hunda) of the Kaliyuga or some strange and malign planetary conjunction. Hordes of barbarians, in this case, the Moslems, had appeared, the Jain community (sangha) had become corrupt and people were beginning to league with the « king of delusion » so that, in short,
1. Suri is basically a term for teacher ». See S. B. DEO, History of Jaina Monachism, Poona, 1956, p. 232. In the present paper, the term refers to the head of a sectarian division (gaccha)..
2. JINAVALLABHASORI, Sanghapattaka, in L. B. GANDHI (ed.), Three Apabhramsa Works of Jinadattasūri, Gaekwad's Oriental Series 37, Baroda, 1967, pp. 81-6.
3. Also called « the uneven time » (duḥşamā) or « the fifth spoke of the wheel » (pañcamāra).
4. See JINAPRABHASŪRI, Vividhatirthakalpa, Singhi Jain Series 10, Santiniketan, 1934, p. 74, lines 14-16.