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138
The Unknown Pilgrims
the saṁgha has become a dispersed minority, is proof of the existence of an undergirding vitality, a vitality which is above all spiritual, rooted in a solid faith and maintained by the men and women ascetics as well as by fervent śrāvakas and śrāvikās.
The following long chapter, which is a short recapitulation of twenty centuries, is an attempt with the help of the available documents to trace this long and unbroken trail. The end of the first century A.D. was scarred by a major schism which contributed to a decline. We must take cognizance of the consequences of this division for the two groups concerned, consequences that were both profound and lasting and hitherto irremediable, before taking a tour of the different regions in order to find traces, not numerous perhaps but at least well-attested, of the presence of sādhvis and äryikās within the samgha. Consideration of the division and its consequences are necessary as a starting-point, for it affects the doctrine and thence the faith, the Scriptures, the worship and rules of life of the ascetics.
The schism and its consequences
Even in the time of Mahāvira certain divergences and dissensions had manifested themselves, but they were not of grave importance.? The origin of those which tore apart the samgha is not clearly known, but their repercussions are all too apparent. The explanations put forward by the two sides are plausible in certain respects, though one cannot be certain of their veracity.8 The date of the division is likewise uncertain, though both sects agree in placing it towards the end of the Ist century. There does not appear to have been a brusque
6 Cf. TrisalPC X, 8, 28-107.
Cf. Deo ibid., pp. 78-80.
8 Cf. e.g. Schubring, 1962, § 26.
9 Jacobi SBE XXII, pp. XXXV-Xxxvi, thought that it was earlier and suggested the 2nd or 3rd c. after the nirvāņa of Mahavira, i.e. the period of the Council of Pāçaliputra.
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