World Of Jainism

Author(s): Vishwanath Pandey
Publisher: Vishwanath Pandey

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THE ORIENT
the life of a wandering teacher for 30 years after attaining Keval Jnana. Kalpa Sutra mentions, "the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, went off, quitted the world, cut asunder the ties of birth, old age, and death."" When Mahavira attained Nirvana his disciples except Gautama Indrabhuti were present. After his death the kings who were present there organised an illumination in memory of the departed leader. They said, "Since the light of intelligence is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter.""" This became the origin of the annual Jaina festival of lights-Divali. Since then Pavapuri has become a sacred centre for the Jainas, Orthodox Jainas believe that Mahavira passed through many incarnations before he was born as the last Tirthankara.
Schism
Sambhutavijaya and Bhadrabahu, who knew the 14 Purvas containing the teachings of Mahavira, were the heads of the Jain Church during the rule of the last Nanda rulers of Magadha. Bhadrabahu the author of Kalpa Sutra (an authoritative work on the history of the Jainas) died 170 years after the death of Mahavira.
During the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, a great famine fell over the kingdom of Magadha. Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta went to Chandragiri near Mysore along with some monks. The king starved himself to death in the true spirit of Jainism. Some of the monks who continued to stay in Magadha under the leadership of Sthulabhadra, the disciple of Sambhuta Vijaya, called the first Jain Council at Pataliputra in 300 B.C. and adopted 12 Angas, written in Ardhamagadhi, as the teachings of Mahavira. When Bhadrabahu and his followers returned after the famine, they did not agree to consider the 12 Angas as the authentic canonical literature. The northern monks had started wearing white robes, while those who returned from the South cotinued to be naked. Thus, the Jaina Church came to be divided into Digambara Jainas and Svetambara Jainas. There is again a controversy regarding the details and the reasons for this division of the Jaina Church.10
Popularity of Jainism was mainly due to the royal support Mahavira received. Even after the death of Mahavira, king Udayin of Magadha, Nandas, Chandragupta Maurya, King Kharavela of Kalinga, and the Rashtrakutas, Gangas, Kadambas and Chalukyas in the South supported it. Jainism became an important force in Western region like Mathura, Malva, Gujarat, Rajasthan and some parts of South India. The rulers of Gujarat became the great patrons of Jainism, between 5th and the 13th centuries A.D. i.e. until the Muslim conquest. As