On the Indian Sect of the Jainas
by
Johann George Buehler
transliterate the unusual, non-Latin 1 diacriticals from the original
document:
[A.] Letter with dot below
[.A] Letter with dot above
[=A] Letter with macron above
[.)] Letter with candrabindu above
* * * * *
ON
THE INDIAN SECT
OF
THE JAINAS
BY
JOHANN GEORG BUEHLER C.I.E., LLD., PH.D.
Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.
EDITED with an OUTLINE of JAINA MYTHOLOGY
BY
JAS. BURGESS, C.I.E., LL.D., F.R.S.E.
1903.
PREFACE.
* * * * *
The late Dr. Georg Buehler's essay _Ueber die Indische Secte der
Jaina_, read at the anniversary meeting of the Imperial Academy of
Sciences of Vienna on the 26th May 1887, has been for some time out of
print in the separate form. Its value as a succinct account of the
['S]ravaka sect, by a scholar conversant with them and their religious
literature is well known to European scholars; but to nearly all educated
natives of India works published in German and other continental languages
are practically sealed books, and thus the fresh information which they
are well able to contribute is not elicited. It is hoped that the
translation of this small work may meet with their acceptance and that of
Europeans in India and elsewhere to whom the original is either unknown or
who do not find a foreign language so easy to read as their own.
The translation has been prepared under my supervision, and with a few
short footnotes. Professor Buehler's long note on the authenticity of the
Jaina tradition I have transferred to an appendix (p. 48) incorporating
with it a summary of what he subsequently expanded in proof of his thesis.
To Colebrooke's account of the Tirtha[.n]karas reverenced by the Jainas,
but little has been added since its publication in the ninth volume of the
_Asiatic Researches_; and as these are the centre of their worship,
always represented in their temples, and surrounded by attendant
figures,--I have ventured to add a somewhat fuller account of them and a
summary of the general mythology of the sect, which may be useful to the
archaeologist and the student of their iconography.
Edinburgh, April 1903. J. BURGESS.
CONTENTS.
THE INDIAN SECT OF THE JAINAS, by Dr. J. G. BUEHLER.
Appendix:--Epigraphic testimony to the continuity of the Jaina
tradition
SKETCH OF JAINA MYTHOLOGY, by J. BURGESS.
THE INDIAN SECT OF THE JAINAS.
The _Jaina_ sect is a religious society of modern India, at variance
to Brahmanism, and possesses undoubted claims on the interest of all
friends of Indian history. This claim is based partly on the peculiarities
of their doctrines and customs, which present several resemblances to
those of Buddhism, but, above all, on the fact that it was founded in the
same period as the latter.
Larger and smaller communities of _Jainas_ or _Arhata_,--that is
followers of the prophet, who is generally called simply the
_Jina_--'the conqueror of the world',--or the _Arhat_--'the holy
one',--are to be found in almost every important Indian town, particularly
among the merchant class. In some provinces of the West and North-west, in
Gujarat, Rajputana, and the Panjab, as also in the Dravidian districts in
the south,--especially in Kanara,--they are numerous; and, owing to the
influence of their wealth, they take a prominent place. They do not,
however, present a compact mass, but are divided into two rival
branches--the _Digambara_ and _['S]vetambara_ [Footnote: In notes
on the Jainas, one often finds the view expressed, that the _Digambaras_
belong only to the south, and the _['S]vetambaras_ to the north. This is
by no means the case. The former in the Panjab, in eastern Rajputana and
in the North West Provinces, are just as numerous, if not more so, than
the latter, and also appear here and there in western Rajputana and
Gujarat: see _Indian Antiquary_, vol. VII, p. 28.]--each of which is
split up into several subdivisions. The Digambara, that is, "those whose
robe is the atmosphere," owe their name to the circumstance that they
regard absolute nudity as the indispensable sign of holiness, [Footnote:
The ascetics of lower rank, now called Pa[n.][d.]it, now-a-days wear the
costume of the country. The Bha[t.][t.]araka, the heads of the sect,
usually wrap themselves in a large cloth (_chadr_). They lay it off
during meals. A disciple then rings a bell as a sign that entrance is
forbidden (_Ind. Ant._ loc. cit.). When the present custom first
arose cannot be ascertained. From the description of the Chinese pilgrim
Hiuen Tsiang (St. Julien, _Vie._ p. 224), who calls them Li-hi, it
appears that they were still faithful to their principles in the beginning
of the seventh century A.D. "The Li-hi (Nirgranthis) distinguish
themselves by leaving their bodies naked and pulling out their hair. Their
skin is all cracked, their feet are hard and chapped: like rotting trees
that one sees near rivers."]--though the advance of civilization has
compelled them to depart from the practice of their theory. The
['S]vetambara, that is, "they who are clothed in white"--do not claim this
doctrine, but hold it as possible that the holy ones, who clothe
themselves, may also attain the highest goal. They allow, however, that
the founder of the Jaina religion and his first disciples disdained to
wear clothes. They are divided, not only by this quarrel, but also by
differences about dogmas and by a different literature. The separation
must therefore be of old standing. Tradition, too, upholds this--though
the dates given do not coincide. From inscriptions it is certain that the
split occurred before the first century of our era. [Footnote: See below
p. 44.] Their opposing opinions are manifested in the fact that they do
not allow each other the right of intermarriage or of eating at the same
table,--the two chief marks of social equality. In spite of the age of the
schism, and the enmity that divides the two branches, they are at one as
regards the arrangement of their communities, doctrine, discipline, and
cult,--at least in the more important points; and, thus, one can always
speak of the Jaina religion as a whole.
The characteristic feature of this religion is its claim to universality,
which it holds in common with Buddhism, and in opposition to Brahmanism.
It also declares its object to be to lead all men to salvation, and to
open its arms--not only to the noble Aryan, but also to the low-born
['S]udra and even to the alien, deeply despised in India, the Mlechcha.
[Footnote: In the stereotyped introductions to the sermons of Jina it is
always pointed out that they are addressed to the Aryan and non-Aryan.
Thus in the _Aupapatika Sutra_ Sec. 56. (Leumann) it runs as follows:
_tesi[.m] savvesi[.m] a[r.]iyamanariyana[.m] agilae dhammat[.m]
aikkhai_ "to all these, Aryans and non-Aryans, he taught the law
untiringly". In accordance with this principle, conversions of people of
low caste, such as gardeners, dyers, etc., are not uncommon even at the
present day. Muhammadans too, regarded as Mlechcha, are still received
among the Jaina communities. Some cases of the kind were communicated to
me in A[h.]madabad in the year 1876, as great triumphs of the Jainas.
Tales of the conversion of the emperor Akbar, through the patriarch
Hiravijaya (_Ind. Antiq._ Vol. XI, p. 256), and of the spread of the
Digambara sect in an island Jainabhadri, in the Indian Ocean (_Ind.
Ant._ Vol. VII, p. 28) and in Arabia, shew that the Jainas are familiar
with the idea of the conversion of non-Indians. Hiuen Tsiang's note on the
appearance of the Nirgrantha or Digambara in Kiapishi (Beal,
_Si-yu-ki_, Vol. I, p. 55), points apparently to the fact that they
had, in the North West at least, spread their missionary activity beyond
the borders of India.] As their doctrine, like Buddha's, is originally a
philosophical ethical system intended for ascetics, the disciples, like
the Buddhists, are, divided into ecclesiastics and laity. At the head
stands an order of ascetics, originally Nirgrantha "they, who are freed
from all bands," now usually called Yatis--"Ascetics", or Sadhus--"Holy",
which, among the ['S]vetambara also admits women, [Footnote: Even the
canonical works of the ['S]vetambara, as for example, the _Achara[.n]ga
(Sacred Books of the East_, Vol. XXII, p. 88-186) contain directions
for nuns. It seems, however, that they have never played such an important
part as in Buddhism. At the present time, the few female orders among the
['S]vetambara consist entirely of virgin widows, whose husbands have died
in childhood, before the beginning of their life together. It is not
necessary to look upon the admission of nuns among the ['S]vetambara as an
imitation of Buddhist teaching, as women were received into some of the
old Brahmanical orders; see my note to _Manu_, VIII, 363, (_Sac.
Bks. of the East_, Vol. XXV, p. 317). Among the Digambaras, exclusion
of women was demanded from causes not far to seek. They give as their
reason for it, the doctrine that women are not capable of attaining
_Nirva[n.]a_; see Peterson, _Second Report_, in _Jour. Bom.
Br. R. As. Soc._ Vol. XVII, p. 84.] and under them the general
community of the Upasaka "the Worshippers", or the ['S]ravaka, "the
hearers".
The ascetics alone are able to penetrate into the truths which Jina
teaches, to follow his rules and to attain to the highest reward which he
promises. The laity, however, who do not dedicate themselves to the search
after truth, and cannot renounce the life of the world, still find a
refuge in Jainism. It is allowed to them as hearers to share its
principles, and to undertake duties, which are a faint copy of the demands
made on the ascetics. Their reward is naturally less. He who remains in
the world cannot reach the highest goal, but he can still tread the way
which leads to it. Like all religions of the Hindus founded on
philosophical speculation, Jainism sees this highest goal in
_Nirvana_ or _Moksha_, the setting free of the individual from
the _Sa[.m]sara_,--the revolution of birth and death. The means of
reaching it are to it, as to Buddhism, the three Jewels--the right Faith,
the right Knowledge, and the right Walk. By the right Faith it understands
the full surrender of himself to the teacher, the Jina, the firm
conviction that he alone has found the way of salvation, and only with him
is protection and refuge to be found. Ask who Jina is, and the Jaina will
give exactly the same answer as the Buddhist with respect to Buddha. He is
originally an erring man, bound with the bonds of the world, who,--not by
the help of a teacher, nor by the revelation of the Vedas--which, he
declares, are corrupt--but by his own power, has attained to omniscience
and freedom, and out of pity for suffering mankind preaches and declares
the way of salvation, which he has found. Because he has conquered the
world and the enemies in the human heart, he is called Jina "the Victor",
Mahavira, "the great hero"; because he possesses the highest knowledge, he
is called Sarvajna or Kevalin, the "omniscient", Buddha, the
"enlightened"; because he has freed himself from the world he receives the
names of Mukta "the delivered one", Siddha and Tathagata, "the perfected",
Arhat "the holy one"; and as the proclaimer of the doctrine, he is the
Tirthakara "the finder of the ford", through the ocean of the
_Sa[.m]sara_. In these epithets, applied to the founder of their
doctrine, the Jainas agree almost entirely with the Buddhists, as the
likeness of his character to that of Buddha would lead us to expect. They
prefer, however, to use the names Jina and Arhat, while the Buddhists
prefer to speak of Buddha as Tathagata or Sugata. The title Tirthakara is
peculiar to the Jainas. Among the Buddhists it is a designation for false
teachers. [Footnote: The titles Siddha, Buddha and Mukta are certainly
borrowed by both sects from the terminology of the Brahma[n.]s, which they
used, even in olden times, to describe those saved during their lifetimes
and used in the ['S]aivite doctrine to describe a consecrated one who is
on the way to redemption. An Arhat, among the Brahma[n.]s, is a man
distinguished for his knowledge and pious life (comp. for example
Apastamba, _Dharmasutra._ I, 13, 13; II, 10, I.) and this idea is so
near that of the Buddhists and the Jainas that it may well be looked upon
as the foundation of the latter. The meaning of Tirthakara "prophet,
founder of religion", is derived from the Brahmanic use of _tirtha_
in the sense of "doctrine". Comp. also H. Jacobi's Article on the Title of
Buddha and Jina, _Sac. Books of the East_. Vol. XXII, pp. xix, xx.]
The Jaina says further, however, that there was more than one Jina. Four
and twenty have, at long intervals, appeared and have again and again
restored to their original purity the doctrines darkened by evil
influences. They all spring from noble, warlike tribes. Only in such, not
among the low Brahma[n.]s, can a Jina see the light of the world. The
first Jina [R.][.)i]shabha,--more than 100 billion oceans of years
ago,--periods of unimaginable length, [Footnote: A Sagara or Sagaropama of
years is == 100,000,000,000,000 Palya or Palyopama. A Palya is a period in
which a well, of one or, according to some, a hundred _yojana_, i.e.
of one or a hundred geographical square miles, stuffed full of fine hairs,
can be emptied, if one hair is pulled out every hundred years: Wilson,
_Select. Works_, Vol. I, p. 309; Colebrooke, _Essays_, Vol. II,
p. 194. ed. Cowell.]--was born as the son of a king of Ayodhya and lived
eight million four hundred thousand years. The intervals between his
successors and the durations of their lives became shorter and shorter.
Between the twenty third, Par['s]va and the twenty fourth Vardhamana,
were only 250 years, and the age of the latter is given as only
seventy-two years. He appeared, according to some, in the last half of
the sixth century, according to others in the first half of the fifth
century B.C. He is of course the true, historical prophet of the Jainas
and it is in his doctrine, that the Jainas should believe. The dating
back of the origin of the Jaina religion again, agrees with the
pretensions of the Buddhists, who recognise twenty-five Buddhas who
taught the same system one after the other. Even with Brahmanism, it seems
to be in some distant manner connected, for the latter teaches in its
cosmogony, the successive appearance of Demiurges, and wise men--the
fourteen Manus, who, at various periods helped to complete the work of
creation and proclaimed the Brahmanical law. These Brahmanical ideas may
possibly have given rise to the doctrines of the twenty-five Buddhas and
twenty-four Jinas, [Footnote: For the list of these Jinas, see below.]
which, certainly, are later additions in both systems.
The undoubted and absolutely correct comprehension of the nine truths
which the Jina gives expression to, or of the philosophical system which
the Jina taught, represents the second Jewel--the true Knowledge. Its
principal features are shortly as follows. [Footnote: More complete
representations are to be found in Colebrooke's _Misc. Essays_. Vol.
I, pp. 404, 413, with Cowell's Appendix p. 444-452; Vol. II, pp. 194, 196,
198-201; H. H. Wilson's _Select Works_, Vol. I, pp. 297-302, 305-317;
J. Stevenson, _Kalpasutra_, pp. xix-xxv; A. Barth, _Religions de
l'Inde_, pp. 84-91.]
The world (by which we are to understand, not only the visible, but also
imaginary continents depicted with the most extravagant fancy, heavens and
hells of the Brahmanical Cosmology, extended by new discoveries) is
uncreated. It exists, without ruler, only by the power of its elements,
and is everlasting. The elements of the world are six substances--souls,
_Dharma_ or moral merit, _Adharma_ or sin, space, time,
particles of matter. From the union of the latter spring four
elements--earth, fire, water, wind--and further, bodies and all other
appearances of the world of sense and of the supernatural worlds. The
forms of the appearances are mostly unchangeable. Only the bodies of men
and their age increase or decrease in consequence of the greater or less
influence of sin or merit, during immeasurably long periods,--the
_Avasarpi[n.]i_ and the _Utsarpi[n.]i_. Souls are, each by
itself, independent, real existences whose foundation is pure
intelligence, and who possess an impulse to action. In the world they are
always chained to bodies. The reason of this confinement is that they give
themselves up to the stress of activity, to passions, to influences of the
senses and objects of the mind, or attach themselves to a false belief.
The deeds which they perform in the bodies are _Karman_, merit and
sin. This drives them--when one body has passed away, according to the
conditions of its existence--into another, whose quality depends on the
character of the _Karman_, and will be determined especially by the
last thoughts springing from it before death. Virtue leads to the heavens
of the gods or to birth among men in pure and noble races. Sin consigns
the souls to the lower regions, in the bodies of animals, in plants, even
into masses of lifeless matter. For--according to the Jaina
doctrine--souls exist not only in organic structures, but also in
apparently dead masses, in stones, in lumps of earth, in drops of water,
in fire and in wind. Through union with bodies the nature of the soul is
affected. In the mass of matter the light of its intelligence is
completely concealed; it loses consciousness, is immovable, and large or
small, according to the dimensions of its abode. In organic structures it
is always conscious; it depends however, on the nature of the same,
whether it is movable or immovable and possessed of five, four, three,
two, or one organ of sense.
The bondage of souls, if they inhabit a human body, can be abolished by
the suppression of the causes which lead to their confinement and by the
destruction of the _Karman_. The suppression of the causes is
accomplished by overcoming the inclination to be active and the passions,
by the control of the senses, and by steadfastly holding to the right
faith. In this way will be hindered the addition of new _Karman_, new
merit or new guilt. The destruction of _Karman_ remaining from
previous existences can be brought about either spontaneously by the
exhaustion of the supply or by asceticism. In the latter case the final
state is the attainment to a knowledge which penetrates the universe, to
_Kevala, Jnana_ and _Nirva[n.]a_ or _Moksha_: full
deliverance from all bonds. These goals may be reached even while the soul
is still in its body. If however the body is destroyed then the soul
wanders into the "No-World" _(aloka)_ as the Jain says, i.e. into the
heaven of Jina 'the delivered', lying outside the world. [Footnote: On the
Jaina Paradise see below. Dr. Buehler seems here to have confounded
the _Aloka_ or Non-world, 'the space where only things without life
are found', with the heaven of the Siddhas; but these are living beings
who have crossed the boundary] There it continues eternally in its pure
intellectual nature. Its condition is that of perfect rest which nothing
disturbs. These fundamental ideas are carried out in the particulars with
a subtilness and fantasy unexampled, even in subtile and fantastic India,
in a scholarly style, and defended by the _syadvada_--the doctrine of
"It may be so",--a mode of reasoning which makes it possible to assert and
deny the existence of one and the same thing. If this be compared with the
other Indian systems, it stands nearer the Brahma[n.] than the Buddhist,
with which it has the acceptance in common of only four, not five
elements. Jainism touches all the Brahma[n.] religions and Buddhism in its
cosmology and ideas of periods, and it agrees entirely with regard to the
doctrines of _Karman_, of the bondage, and the deliverance of souls.
Atheism, the view that the world was not created, is common to it with
Buddhism and the Sa[.n]khya philosophy. Its psychology approaches that of
the latter in that both believe in the existence of innumerable
independent souls. But the doctrine of the activity of souls and their
distribution into masses of matter is in accordance with the Vedanta,
according to which the principle of the soul penetrates every thing
existing. In the further development of the soul doctrine, the conceptions
'individual soul' and 'living being' to which the Jaina and the Brahma[n.]
give the same name,--_jiva_, seem to become confounded. The Jaina
idea of space and time as real substances is also found in the
Vai['s]eshika system. In placing _Dharma_ and _Adharma_ among
substances Jainism stands alone.
The third jewel, the right Walk which the Jaina ethics contains, has its
kernel in the five great oaths which the Jaina ascetic takes on his
entrance into the order. He promises, just as the Brahma[n.] penitent, and
almost in the same words, not to hurt, not to speak untruth, to
appropriate nothing to himself without permission, to preserve chastity,
and to practice self-sacrifice. The contents of these simple rules become
most extraordinarily extended on the part of the Jainas by the insertion
of five clauses, in each of which are three separate active instruments of
sin, in special relation to thoughts, words, and deeds. Thus, concerning
the oath not to hurt, on which the Jaina lays the greatest emphasis: it
includes not only the intentional killing or hurting of living beings,
plants, or the souls existing in dead matter, it requires also the utmost
carefulness in the whole manner of life, in all movements, a watchfulness
over all functions of the body by which anything living might be hurt.
[Footnote: The Digambara sect, at least in southern India, do not seem to
be all quite so punctiliously careful in this as the ['S]vetambara of
western India.--Ed.] It demands finally strict watch over the heart and
tongue, and the avoidance of all thoughts and words which might lead to
dispute and quarrel and thereby to harm. In like manner the rule of
sacrifice means not only that the ascetic has no house or possessions, it
teaches also that a complete unconcern toward agreeable and disagreeable
impressions is necessary, as also the sacrifice of every attachment to
anything living or dead. [Footnote: On the five great vows see the
_Achara[.n]ga Sutra_, II, 15: _S.B.E_. Vol. XXII, pp. 202-210.
The Sanskrit terms of the Jains are: 1. _ahi[.m]sa_, 2.
_sunrita_, 3. _asteya_, 4. _brahmacharya_, 5.
_aparigraha_; those of the Brahmanical ascetics: 1. _ahi[.m]sa_,
2. _satya_, 3. _asteya_, 4. _brahmacharya_,
5. _tyaga_.]
Beside the conscientious observance of these rules, Tapas--Asceticism, is
most important for the right walk of those, who strive to attain
_Nirva[n.]a_. Asceticism is inward as well as outward. The former is
concerned with self-discipline, the cleansing and purifying of the mind.
It embraces repentance of sin, confession of the same to the teacher, and
penance done for it, humility before teachers and all virtuous ones, and
the service of the same, the study and teaching of the faith or holy
writing, pious meditations on the misery of the world, the impurity of the
body, etc. and lastly, the stripping off of every thing pertaining to the
world. On the other hand, under the head of exterior Asceticism, the Jaina
understands temperance, begging, giving up all savoury food, different
kinds of self-mortification such as sitting in unnatural and wearying
positions, hindering the action of the organs, especially by fasts, which,
under certain circumstances may be continued to starvation. Voluntary
death by the withdrawal of nourishment is, according to the strict
doctrine of the Digambara, necessary for all ascetics, who have reached
the highest step of knowledge. The Kevalin, they say, eats no longer. The
milder ['S]vetambara do not demand this absolutely, but regard it, as a
sure entrance to _Nirva[n.]a_. In order, however, that this death may
bear its fruits, the ascetic must keep closely to the directions for it,
otherwise he merely lengthens the number of rebirths. [Footnote: With
reference to asceticism, comp. Leumann, _Aupapatika Sutra_ Sec. 30. The
death of the wise ones by starvation is described, Weber, _Bhagavati
Sutra_, II, 266-267; Hoernle _Upasakada['s]a Sutra,_ pp. 44-62;
_Achara[.n]ga Sutra_, in _S.B.E_. Vol. XXII, pp. 70-73. Among
the Digambara the heads of schools still, as a rule, fall victims to this
fate. Even among the ['S]vetambara, cases of this kind occur, see K.
Forbes, _Ras Mala_, Vol. II, pp. 331-332, or 2nd ed. pp. 610-611.]
From these general rules follow numerous special ones, regarding the life
of the disciple of Jina. The duty of sacrifice forces him, on entrance
into the order, to give up his possessions and wander homeless in strange
lands, alms-vessel in hand, and, if no other duty interferes, never to
stay longer than one night in the same place. The rule of wounding nothing
means that he must carry three articles with him, a straining cloth, for
his drinking water, a broom, and a veil before his mouth, in order to
avoid killing insects. It also commands him to avoid all cleansing and
washing, and to rest in the four months of the rainy season, in which
animal and plant life displays itself most abundantly. In order to
practice asceticism, it is the rule to make this time of rest a period of
strictest fasts, most diligent study of the holy writings, and deepest
meditation. This duty also necessitates the ascetic to pluck out in the
most painful manner his hair which, according to oriental custom, he must
do away with at his consecration--a peculiar custom of the Jainas, which
is not found among other penitents of India.
Like the five great vows, most of the special directions for the
discipline of the Jain ascetic are copies, and often exaggerated copies,
of the Brahmanic rules for penitents. The outward marks of the order
closely resemble those of the Sannyasin. The life of wandering during
eight months and the rest during the rainy season agree exactly; and in
many other points, for example in the use of confession, they agree with
the Buddhists. They agree with Brahma[n.]s alone in ascetic self-torture,
which Buddhism rejects; and specially characteristic is the fact that
ancient Brahmanism recommends starvation to its penitents as beneficial.
[Footnote: An example may be found in Jacobi's careful comparison of the
customs of the Brahmanic and Jaina ascetics, in the beginning of his
translation of the _Achara[.n]ga Sutra, S.B.E._, Vol. XXII, pp.
xxi--xxix. In relation to the death by starvation of Brahmanical hermits
and Sannyasin, see Apastamba, _Dharmasutra_, in S.B.E. Vol. II, pp.
154, 156, where (IT, 22, 4 and II, 23, 2) it, says of the penitents who
have reached the highest grade of asceticism: "Next he shall live on water
(then) on air, then on ether".]
The doctrine of the right way for the Jaina laity differs from that for
the ascetics. In place of the five great vows appear mere echoes. He vows
to avoid only serious injury to living beings, i.e. men and animals; only
the grosser forms of untruth--direct lies; only the most flagrant forms of
taking, what is not given, that is, theft and robbery. In place of the
oath of chastity there is that of conjugal fidelity. In place of that of
self-denial, the promise is not greedily to accumulate possessions and to
be contented. To these copies are added seven other vows, the
miscellaneous contents of which correspond to the special directions for
the discipline of ascetics. Their object is, partly to bring the outward
life of the laity into accordance with the Jaina teaching, especially with
regard to the protection of living creatures from harm, and partly to
point the heart to the highest goal. Some contain prohibitions against
certain drinks, such as spirits; or meats, such as flesh, fresh butter,
honey, which cannot be enjoyed without breaking the vow of preservation of
animal life. Others limit the choice of businesses which the laity may
enter; for example, agriculture is forbidden, as it involves the tearing
up of the ground and the death of many animals, as Brahmanism also holds.
Others have to do with mercy and charitableness, with the preserving of
inward peace, or with the necessity of neither clinging too much to life
and its joys nor longing for death as the end of suffering. To the laity,
however, voluntary starvation is also recommended as meritorious. These
directions (as might be expected from the likeness of the circumstances)
resemble in many points the Buddhist directions for the laity, and indeed
are often identical with regard to the language used. Much is however
specially in accordance with Brahmanic doctrines. [Footnote: The
_Upasakada['s]a Sutra_ treats of the right life of the laity,
Hoernle, pp. 11-37 (Bibl. Ind.), and Hemachandra, _Yogasutra_,
Prakasa ii and iii; Windisch, _Zeitschrift der Deutsch Morg. Ges._
Bd. XXVIII, pp. 226-246. Both scholars have pointed out in the notes to
their translations, the relationship between the precepts and terms, of
the Jainas and Buddhists. The Jainas have borrowed a large number of rules
directly from the law books of the Brahma[n.]s. The occupations forbidden
to the Jaina laity are almost all those forbidden by the Brahmanic law to
the Brahma[n.], who in time of need lives like a Va[=i]['s]ya.
Hemachandra, _Yoga['s]astra_, III, 98--112 and _Upasakada['s]a
Sutra_, pp. 29-30, may be compared with Manu, X, 83-89, XI, 64 and 65,
and the parallel passages quoted in the synopsis to my translation
(_S.B.E._ Vol. XXV).] In practical life Jainism makes of its laity
earnest men who exhibit a stronger trait of resignation than other Indians
and excel in an exceptional willingness to sacrifice anything for their
religion. It makes them also fanatics for the protection of animal life.
Wherever they gain influence, there is an end of bloody sacrifices and of
slaughtering and killing the larger animals.
The union of the laity with the order of ascetics has, naturally,
exercised a powerful reaction on the former and its development, as well
as on its teaching, and is followed by similar results in Jainism and
Buddhism. Then, as regards the changes in the teaching, it is no doubt to
be ascribed to the influence of the laity that the atheistic Jaina system,
as well as the Buddhist, has been endowed with a cult. The ascetic, in his
striving for _Nirva[n.]a_, endeavours to suppress the natural desire
of man to worship higher powers. In the worldly hearer, who does not
strive after this goal exclusively, this could not succeed. Since the
doctrine gave no other support, the religious feeling of the laity clung
to the founder of it: Jina, and with him his mythical predecessors, became
gods. Monuments and temples ornamented with their statues were built,
especially at those places, where the prophets, according to legends, had
reached their goal. To this is added a kind of worship, consisting of
offerings of flowers and incense to Jina, of adoration by songs of praise
in celebration of their entrance into _Nirva[n.]a_, of which the
Jaina makes a great festival by solemn processions and pilgrimages to the
places where it has been attained. [Footnote: For the Jaina ritual, see
_Indian Antiquary_. Vol. XIII, pp. 191-196. The principal sacred
places or Tirthas are--Sameta ['S]ikhara in Western Bengal, where twenty
of the Jinas are said to have attained Nirva[n.]a; ['S]atrunjaya and
Girnar in Kathiawa[d.] sacred respectively to [R.]ishabhanatha and
Neminatha; Chandrapuri where Vasupujya died; and Pawa in Bengal at which
Vardhamana died.--Ed.] This influence of the laity has become, in course
of time, of great importance to Indian art, and India is indebted to it
for a number of its most beautiful architectural monuments, such as the
splendid temples of Abu, Girnar and ['S]atrunjaya in Gujarat. It has also
brought about a change in the mind of the ascetics. In many of their hymns
in honour of Jina, they appeal to him with as much fervour as the
Brahma[n.] to his gods; and there are often expressions in them, contrary,
to the original teaching, ascribing to Jina a creative power. Indeed a
Jaina description of the six principal systems goes so far as to number
Jainism--as also Buddhism--among the theistic religions. [Footnote: The
latter assertion is to be found In the _Sha[d.]dar['s]anasamuchchaya_
Vers. 45, 77-78. A creative activity is attributed to the Jinas even in
the Kuhaon inscription which is dated 460-461 A.D. (_Ind. Antiq_.
Vol. X, p. 126). There they are called _adikartri_ the 'original
creators'. The cause of the development of a worship among the Jainas was
first rightly recognised by Jacobi, _S.B.E._ Vol. XXII, p. xxi. The
Jaina worship differs in one important point from that of the Buddhists.
It recognised no worship of relics.]
But in other respects also the admission of the laity has produced
decisive changes in the life of the clergy. In the education of worldly
communities, the ascetic--whose rules of indifference toward all and every
thing, make him a being concentrated entirely upon himself and his
goal--is united again to humanity and its interests. The duty of educating
the layman and watching over his life, must of necessity change the
wandering penitents into settled monks--who dedicate themselves to the
care of souls, missionary activity, and the acquisition of knowledge, and
who only now and again fulfil the duty of changing their place of
residence. The needs of the lay communities required the continual
presence of teachers. Even should these desire to change from time to
time, it was yet necessary to provide a shelter for them. Thus the
Upa['s]raya or places of refuge, the Jaina monasteries came into
existence, which exactly correspond to the Buddhist Sangharama. With the
monasteries and the fixed residence in them appeared a fixed membership of
the order, which, on account of the Jaina principle of unconditional
obedience toward the teacher, proved to be much stricter than in Buddhism.
On the development of the order and the leisure of monastic life, there
followed further, the commencement of a literary and scientific activity.
The oldest attempt, in this respect, limited itself to bringing their
doctrine into fixed forms. Their results were, besides other lost works,
the so-called _A[.n]ga_,--the members of the body of the law, which
was perhaps originally produced in the third century B.C. Of the
_A[.n]ga_ eleven are no doubt preserved among the ['S]vetambaras from
a late edition of the fifth or sixth century A.D. These works are not
written in Sanskrit, but in a popular Prakrit dialect: for the Jina, like
Buddha, used the language of the people when teaching. They contain partly
legends about the prophet and his activity as a teacher, partly fragments
of a doctrine or attempts at systematic representations of the same.
Though the dialect is different they present, in the form of the tales and
in the manner of expression, a wonderful resemblance to the sacred
writings of the Buddhists. [Footnote: A complete review of the
_A[.n]ga_ and the canonical works which were joined to it later, is
to be found in A. Weber's fundamental treatise on the sacred writings of
the Jainas in the _Indische Studien_, Bd. XVI, SS. 211-479 and Bd.
XVIII, SS. 1-90. The _Achara[.n]ga_ and the _Kalpasutra_
are translated by H. Jacobi in the _S.B.E_ Vol. XXII, and a part of
the _Upasakadasa Sutra_ by R. Hoernle in the _Bibl. Ind._ In the
estimates of the age of the _A[.n]ga_ I follow H. Jacobi, who has
throughly discussed the question _S.B.E._ Vol. XXII, pp.
xxxix-xlvii.] The Digambaras, on the other hand, have preserved nothing of
the _A[.n]ga_ but the names. They put in their place later systematic
works, also in Prakrit, and assert, in vindication of their different
teaching, that the canon of their rivals is corrupted. In the further
course of history, however, both branches of the Jainas have, like the
Buddhists, in their continual battles with the Brahma[n.]s, found it
necessary to make themselves acquainted with the ancient language of the
culture of the latter. First the Digambara and later the ['S]vetambara
began to use Sanskrit. They did not rest content with explaining their
own teaching in Sanskrit works: they turned also to the secular sciences
of the Brahma[n.]s. They have accomplished so much of importance, in
grammar, in astronomy, as well as in some branches of letters, that they
have won respect even from their enemies, and some of their works are
still of importance to European science. In southern India, where they
worked among the Dravi[d.]ian tribes, they also advanced the development
of these languages. The Kanarese literary language and the Tamil and
Telugu rest on the foundations laid by the Jaina monks. This activity led
them, indeed, far from their proper goal, but it created for them an
important position in the history of literature and culture.
The resemblance between the Jainas and the Buddhists, which I have had so
often cause to bring forward, suggests the question, whether they are to
be regarded as a branch of the latter, or whether they resemble the
Buddhists merely because, as their tradition asserts, [Footnote: The later
tradition of the Jainas gives for the death of their prophet the dates
545, 527 and 467 B.C. (see Jacobi, _Kalpasutra_ introd. pp. vii--ix
and xxx). None of the sources in which these announcements appear are
older than the twelfth century A.D. The latest is found in Hemachandra who
died in the year 1172 A.D. The last is certainly false if the assertion,
accepted by most authorities, that Buddha's death falls between the years
482 and 472 B.C. is correct. For the Buddhist tradition maintains that the
last Jaina Tirhakara died during Buddha's lifetime (see p. 34).] they
sprang from the same period and the same religious movement in opposition
to Brahmanism. This question, was formerly, and is still sometimes,
answered in agreement with the first theory, pointing out the undoubted
defects in it, to justify the rejection of the Jaina tradition, and even
declaring it to be a late and intentional fabrication. In spite of this
the second explanation is the right one, because the Buddhists themselves
confirm the statements of the Jainas about their prophet. Old historical
traditions and inscriptions prove the independent existence of the sect of
the Jainas even during the first five centuries after Buddha's death, and
among the inscriptions are some which clear the Jaina tradition not only
from the suspicion of fraud but bear powerful witness to its honesty.
[Footnote: Apart from the ill-supported supposition of Colebrooke,
Stevenson and Thomas, according to which Buddha was a disloyal disciple of
the founder of the Jainas, there is the view held by H. H. Wilson, A.
Weber, and Lassen, and generally accepted till twenty-five years ago, that
the Jainas are an old sect of the Buddhists. This was based, on the one
hand, upon the resemblance of the Jaina doctrines, writings, and
traditions to those of the Buddhists, on the other, on the fact that the
canonical works of the Jainas show a more modern dialect than those of the
Buddhists, and that authentic historical proofs of their early existence
are wanting. I was myself formerly persuaded of the correctness of this
view and even thought I recognised the Jainas in the Buddhist school of
the Sammatiya. On a more particular examination of Jaina literature, to
which I was forced on account of the collection undertaken for the English
Government in the seventies, I found that the Jainas had changed their
name and were always, in more ancient times, called Nirgrantha or
Niga[n.][t.]ha. The observation that the Buddhists recognise the
Niga[n.][t.]ha and relate of their head and founder, that he was a rival
of Buddha's and died at Pava where the last Tirthakara is said to have
attained _Nirva[n.]a_, caused me to accept the view that the Jainas
and the Buddhists sprang from the same religious movement. My supposition
was confirmed by Jacobi, who reached the like view by another course,
independently of mine (see _Zeitschrift der Deutsch Morg. Ges_. Bd.
XXXV, S. 669. Note 1), pointing out that the last Tirthakara in the Jaina
canon bears the same name as among the Buddhists. Since the publication of
our results in the _Ind. Ant_. Vol. VII, p. 143 and in Jacobi's
introduction to his edition of the _Kalpasutra,_ which have been
further verified by Jacobi with great penetration, views on this question
have been divided. Oldenberg, Kern, Hoernle, and others have accepted this
new view without hesitation, while A Weber (_Indische Studien_ Bd.
XVI, S. 240) and Barth (_Revue de l'Histoire des Religions_, tom.
III, p. 90) keep to their former standpoint. The latter do not trust the
Jaina tradition and believe it probable that the statements in the same
are falsified. There are certainly great difficulties in the way of
accepting such a position especially the improbability that the Buddhists
should have forgotten the fact of the defection of their hated enemy.
Meanwhile, this is not absolutely impossible as the oldest preserved Jaina
canon had its first authentic edition only in the fifth or sixth century
of our era, and as yet the proof is wanting that the Jainas, in ancient
times, possessed a fixed tradition. The belief that I am able to insert
this missing link in the chain of argument and the hope of removing the
doubts of my two honoured friends has caused me to attempt a connected
statement of the whole question although this necessitates the repetition
of much that has already been said, and is in the first part almost
entirely a recapitulation of the results of Jacobi's researches.]
The oldest canonical books of the Jaina, apart from some mythological
additions and evident exaggerations, contain the following important notes
on the life of their last prophet. [Footnote: The statement that
Vardhamana's father was a mighty king belongs to the manifest
exaggerations. This assertion is refuted by other statements of the Jainas
themselves. See Jacobi, _S.B.E._ Vol. XXII, pp. xi-xii.] Vardhamana
was the younger son of Siddhartha a nobleman who belonged to the Kshatriya
race, called in Sanskrit Jnati or Jnata, in Prakrit Naya, and, according
to the old custom of the Indian warrior caste, bore the name of a
Brahmanic family the Ka['s]yapa. His mother, who was called Tri['s]ala,
belonged to the family of the governors of Videha. Siddhartha's residence
was Ku[n.][d.]apura, the Basukund of to-day, a suburb of the wealthy town
of Vai['s]ali, the modern Besarh, in Videha or Tirhut. [Footnote: Dr.
Buehler by a slip had here "Magadha oder Bihar".--J. B.] Siddhartha was
son-in-law to the king of Vai['s]ali. Thirty years, it seems, Vardhamana
led a worldly life in his parents' house. He married, and his wife
Ya['s]oda bore him a daughter Anojja, who was married to a noble of the
name of Jamali, and in her turn had a daughter. In his thirty-first year
his parents died. As they were followers of Par['s]va the twenty-third
Jina, they chose, according to the custom of the Jainas, the death of the
wise by starvation. Immediately after this Vardhamana determined to
renounce the world. He got permission to take this step from his elder
brother Nandivardhana, and the ruler of his land divided his possessions
and became a homeless ascetic. He wandered more than twelve years, only
resting during the rainy season, in the lands of the La[d.]ha, in
Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi, the Rarh of to-day in Bengal, and learned to
bear with equanimity great hardships and cruel ill treatment at the hands
of the inhabitants of those districts. Besides these he imposed upon
himself the severest mortifications; after the first year he discarded
clothes and devoted himself to the deepest meditation. In the thirteenth
year of this wandering life he believed he had attained to the highest
knowledge and to the dignity of a holy one. He then appeared as a prophet,
taught the Nirgrantha doctrine, a modification of the religion of
Par['s]va, and organised the order of the Nirgrantha ascetics. From that
time he bore the name of the venerable ascetic Mahavira. His career as a
teacher lasted not quite thirty years, during which he travelled about, as
formerly, all over the country, except during the rainy seasons. He won
for himself numerous followers, both of the clergy and the lay class,
among whom, however, in the fourteenth year of his period of teaching, a
split arose--caused by his son-in-law Jamali.
The extent of his sphere of influence almost corresponds with that of the
kingdoms of Sravasti or Kosala, Vidcha, Magadha, and A[.n]ga,--the modern
Oudh, and the provinces of Tirhut and Bihar in Western Bengal. Very
frequently he spent the rainy season in his native place Vai['s]ali and in
Rajag[r.]iha. Among his contemporaries were, a rival teacher Gosala the
son of Ma[.m]khali--whom he defeated in a dispute, the King of
Videha--Bhambhasara or Bibbhisara called Sre[n.]ika, and his sons
Abhayakumara and the parricide Ajata['s]atru or Ku[n.]ika, who
protected him or accepted his doctrine, and also the nobles of the
Lichchhavi and Mallaki races. The town of Papa or Pava, the modern
Padraona [Footnote: This is General Cunningham's identification and a
probable one.--Ed.] is given as the place of his death, where he dwelt
during the rainy season of the last year of his life, in the house of the
scribe of king Hastipala. Immediately after his death, a second split took
place in his community. [Footnote: Notes on Mahavira's life are to be
found especially in _Achara[.n]ga Sutra_ in _S.B.E._ Vol. XXII,
pp. 84-87, 189-202; _Kalpasutra,_ ibid. pp. 217-270. The above may
be compared with Jacobi's representation, ibid. pp. x-xviii. where most of
the identifications of the places named are given, and _Kalpasutra_
introd. p. ii. We have to thank Dr. Hoernle for the important information
that Vardhamana's birthplace Ku[n.][d.]apura is still called Vasukund:
_Upasakada['s]a Sutra_ p. 4. Note 3. The information on the schisms of
the Jainas is collected by Lemmann in the _Indische Studien_, Bd.
XVII, S. 95 ff.]
On consideration of this information, it immediately strikes one, that the
scene of Vardhamana's activity is laid in the same part of India as Buddha
laboured in, and that several of the personalities which play a part in
the history of Buddha also appear in the Jaina legend. It is through the
kingdoms of Kosala, Videha and Magadha, that Buddha is said to have
wandered preaching, and their capitals ['S]ravasti and Rajag[r.]iha are
just the places named, where he founded the largest communities. It is
also told of the inhabitants of Vai['s]ali that many turned to his
doctrine. Many legends are told of his intercourse and friendship with
Bimbisara or ['S]re[n.]ika, king of Videha, also of the murder of the
latter by his son Ajata['s]atru, who, tortured with remorse, afterwards
approached Buddha; mention is also made of his brother Abhayakumara,
likewise Makkhali Gosala is mentioned among Buddha's opponents and rivals.
It is thus clear that the oldest Jaina legend makes Vardhamana a fellow
countryman and contemporary of Buddha, and search might be suggested in
the writings of the Buddhists for confirmation of these assumptions. Such
indeed are to be found in no small number.
Even the oldest works of the Singalese Canon,--which date apparently from
the beginning of the second century after Buddha's death, or the fourth
century B.C., and which at any rate had their final edition in the
third,--frequently mention an opposing sect of ascetics, the
Niga[n.][t.]ha, which the northern texts, written in Sanskrit, recognise
among the opponents of Buddha, under the name Nirgrantha, whom an old
_Sutra_ [Footnote: The _Mahaparinibba[n.]a Sutta_, in
_S.B.E_. Vol. XI, p. 106.] describes as "heads of companies of
disciples and students, teachers of students, well known, renowned,
founders of schools of doctrine, esteemed as good men by the multitude".
Their leader is also named; he is called in Pali Nataputta, in Sanskrit
Jnatiputra, that is the son of Jnati or Nata. The similarity between these
words and the names of the family Jnati, Jnata or Naya, to which
Vardhamana belonged is apparent. Now since in older Buddhist literature,
the title 'the son of the man of the family N. N.' is very often used
instead of the individual's name, as for example, 'the son of the Sakiya'
is put for Buddha-Sakiyaputta, so that it is difficult not to suppose that
Nataputta or Jnatiputra, the leader of the Niga[n.][t.]ha or Nirgrantha
sect, is the same person as Vardhamana, the descendant of the Jnati family
and founder of the Nirgrantha or Jaina sect. If we follow up this idea,
and gather together the different remarks of the Buddhists about the
opponents of Buddha, then it is apparent that his identity with Vardhamana
is certain. A number of rules of doctrine are ascribed to him, which are
also found among the Jainas, and some events in his life, which we have
already found in the accounts of the life of Vardhamana, are related.
In one place in the oldest part of the Singalese canon, the assertion is
put into the mouth of Niga[n.][t.]ha Nataputta, that the
_Kiriyavada_--the doctrine of activity, separates his system from
Buddha's teaching. We shall certainly recognise in this doctrine, the rule
of the _Kiriya_, the activity of souls, upon which Jainism places so
great importance. [Footnote: Jacobi, _Zeitschrift der Deutsch. Morg.
Ges._ Bd. XXXIV, S. 187; _Ind. Antiq._ Vol. IX, p. 159.] Two other
rules from the doctrine of souls are quoted in a later work, not
canonical: there it is stated, in a collection of false doctrines which
Buddha's rivals taught, that Niga[n.][t.]ha asserts that cold water was
living. Little drops of water contained small souls, large drops, large
souls. Therefore he forbade his followers, the use of cold water. It is
not difficult, in these curious rules to recognise the Jaina dogma, which
asserts the existence of souls, even in the mass of lifeless elements of
earth, water, fire, and wind. This also proves, that the Niga[n.][t.]ha
admitted the classification of souls, so often ridiculed by the
Brahma[n.]s, which distinguishes between great and small. This work, like
others, ascribes to Niga[n.][t.]ha the assertion, that the so-called three
_da[n.][d.]a_--the three instruments by which man can cause injury to
creatures--thought, word, and body, are separate active causes of sin. The
Jaina doctrine agrees also in this case, which always specially represents
the three and prescribes for each a special control. [Footnote: Jacobi,
_Ind. Antiq._ Vol. IX, p. 159.]
Besides these rules, which perfectly agree with one another, there are
still two doctrines of the Niga[n.][t.]ha to be referred to which seem to,
or really do, contradict the Jainas; namely, it is stated that Nataputta
demanded from his disciples the taking of four, not as in Vardhamana's
case, of five great vows. Although this difficulty may seem very important
at first glance, it is, however, set aside by an oft repeated assertion in
the Jaina works. They repeatedly say that Par['s]va, the twenty-third Jina
only recognised four vows, and Vardhamana added the fifth. The Buddhists
have therefore handed down a dogma which Jainism recognises. The question
is merely whether they or the Jainas are the more to be trusted. If the
latter, and it is accepted that Vardhamana was merely the reformer of an
old religion, then the Buddhists must be taxed with an easily possible
confusion between the earlier and later teachers. If, on the other hand,
the Jaina accounts of their twenty-third prophet are regarded as mythical,
and Vardhamana is looked upon as the true founder of the sect,--then the
doctrine of the four vows must be ascribed to the latter, and we must
accept as a fact that he had changed his views on this point. In any case,
however, the Buddhist statement speaks for, rather than against, the
identity of Niga[n.][t.]ha with Jina. [Footnote: Jacobi, _loc. cit._.
p. 160, and Leumann, _Actes du Vlieme Congres Int. des Or_. Sect.
Ary. p. 505. As the Jaina accounts of the teaching of Par['s]va and the
existence of communities of his disciples, sound trustworthy, we may
perhaps accept, with Jacobi, that they rest on a historical foundation.]
Vardhamana's system, on the other hand, is quite irreconcilable with
Nataputta's assertion that virtue as well as sin, happiness as well as
unhappiness is unalterably fixed for men by fate, and nothing in their
destiny can be altered by the carrying out of the holy law. It is,
however, just as irreconcilable with the other Buddhist accounts of the
teaching of their opponent; because it is absolutely unimaginable, that
the same man, who lays vows upon his followers, the object of which is to
avoid sin, could nevertheless make virtue and sin purely dependent upon
the disposition of fate, and preach the uselessness of carrying out the
law. The accusation that Nataputta embraced fatalism must therefore be
regarded as an invention and an outcome of sect hatred as well as of the
wish to throw discredit on their opponents. [Footnote: Jacobi _loc.
cit._. p. 159-160.]
The Buddhist remarks on the personality and life of Nataputta are still
more remarkable. They say repeatedly that he laid claim to the dignity of
an Arhat and to omniscience which the Jainas also claim for their prophet,
whom they prefer simply to call 'the Arhat' and who possesses the
universe-embracing '_Kevala_' knowledge. [Footnote: See for example
the account in the _Chullavagga_, in _S.B.E_. Vol. XX. p. 78-79;
_Ind. Antiq._ Vol. VIII, p. 313.] A history of conversions, tells us
further that Nataputta and his disciples disdained to cover their bodies;
we are told just the same of Vardhamana. [Footnote: Spence Hardy,
_Manual of Budhism_, p. 225.] A story in the oldest part of the
Singalese canon gives an interesting and important instance of his
activity in teaching. Buddha, so the legend runs, once came to the town
Vai['s]ali, the seat of the Kshatriya of the Lichchhavi race. His name,
his law, his community were highly praised by the nobles of the Lichchhavi
in the senate-house. Siha, their general, who was a follower of the
Niga[n.][t.]ha, became anxious to know the great teacher. He went to his
master Nataputta, who happened to be staying in Vai['s]ali just then, and
asked permission to pay the visit. Twice Nataputta refused him. Then Siha
determined to disobey him. He sought Buddha out, heard his teaching and
was converted by him. In order to show his attachment to his new teacher
he invited Buddha and his disciples to eat with him. On the acceptance of
the invitation, Siha commanded his servants to provide flesh in honour of
the occasion. This fact came to the ears of the followers of the
Niga[n.][t.]ha. Glad to have found an occasion to damage Buddha, they
hurried in great numbers through the town, crying out, that Siha had
caused a great ox to be killed for Buddha's entertainment; that Buddha had
eaten of the flesh of the animal although he knew it had been killed on
his account, and was, therefore guilty of the death of the animal. The
accusation was brought to Siha's notice and was declared by him to be a
calumny. Buddha, however preached a sermon after the meal, in which he
forbade his disciples to partake of the flesh of such animals as had been
killed on their account. The legend also corroborates the account in the
Jaina works, according to which Vardhamana often resided in Vai['s]ali and
had a strong following in that town. It is probably related to show that
his sect was stricter, as regards the eating of flesh, than the Buddhists,
a point, which again agrees with the statutes of the Jainas. [Footnote:
_S.B.E_. Vol. XVII, pp. 108-117.]
The account of Nataputta's death is still more important. "Thus I heard
it", says an old book of the Singalese canon, the _Samagama Sutta_,
"once the Venerable one lived in Samagama in the land of the Sakya. At
that time, however, certainly the Niga[n.][t.]ha Nataputta had died in
Pava. After his death the Niga[n.][t.]ha wandered about disunited,
separate, quarrelling, fighting, wounding each other with words."
[Footnote: The passage is given in the original by Oldenberg,
_Leitsch. der D. Morg. Ges_. Bd. XXXIV, S. 749. Its significance
in connection with the Jaina tradition as to their schisms has been
overlooked until now. It has also been unnoticed that the assertion, that
Vardhamana died during Buddha's lifetime, proves that the latest account
of this occurrence given by traditions 467 B.C. is false: Later Buddhist
legends (Spence Hardy, _Manual of Budhism_, pp. 266-271) treat of
Nataputta's death in more detail. In a lengthy account they give as the
cause of the same the apostacy of one of his disciples, Upali who was
converted by Buddha. After going over to Buddhism, Upali treated his
former master with scorn, and presumed to relate a parable which should
prove the foolishness of those who believed in false doctrines. Thereupon
the Niga[n.][t.]ha fell into despair. He declared his alms-vessel was
broken, his existence destroyed, went to Pava, and died there. Naturally
no importance is to be given to this account and its details. They are
apparently the outcome of sect-hatred.] Here we have complete confirmation
of the statement of the Jaina canon as to the place where Vardhamana
entered _Nirva[n.]a_, as well as of the statement that a schism
occurred immediately after his death.
The harmony between the Buddhist and Jaina tradition, as to the person of
the head of the Nirgrantha is meanwhile imperfect. It is disturbed by the
description of Nataputta as a member of the Brahmanic sect of the
Agnive['s]yayana, whilst Vardhamana belonged to the Ka['s]yapa. The point
is however so insignificant, that an error on the part of the Buddhists is
easily possible. [Footnote: According to Jacobi's supposition,
_S.B.E_. Vol. XXII, p. xvi, the error was caused, by the only
disciple of Vardhamana, who outlived his master, Sudharman being an
Agnive['s]yayana.] It is quite to be understood that perfect exactness is
not to be expected among the Buddhists or any other sect in describing the
person of a hated enemy. Enmity and scorn, always present, forbid that.
The most that one can expect is that the majority and most important of
the facts given may agree.
This condition is undoubtedly fulfilled in the case on hand. It cannot,
therefore be denied, that, in spite of this difference, in spite also of
the absurdity of one article of the creed ascribed to him, Vardhamana
Jnatiputra, the founder of the Nirgrantha--or Jaina community is none
other than Buddha's rival. From Buddhist accounts in their canonical works
as well as in other books, it may be seen that this rival was a dangerous
and influential one, and that even in Buddha's time his teaching had
spread considerably. Their legends about conversions from other sects very
often make mention of Nirgrantha sectarians, whom Buddha's teaching or
that of his disciples had alienated from their faith. Also they say in
their descriptions of other rivals of Buddha, that these, in order to gain
esteem, copied the Nirgrantha and went unclothed, or that they were looked
upon by the people as Nirgrantha holy ones, because they happened to have
lost their clothes. Such expressions would be inexplicable if Vardhamana's
community had not become of great importance. [Footnote: See for the
history of Siha related above, Spence Hardy, _Manual of Budhism_, pp.
226, 266, and Jacobi, _Ind. Antiq._ Vol. VIII, p. 161]
This agrees with several remarks in the Buddhist chronicles, which assert
the existence of the Jainas in different districts of India during the
first century after Buddha's death. In the memoirs of the Chinese Buddhist
and pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang, who visited India in the beginning of the
seventh century of our era, is to be found an extract from the ancient
annals of Magadha, which proves the existence of the Nirgrantha or Jainas
in their original home from a very early time. [Footnote: Beal,
_Si-yu-ki._ Vol. II, p. 168.] This extract relates to the building of
the great monastry at Nalanda, the high school of Buddhism in eastern
India, which was founded shortly after Buddha's _Nirva[n.]a_, and
mentions incidentally that a Nirgrantha who was a great astrologer and
prophet had prophesied the future success of the new building. At almost
as early a period the _Mahava[=n]sa_, composed in the fifth century
A.D., fixes the appearance of the Nirgrantha in the island of Ceylon. It
is said that the king Pa[n.][d.]ukabhaya, who ruled in the beginning of
the second century after Buddha, from 367-307 B.C. built a temple and a
monastery for two Nirgranthas. The monastery is again mentioned in the
same work in the account of the reign of a later king Va[t.][t.]agamini,
cir. 38-10 B.C. It is related that Va[t.][t.]agamini being offended by the
inhabitants, caused it to be destroyed after it had existed during the
reigns of twenty one kings, and erected a Buddhist Sa[.n]gharama in its
place. The latter piece of information is found also in the
_Dipava[=n]sa_ of more than a century earlier. [Footnote: Turnour,
_Mahava[.n]sa_, pp. 66-67 and p. 203, 206: _Dipava[=n]sa_ XIX
14; comp. also Kern, _Buddhismus_, Bd. I, S. 422. In the first
passage in the _Mahava[.n] sa_, three Nigha[n.][t.]as are introduced
by name, Jotiya, Giri, and Kumbha[n.][d.]a. The translation incorrectly
makes the first a Brahma[n.] and chief engineer.]
None of these works can indeed be looked upon as a truly historical
source. There are, even in those paragraphs which treat of the oldest
history after Buddha's death, proofs enough that they simply hand down a
faulty historical tradition. In spite of this, their statements on the
Nirgrantha, cannot be denied a certain weight, because they are closely
connected on the one side with the Buddhist canon, and on the other they
agree with the indisputable sources of history, which relate to a slightly
later period.
The first authentic information on Vardhamana's sect is given by our
oldest inscriptions, the religious edicts of the Maurya king A['s]oka,
who, according to tradition was anointed in the year 219 after Buddha's
death, and--as the reference to his Grecian contemporaries, Antiochos,
Magas, Alexander, Ptolemaeus and Antigonas confirms,--ruled, during the
second half of the third century B.C. over the whole of India with the
exception of the Dekhan. This prince interested himself not only in
Buddhism, which he professed in his later years, but he took care, in a
fatherly way, as he repeatedly relates, of all other religious sects in
his vast kingdom. In the fourteenth year of his reign, he appointed
officials, called law-superintendents, whose duty it was to watch over the
life of the different communities, to settle their quarrels, to control
the distribution of their legacies and pious gifts. He says of them in the
second part of the seventh 'pillar' edict, which he issued in the
twenty-ninth year of his reign, "My superintendents are occupied with
various charitable matters, they are also engaged with all sects of
ascetics and householders; I have so arranged that they will also be
occupied with the affairs of the _Sa[.m]gha_; likewise I have
arranged that they will be occupied with the Ajivika Brahma[n.]s; I have
arranged it that they will also be occupied with the Niga[n.][t.]ha".
[Footnote: See Senart, _Inscriptions de Piyadasi_, tom. II, p. 82.
Ed. VIII, l. 4. My translation differs from Senart's in some points
especially in relation to the construction. Conf. _Epigraphia
Indiea_, vol. II, pp. 272f.] The word _Sa[.m]gha_ serves here as
usual for the Buddhist monks. The Ajivikas, whose name completely
disappears later, are often named in the sacred writings of the Buddhists
and the Jainas as an influential sect. They enjoyed the special favour of
A['s]oka, who, as other inscriptions testify, caused several caves at
Barabar to be made into dwellings for their ascetics. [Footnote: See
_Ind. Antiquary_, vol. XX, pp. 361 ff.] As in the still older writings
of the Buddhist canon, the name Niga[n.][t.]ha here can refer only to the
followers of Vardhamana. As they are here, along with the other two
favourites, counted worthy of special mention, we may certainly conclude
that they were of no small importance at the time. Had they been without
influence and of small numbers A['s]oka would hardly have known of them,
or at least would not have singled them out from the other numerous
nameless sects of which he often speaks. It may also be supposed that they
were specially numerous in their old home, as A['s]oka's capital
Pa[t.]aliputra lay in this land. Whether they spread far over these
boundaries, cannot be ascertained.
On the other hand we possess two documents from the middle of the next
century which prove that they advanced into south-eastern India as far as
Kali[.n]ga. These are the inscriptions at Kha[n.][d.]agiri in Orissa, of
the great King Kharavela and his first wife, who governed the east coast
of India from the year 152 to 165 of the Maurya era that is, in the first
half of second century B.C.
The larger inscription, unfortunately very much disfigured, contains an
account of the life of Kharavela from his childhood till the thirteenth
year of his reign. It begins with an appeal to the Arhat and Siddha, which
corresponds to the beginning of the five-fold form of homage still used
among the Jainas, and mentions the building of temples in honour of the
Arhat as well as an image of the first Jina, which was taken away by a
hostile king. The second and smaller inscription asserts that Kharavela's
wife caused a cave to be prepared for the ascetics of Kalinga, "who
believed on the Arhat." [Footnote: The meaning of these inscriptions,
which were formerly believed to be Buddhist, was first made clear by Dr.
Bhangvanlal's Indraji's careful discussion in the _Actes du Vlieme
Congres Internat. des Orientalistes_ Sect. Ary. pp. 135-159. H; first
recognised the true names of the King Kharavela and his predecessors and
shewed that Kharavela and his wife were patrons of the Jainas. We have to
thank him for the information that the inscription contains a date in the
Maurya Era. I have thoroughly discussed his excellent article in the
_Oesterreichischen Monatsschrift_, Bd. X, S. 231 ff. and have there
given my reasons for differing from him on an important point, namely, the
date of the beginning of the Maurya Era, which, according to his view
begins with the conquest of Kali[.n]ga by A['s]oka about 255 B. C. Even
yet I find it impossible to accept that the expression, "in the hundred
and sixty fifth year of the era of the Maurya Kings", can mean anything
else than that 164 years have passed between the thirteenth year of the
rule of Kharavela and the anointing of the first Maurya King Chandrugupta.
Unfortunately it is impossible to fix the year of the latter occurrence,
or to say more than that it took place between the years 322 and 312 B.C.
The date given in Kharavela's inscription cannot therefore be more closely
fixed than that it lies between 156 and 147 B.C. I now add to my former
remarks--that appeals to the Arhat and Siddha appear also in Jaina
inscriptions from Mathura and may be taken as a certain mark of the sect.
Thus it is worthy of note that even in Hiuen Tsiang's time, (Beal,
_Si-yu-ki_, Vol. II, p. 205) Kalinga was one of the chief seats of
the Jainas.]
From a somewhat later period, as the characters show, from the first
century B.C. comes a dedicatory inscription which has been found far to
the west of the original home of the Jainas, in Mathura on the Jamna. It
tells of the erection of a small temple in honour of the Arhat Vardhamana,
also of the dedication of seats for the teachers, a cistern, and a stone
table. The little temple, it says, stood beside the temple of the guild of
tradesmen, and this remark proves, that Mathura, which, according to the
tradition of the Jainas, was one of the chief scats of their religion,
possessed a community of Jainas even before the time of this inscription.
[Footnote: This inscription also was first made known by Dr Bhagwanlal
Indiaji, _loc. cit_. p. 143.]
A large member of dedicatory inscriptions have come to light, which are
dated from the year 5 to 98 of the era of the Indo-Skythian kings,
Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva (Bazodeo) and therefore belong at latest
to the end of the first and to the second century A.D. They are all on the
pedestals of statues, which are recognisable partly by the special mention
of the names of Vardhamana and the Arhat Mahavira, partly by absolute
nudity and other marks. They show, that the Jaina community continued to
flourish in Mathura and give besides extraordinarily important
information, as I found in a renewed research into the ancient history of
the sect. In a number of them, the dedicators of the statues give not only
their own names, but also those of the religious teachers to whose
communities they belonged. Further, they give these teachers their
official titles, still used among the Jainas: _vachaka_, 'teacher',
and _ga[n.]in_, 'head of a school'. Lastly they specify the names of
the schools to which the teachers belonged, and those of their
subdivisions. The schools are called, _ga[n.]a_, 'companies'; the
subdivisions, _kula_, 'families' and _['s]akha_, 'branches'.
Exactly the same division into _ga[n.]a, ['s]akha_, and _kula_
is found in a list in one of the canonical works, of the ['S]vetambaras,
the _Kalpasutra_, which gives the number of the patriarchs and of the
schools founded by them, and it is of the highest importance, that, in
spite of mutilation and faulty reproduction of the inscriptions, nine of
the names, which appear in the _Kalpasutra_ are recognisable in them,
of which part agree exactly, part, through the fault of the stone-mason or
wrong reading by the copyist, are somewhat defaced. According to the
_Kalpasutra_, Sushita, the ninth successor to Vardhamana In the
position of patriarch, together with his companion Supratibuddha, founded
the 'Ko[d.]iya' or 'Kautika _ga[n.]a_, which split up into four
'_sakha_, and four '_kula_'. Inscription No. 4. which is dated
in the year 9 of the king Kanishka or 87. A.D. (?) gives us a somewhat
ancient form of the name of the _ga[n.]a Ko[t.]iya_ and that of one
of its branches exactly corresponding to the _Vairi ['s]akha_.
Mutilated or wrongly written, the first word occurs also in inscriptions
Nos. 2, 6 and 9 as _koto-, ke[t.][t.]iya_, and _ka_ ..., the
second in No. 6 as _Vora_. One of the families of this
_ga[n.]a_, the _Va[n.]iya kula_ is mentioned in No. 6, and
perhaps in No. 4. The name of a second, the _Pra['s]navaha[n.]aka_,
seems to have appeared in No. 19. The last inscription mentions also
another branch of the Ko[t.]iya ga[n.]a, the _Majhima sakha_, which,
according to the _Kalpasutra,_ was founded by Priyagantha the second
disciple of Susthita. Two still older schools which, according to
tradition, sprang from the fourth disciple of the eighth patriarch, along
with some of their divisions appear in inscriptions Nos. 20 and 10. These
are the _Aryya-Udehikiya ga[n.]a_, called the school of the
Arya-Roha[n.]a in the _Kalpasutra_, to which belonged the
_Parihasaka kula_ and the _Purnapatrika ['s]akha,_ as also the
_Chara[n.]a ga[n.]a_ with the _Pritidharmika kula._ Each of
these names is, however, somewhat mutilated by one or more errata in
writing. [Footnote: Dr. Buehler's long note (p. 48) on these inscriptions
was afterwards expanded in the _Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des
Morgenlandes_ Bd. I, S. 165-180; Bd. II, S. 141-146. Bd. III, S.
233-240; and Bd. IV, S. 169-173. The argument of these papers is
summarised in. Appendix. A, pp. 48 ff.--Ed.] The statements in the
inscriptions about the teachers and their schools are of no small
importance in themselves for the history of the Jainas. If, at the end of
the first century A.D.(?) many separate schools of Jaina ascetics existed,
a great age and lively activity, as well as great care as regards the
traditions of the sect, may be inferred. The agreement of the inscriptions
with the _Kalpasutra_ leads still further however: it proves on the
one side that the Jainas of Mathura were ['S]vetambara, and that the
schism, which split the sect into two rival branches occurred long before
the beginning of our era. On the other hand it proves that the tradition
of the Svetambara really contains ancient historic elements, and by no
means deserves to be looked upon with distrust. It is quite probable that,
like all traditions, it is not altogether free from error. But it can no
longer be declared to be the result of a later intentional
misrepresentation, made in order to conceal the dependence of Jainism on
Buddhism. It is no longer possible to dispute its authenticity with regard
to those points which are confirmed by independent statements of other
sects, and to assert, for example, that the Jaina account of the life of
Vardhamana, which agrees with the statements of the Buddists, proves
nothing as regards the age of Jainism because in the late fixing of the
canon of the ['S]vetambaras in the sixth century after Christ it may have
been drawn from Buddhist works. Such an assertion which, under all
circumstances, is a bold one, becomes entirely untenable when it is found
that the tradition in question states correctly facts which lie not quite
three centuries distant from Vardhamana's time, and that the sect, long
before the first century of our era kept strict account of their internal
affairs. [Footnote: See Weber's and Barth's opinions quoted above in note
I, p. 23.]
Unfortunately the testimony to the ancient history of the Jainas, so far
as made known by means of inscriptions, terminates here. Interesting as it
would be to follow the traces of their communities in the later
inscriptions, which become so numerous from the fifth century A.D. onwards
and in the description of his travels by Hiuen Tsiang, who found them
spread through the whole of India and even beyond its boundaries, it would
be apart from our purpose. The documents quoted suffice, however, to
confirm the assertion that during the first five centuries after Buddha's
death both the statements of Buddhist tradition and real historical
sources give evidence to the existence of the Jainas as an important
religious community independent of Buddhism, and that there are among the
historical sources some which entirely clear away the suspicion that the
tradition of the Jainas themselves is intentionally falsified.
The advantage gained for Indian history from the conclusion that Jainism
and Buddhism are two contemporary sects--having arisen in the same
district,--is no small one. First, this conclusion shows that the
religious movement of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. in eastern India
must have been a profound one. If not only one, but certainly two, and
perhaps more reformers, appeared at the same time, preaching teachers, who
opposed the existing circumstances in the same manner, and each of whom
gained no small number of followers for their doctrines, the desire to
overthrow the Brahmanical order of things must have been generally and
deeply felt. This conclusion shows then that the transformation of the
religious life in India was not merely the work of a religious community.
Many strove to attain this object although separated from one another. It
is now recognisable, though preliminarily, in one point only, that the
religious history of India from the fifth century B.C. to the eighth or
ninth A.D. was not made up of the fight between Brahmanism and Buddhism
alone. This conclusion allows us, lastly, to hope that the thorough
investigation of the oldest writings of the Jainas and their relations
with Buddhism on the one hand and with Brahmanism on the other will afford
many important ways of access to a more exact knowledge concerning the
religious ideas which prevailed in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., and
to the establishment of the boundaries of originality between the
different systems.
APPENDIX A.
Copies of the mutilated inscriptions referred to, were published by
General Sir A. Cunningham in his _Archaeological Survey Reports_,
vol. III, plates xiii-xv. Unfortunately they have been presented from
'copies' and are therefore full of errors, which are due for the most
part, doubtless, to the copyist and not to the sculptor. It is not
difficult, however, in most cases under consideration here, to restore the
correct reading. Usually only vowel signs are omitted or misread and,
here, and there, consonants closely resembling one another as _va_
and _cha, va_, and _dha, ga_ and _['s]a, la_ and _na_
are interchanged.
The formulae of the inscriptions are almost universally the same. First
comes the date, then follows the name of a reverend teacher, next, the
mention of the school and the subdivision of it to which he belonged. Then
the persons, who dedicated the statues are named (mostly women), and who
belonged to the community of the said teacher. The description of the gift
forms the conclusion. The dialect of the inscriptions shows that curious
mixture of Sansk[r.][)i]t and Prak[r.][)i]t which is found in almost all
documents of the Indo-Skythian kings, and whichas Dr. Hoernle was the
first to recognise--was one of the literary languages of northern and
northwestern India during the first centuries before and after the
commencement of our era.
In the calculation of dates, I use the favourite starting point for the
era of the Indo-Skythian kings, which unfortunately, is not certainly
determined, and assume that it is identical with the _Saka_ era of
78-1/4 A.D. The rule of these princes could not have fallen later: in my
opinion it was somewhat earlier. [Footnote: What follows is from the
author's later and fuller paper in _Wiener Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des
Morgenlandes_, Bd. I, S. 170 f., but abridged.--Ed.] I give here
transcripts and restorations of such inscriptions as mention Jaina schools
or titles.
1. The inscription which is the most important for my purpose and at the
same time one of the best preserved, is Sir A. Cunningham's No. 6, plate
xiii, which was found on the base of a Jaina image (_Arch. Sur. Rep_.
vol. III, p. 31). The copy compared with a rubbing gives the following
reading, (the letters within parentheses are damaged):
L. 1. _Siddha[.m] sa[.m] 20 grama 1 di 10 + 5 ko([t.]i)yato ga[n.]ato
(Va)[n.]iyato kulato V(ai)r(i)to ['s]akato ['S]irikato_
2. _(bha)ttito vachakasya Aryya-Sa[.n]ghasihasya nir(v)varttana[.m]
Dattilasya.... Vi_.-
3. _lasya ko([t.]hu)bi(ki)ya Jayavalasya Devadasasya Nagadinasya cha
Nagadinaye cha (ma)tu_.
4. _['s]ra(vi)kaye (D)i-_
5. _(na)ye dana[.m]. i_
6. _Varddhamana pra_-
7. _tima_|
The lacuna in line 2, after _Dattilasya_, probably contained the word
_duhituye_ or _dhutuye_ and part of a male name of which only
the letter _vi_ is visible. In l. 3, possibly _ko[t.]habiniye_
is to be read instead of _ko[t.]hubikiye_. As there is room for one
more letter at the end of the line, I propose to read _matuye_. In l.
5, _Dinaye_ would stand for _Dattaya[h.]_ and be the genitive of
a female name _Dinna_ or _Datta_, which has been shortened
_bhamavat_. There can be no doubt that the word _['s]ri_, or
_['s]iri_, which is required, has stood before _Vardhamana_.
With these restorations the translation is as follows:
"Success! The year 20, summer (_month_) I, day 15. An image of
glorious Vardhamana, the gift of the female lay-disciple Dina
[_i. e_. Dinna or Datta], the [_daughter_] of Attila, the wife
of Vi..la, the mother of Jayavala [Jayapala], of Devadasa and Nagadina
[_i. e_. Nagadinna or Nagadatta] and of Nagadina [_i.e._ of
Nagadinna or Nagadatta]--(_this statue being_) the _nirvartana_
[Footnote: The word _nirvartana_ has the meaning of 'in obedience
to the order', or 'in consequence of the request'. It occurs again in
the Prakrit form _nivatana[.m]_ below, in No. 10 (pl. xiv) and it
has stood in No. 4, and at the end of l. 2 of No. 7, where the rubbing
has _nirva_. It is also found in the next: _Arch. Sur. Rep._
vol. XX, pl. v, No. 6.] of the preacher Aryya-Sa[.n]ghasiha [_i.e._
Arya-Sa[.n]ghasi[.m]ha], out of the Ko[t.]iya school, the Vaniya race,
the Vairi branch, the ['S]irika division".
The inscription given _Arch. Sur. Rep_. vol. XX, plate v, No. 6
reads, according to an excellent rubbing:
L. 1. _Namo Araha[.m]tanain namo Siddhana sa[.m]_ 60 [Footnote:
In reading the first figure as 60, I follow Sir A. Cunningham. I have
never seen the sign, in another inscription. The characters of the
inscription are so archaic that this date may refer to an earlier
epoch than the Indo-Skythian.] + 2
2. _gra 3 di 5 etaye purvaye Rarakasya Aryakakasaghastasya_
3. _['s]ishya Atapikogahabaryasya nirvartana chatnuvarnasya
sa[.m]ghasya_
4. _ya dinna pa[t.]ibha[bho?]ga_ 1 (?) | (?) _Vaihikaya datti_|
"Adoration to the Arhats, adoration to the Siddhas! The year 62, the
summer (_month_) 3, the day 5; on the above date a _ya_. was
given to the community, which includes four classes, as an enjoyment
(_or_ one share for each) (_this being_) the _nirvartana_
of Atapikogahabarya, the pupil of Arya-Kakasaghasta
(Arya-Karka['s]agharshita), a native of Rara (Ra[d.]ha). The gift of
Vaihika (_or_, Vaihita)."
2. With the inscription No. 6 of the year 20, No. 4 (plate xiii) agrees;
it was also found on a Jaina pedestal. With better readings from a rubbing
of the first side only, I propose for the other portions, of which I have
no rubbings, the following emendations,--l. 1, _Vaniyato kulato,
sakhato_; l. 2, _ku[t.]umbimye_; I also note that the lacuna in
line 2, 3th and 4th sides, would be filled exactly by _ye
['s]ri-Vardhamanasya pratima karita sarvasattva_. The former existence
of the first and last seven letters may be considered certain. My
restoration of the whole is,--
L. 1 (1st side) _Siddha[.m] maharajasya Kanishkasya rajye
sa[.m]vatsare navame_ [Footnote: _Sac. Bks. East_, vol. XXII
p. 292.] (2nd side).. _masc pratha_ 1 _divase_ 5
_a-(3rd)[sya[.m]] purvvaye Ko[t.]iyato ga[n.]ato Vaniya[to]_
(4th) _[ku]lato Vairito ['s]akato vachaka_-
2. (1st side) _[sya] [N]agana[m.]disa ni[rva]r[ta]na[.m] Brah[ma]_ ...
_[dhu-(2nd)tuye] Bha[t.][t.]umitasa ku[t.]u[[.m]]bi[n]i[ye]
Vika[t.]a-(3rd)[ye ['s]ri Vardhamanasya pratima karita sarva_-(4th)
_satva]na[.m] hita_-
3. _[sukhaye]_;
and the translation:--
"Success! During the reign of the great king Kanishka, in the ninth
year, 9, in the first month, 1, of ..., on the day 5,--on the above
date [an image of glorious Vardhamana has been caused to be made] for
the welfare [and happiness] of [all created beings] by Vikata, the
house-wife of Bha[t.][t.]imita (Bhat[t.]imitra) and [daughter of]
Brahma ...--(this statue being) the _nirvartana_ of the preacher
Nagana[.m]idi, out of the Ko[t.]iya school (_ga[n.]a_), the
Va[n.]iya line (_kula_), (and) the Vairi branch (_['s]akha_)."
If we now turn to the _Kalpasutra_, we find that Su[t.][t.]hiya or
Susthita, the eighth successor of Vardhamana, founded the Kau[t.]ika or
Ko[d.]iya ga[n.]a, which split up into four ['s]akhas and four kulas. The
third of the former was the Vajri or Vairi, and the third of the latter
was the Va[n.]iya or Va[n.]ijja. It is evident that the names of the
_ga[n.]a, kula_, and _['s]akha_ agree with those mentioned in the
two inscriptions, Ko[t.]iya being a somewhat older form of Ko[d.]iya. But
it is interesting to note that the further subdivision of the Vairi
['s]akha--the ['S]irika bhatti (Srika bhakti) which inscription No. 6
mentions, is not known to the _Kalpasutra_. This is a gap such as may
by be expected to occur in a list handed down by oral tradition.
3. The Ko[t.]ika ga[n.]a is again mentioned in the badly mutilated
inscription No. 19, plate xv. A complete restoration is impossible.
L. 1. _Sa[.m]valsare 90 va...sya ku[t.]ubani. vadanasya vodhuya_...
2. _K|o[t.]iyato| ga[n.]ato |Pra['s]na|vaha|na|kato kulato
Majhamato ['s]akhato...sa nikaye bhati galae thabani_...
It may, however, be inferred from the fragments of the first line that the
dedication was made by a woman who was described as the wife
(_ku[t.]umbini_) of one person and as the daughter-in-law
(_vadhu_) of another. The first part of line 2, restored as above
gives--"in the congregation of ... out of the Ko[t.]iya school, the
Pra['s]navahanaka line and the Majhama branch...." The restoration of the
two names Ko[t.]iya and Pra['s]navahanaka seems to me absolutely certain,
because they exactly fill the blanks in the inscription, and because the
information in the _Kalpasutra_ (S. B. E. vol. XXII, p. 293)
regarding the Madhyama['s]akha points in that direction. The latter work
tells us that Priyagantha, the second pupil of Susthita and Supratibuddha,
founded a ['s]akha, called Madhyama or Majhima.
As our inscriptions show that Professor Jacobi's explanation of the terms
_ga[n.]a, kula_ and _['s]akha_ [Footnote: _S. B. E_. vol.
XXII, p. 288, note 2.] is correct and that the first denotes the school,
the second the line of teachers, and the third a branch which separated
from such a line, it follows that the ['s]akhas named in the
_Kalpasutra_ without the mention of a _ga[n.]a_ and _kula_,
must belong to the last preceding _ga[n.]a_ and derive their origin
from one of its _kulas_. Hence the Madhyama ['s]akha doubtless was
included in the Kau[t.]ika ga[n.]a, and an offshoot of one of its
_kulas_, the fourth of which is called Pra['s]navahanaka or
Pa[n.]havaha[n.]aya. The correctness of these inferences is proved by
Raja['s]ckhara's statement regarding his spiritual descent at the end of
the _Prabandha kosha_, which he composed in Vik. sa[.m] 1405. He
informs us that he belonged to the Ko[t.]ika ga[n.]a, the Pra['s]navahana
kula, the Madhyama ['s]akha, the Harshapuriya gachha and the Maladhari
samtana, founded by the illustrious Abhayasuri.
For the last words of l. 2 I do not dare to propose an emendation; I
merely note that the gift seems to have consisted of pillars,
_thabani_, i. e. _stambha[h.]_.
4. The Ko[t.]iya ga[n.]a seems finally to be mentioned
in pl. xiii, No. 2, where the copy of line 1, 2nd
side may be corrected as,--
_Siddha--sa 5 he 1 di 10 + 2 asya purvvaye Ko[t.](iya)_.
5. Names of an older _ga[n.]a_ and of one of its
_kulas_ occur in No. 10 plate xiv, where the copy,
which is faulty, may allow the following partial
restoration,---
L. 1. _Sa 40 + 7 gra 2 di 20 etasya purvvaye
Vara[n.]e ga[n.]e Petidhamikakulavachakasya Rohanadisya
sisasya Senasya nivatanam savaka-Da_
2. ..._pasha[n.]avadhaya Giha..ka.bha..
prapa [di]na..ma ta_...
which I translate--
"The year 47, the summer (month) 2, the day 20,--on the above date a
drinking fountain was given by ..., the ... of the lay-disciple Da ...
(this being) the _nivatana_ of Sena the pupil of Rohanadi
(Rohanandi) and preacher of the Petidhamika (Praitidharmika) line, in
the Vara[n.]a school."
_Varane_ must be a mistake for the very similar word _Charane_.
The second _kula_ of this _ga[n.]a_ which, according to the
_Kalpasutra_ (_S.B.E_. vol. XXII, p. 291) was founded by
['S]rigupta, the fifth pupil of Arya Suhastin, is the Pritidharmika
(p. 292). It is easy to see that a similar name is hidden in the compound
_Petivamikakutavachakasya_ 'of the preacher of the Petivamika line';
and an inscription excavated by Dr. Fuhrer at Mathura mentions the
Petivamika (_kula_) of the Varana _ga[n.]a_. With the second
line little can be done: if the letters _prapa_ are correct and form
a word, one of the objects dedicated must have been a drinking fountain.
6. The inscription No. 20, plate xv offers likewise slightly corrupt and
mutilated names of a _ga[n.]a_, a _kula_ and a _sakha_,
mentioned in the _Kalpasutra_. In the lithographed copy lines 3-7 are
hopeless and there is no rubbing to help. The word _thitu_ 'of a
daughter' in line 6, and the following _ma.uya_ which is probably a
misreading of _matuye_ 'of the mother' show that this dedication also
was made by a female. The last four syllables _vato maho_ are
probably the remnant of another namaskara--_namo bhagavato
Mahavirasya._ As regards the proper names, Aryya Rehiniya is an
impossible form; but on comparison with the next inscription to be
mentioned, it is evident that the stone must have read
_Aryvodchikiyato_ or _Aryyadehikiyato ga[n.]a[to]_. [Footnote:
_Wiener Zeitshe. f. d. Kunde der Morgenl._, Bd. II, S. 142 f.]
According to the _Kalpasutra_ (_S.B.E_. vol. XXII, p. 291)
Arya-Roha[n.]a was the first pupil of Arya Suhastin and founded the Uddeha
ga[n.]a. The latter split up into four ['s]akhas and into six kulas. The
name of its fourth ['s]akha, Pur[n.]apatrika, closely
resembles--especially in its consonantal elements--that of the inscription,
_Petaputrika_, and I do not hesitate in correcting the latter to
_Ponapatrika_ which would be the equivalent of Sansk.
Paur[n.]apatrika. Among the six kulas is the Parihasaka, and considering
the other agreements, I believe it probable that the mutilated name read
as _Puridha.ka_ is a misreading of _Parihaka_, We may emend the
first two times and read as follows,--
L. 1. _Siddha|m| namo arahato Mahavir|a|sya devana['s]asya
| rajna Vasudevasya sa[.m]vatsare 90 + 8
varshamase + divase 10 | 1 etasya_.
2. _purvv|a|y|e| Aryyo-D|e|h|i|kiyato ga[n.]a|to|
P|a|vi|hasa|k|a|kula|to| P|ou|ap|a|trikat|o| ['s]akato ga[n.]|i|sya
Aryya-Devadatta|sya| na_... ...
3. _ryya-Kshemasya_
4. _prakagiri[n.]e_
5. _kihadiye praja_
6. _tasya Pravarakasya dhitu Vara[n.]asya gatvakasya
ma|t|uya Mitra(?)sa ...datta ga_
7. _ye..|namo bhaga|vato mah|avirasya|_
and the translation (so far) will be,--
"Success! Adoration to the Arhat Mahavira, the destroyer(?) of the gods.
In the year of king Vasudeva, 98, in the month 4 of the rainy season, on
the day 11--on the above date ... of the chief of the school
(_ga[n.]in_) Aryya-Devadata (Devadatta) out of the school
(_ga[n.]a_) of the Aryya-Udehikiya (Arya-Uddehikiya), out of the
Parihasaka line (_kula_), out of the Ponapatrika (Paur[n.]apatrika)
branch (_['s]akha_)." [Footnote: At a later date Dr. Buehler added
other proofs from inscriptions of the authenticity of the Jaina
tradition, in the _Vienna Oriental Journal_, vol. II, pp. 141-146;
vol. III, pp. 233-240; vol. IV, pp. 169-173, 313-318; vol. V, pp.
175-180; and in _Epigraphia Indica_, vol. I pp. 371-397; vol. II,
pp. 195-212, 311. The paragraphs given above are chiefly from his first
paper in the _Vienna Oriental Journal_ (vol. I, pp. 165-180), which
appears to be an extended revision of the long footnote in the original
paper on the Jainas, but it is here corrected in places from readings in
his later papers.--J. B.]
These and many other statements in the inscriptions, about the teachers
and their schools are of no small importance in themselves for the early
history of the Jainas. The agreement of the above with the
_Kalpasutra_ can best be shown by placing the statements in question
against one another. The inscriptions prove the actual existence of twenty
of the subdivisions mentioned in the Sthaviravali of the
_Kalpasutra_. Among its eight ga[n.]as we can certainly trace three,
possibly four--the Uddchika, Vara[n.]a, Ve['s]ava[d.]iya(?) and Ko[d.]iya.
Inscriptions:--
1. Ko[t.][t.]iya (Ko[d.]iya) Gana
|
.--------------------------------------.
| |
Bramadasika kula Uchchenagari ['s]akha
Thaniya kula Vairi, Vairiya ['s]akha
P[a[n.]ha]vahu[[n.]aya]ku[la] Majhama ['s]akha
The Sthaviravali of the _Kalpasutra_ (_Sac. Bks. of the East_,
vol. XXII, p. 292) states that Sus[t.]hita and Supratibuddha founded the--
Ko[t.]iya or Kau[t.]aka Ga[n.]a
|
.------------------------------------------------.
| |
kulas ['s]akhas
1. _Bambhalijja_ 1. _Uchchanagari_
2. Vachchhalijja 2. _Vijjahari_
3. _Va[n.]iya_ or _Va[n.]ijja_ 3. Vajri
4. Panhavahanaya 4. _Majjhimaka_
or Pra['s]navahanaka 5. Majjhima
(scholar of the two
teachers.
founded by
Priyagantha the second)
Inscriptions:--
2. Vara[n.]a Ga[n.]a
|
.------------------------------.
| |
kulas ['s]akhas
Petivamika Vajanagari
Aryya Ha[t.]ikiya Haritamalaka[d.]hi
Pu['s]yamitriya
Aryya-Che[t.]iya
Kaniyasika
The _Kalpasutra_ states that ['S]rigupta of the Haritagotra founded
the Chara[n.]a ga[n.]a, which was divided into four _['s]akhas_ and
into seven _kulas_:
Chara[n.]a-ga[n.]a
|
.-----------------------------.
| |
kulas ['s]akhas
1. Vachchhalijja Sa[.m]ka['s]ika
2. _Pidhammiya_
3. _Halijja_ _Vajjanagari_
4. _Pusamittijja_ Gavedhuka
5. Malijja
6. _Arya-Che[d.]aya_ _Hariyamalagari_
7. _Ka[n.]hasaha_
Inscriptions:--
3. Aryya-Udekiya Ga[n.]a
|
.--------------------------.
| |
kulas |
Nagabhatikiya Petaputrika ['s]akha.
Puridha..
The _Kalpasutra_ says Arya-Rohana of the Ka['s]yapa gotra founded the
Uddeha Gana
|
.------------------------------------------.
| |
kulas ['s]akhas
1. _Nagabhuya_ Udumbarijjiya
2. Somabhuta Masapurika
3. Ullagachchha (or Ardrakachchha?) Matipatrika
4. Ilatthilijja
5. Nandijja _Pu[n.][n.]apattiya_
6. _Parihasaka_
Inscriptions:--
4. [Ve['s]avadiya Ga[n.]a]
|
[Me]hika kula
[Footnote: _Epigraphia Indica_, vol. I, pp. 382, 388.]
The _Kalpasutra_:--Kamarddhi of the Ku[n.][d.]alagotra founded the
Ve['s]ava[t.]ika ga[n.]a which was divided into four ['s]akhas, and into
four kulas:--
Ve['s]ava[t.]ika Ga[n.]a
|
.-----------------------------------------.
| |
kulas ['s]akhas
Ga[n.]ika ['S]ravastika
_Maighika_ Rajjapaliya
Kamarddhika Antarijjiya
Indrapuraka Khemalijjiya
[Footnote: For the above lists see _Wiener Zeitschi_. Bd. IV, S. 316
ff. and _Kalpasutra_ in _S. B. E._ vol. XXII, pp. 290 f.]
The resemblance of most of these names is so complete that no explanation
is necessary.
JAINA MYTHOLOGY.
The mythology of the Jainas, whilst including many of the Hindu
divinities, to which it accords very inferior positions, is altogether
different in composition. It has all the appearance of a purely
constructed system. The gods are classified and subdivided into orders,
genera, and species; all are mortal, have their ages fixed, as well as
their abodes, and are mostly distinguished by cognizances _chihnas_
or _la[`n]chha[n.]as_. Their Tirthakaras, Tirthamkaras, or perfected
saints, are usually known as twenty-four belonging to the present age. But
the mythology takes account also of a past and a future age or renovation
of the world, and to each of these aeons are assigned twenty-four
Tirthakaras. But this is not all: in their cosmogony they lay down other
continents besides Jambudvipa-Bharata or that which we dwell in. These are
separated from Jambudvipa by impassable seas, but exactly like it in every
respect and are called Dhatuki-kanda and Pushkararddha; and of each of
these there are eastern, and western Bharata and Airavata regions, whilst
of Jambudvipa there is also a Bharata and an Airavata region: these make
the following ten regions or worlds:--
1. Jambudvipa-bharata-kshetra.
2. Dhatuki-kha[n.][d.]a purva-bharata.
3. Dhatuki-kha[n.][d.]a pa['s]chima-bharata.
4. Pushkararddha purva-bharata.
5. Pushkaravaradvipa pa['s]chima-bharata.
6. Jambudvipa airavata-kshetra.
7. Dhatuki-kha[n.][d.]a purva-airavata.
8. Dhatuki-kha[n.][d.]a pa['s]chima-airavata.
9. Pushkarardhadvipa purva-airavata.
10. Puskararddha pa['s]chima-airavata.
To each of these is allotted twenty four past, present and future Atits or
Jinas,--making in all 720 of this class, for which they have invented
names: but they are only names. [Footnote: See _Ratnasagara_, bh.
II, pp. 696--705.]
Of the Tirthakaras of the present age or _avasarpini_ in the
Bharata-varsha of Jambudvipa, however, we are supplied with minute
details:--their names, parents, stations, reputed ages, complexions,
attendants, cognizances (_chihna_) or characteristics, etc. and these
details are useful for the explanation of the iconography we meet with in
the shrines of Jaina temples. There the images of the Tirthakaras are
placed on highly sculptured thrones and surrounded by other smaller
attendant figures. In temples of the ['S]vetambara sect the images are
generally of marble--white in most cases, but often black for images of
the 19th, 2Oth, 22nd and 23rd Jinas. On the front of the throne or
_asana_ are usually carved three small figures: at the proper right
of the Jina is a male figure representing the Yaksha attendant or servant
of that particular Jina; at the left end of the throne is the
corresponding female--or Yakshini, Yakshi or ['S]asanadevi; whilst in a
panel in the middle there is often another devi. At the base of the seat
also, are placed nine very small figures representing the _navagraha_
or nine planets; that is the sun, moon, five planets, and ascending and
descending nodes.
In the Jaina _Puranas_, legends are given to account for the
connexion of the Yakshas and Yakshis with their respective Tirthakaras:
thus, in the case of Par['s]vanatha, we have a story of two brothers
Marubhuti and Kama[t.]ha, who in eight successive incarnations were always
enemies, and were finally born as Par['s]vanatha and Sambaradeva
respectively. A Pasha[n.][d.]a or unbeliever, engaged in the
_panchagni_ rite, when felling a tree for his fire, against the
remonstrance of Par['s]vanatha, cut in pieces two snakes that were in it;
the Jina, however restored them to life by means of the
_panchamantra_. They were then re-born in Patala-loka as
Dhara[n.]endra or Nagendra-Yaksha and Padmavati-Yakshi[n.]i. When
Sambaradeva or Meghakumara afterwards attacked the Arbat with a great
storm, whilst he was engaged in the _Kayotsarga_ austerity--standing
immovable, exposed to the weather--much in the way that Mara attacked
['S]akya Buddha at Bodh-gaya, Dhara[n.]endra's throne in Patala thereupon
shook, and the Naga or Yaksha with his consort at once sped to the
protection of his former benefactor. Dhara[n.]endra spread his many hoods
over the head of the Arhata and the Yaksh[.n]i Padmavati held a white
umbrella (_['s]veta chhatri_) over him for protection. Ever after
they became his constant attendants, just as ['S]akra was to Buddha. The
legend is often represented in old-sculptures, in the cave-temples at
Badami, Elura, etc., and the figure of Par['s]va is generally carved with
the snake-hoods (_['S]eshapha[n.]i_) over him. [Footnote: _Cave
Temples_, pp. 491, 496; _Arch. Sur. Westn. India_, vol. I, p. 25
and pl. xxxvii; vol. V, p. 49; _Transactions, R. As. Soc._, vol. I,
p. 435. At Ranpur in Godwar, in the temple of Rishabhanatha is a finely
carved slab representing Par['s]vanatha in the Kayotsarga position,
attended by snake divinities,--_Archit. and Scenery in Gujarat and
Rajputana_, p. 21. The story has variants: conf. _Ind. Ant_. vol.
XXX, p. 302.]
Other legends account for the attachment of each pair of ['S]asanadevatas
to their respective Jinas.
The ['S]vetambaras and Digambaras agree generally in the details
respecting the different Tirthakaras; but, from information furnished from
Maisur, they seem to differ as to the names of the Yakshi[n.]is attached
to the several Tirthakaras, except the first and last two; they differ
also in the names of several of the Jinas of the past and the future
aeons. The Digambaras enlist most of the sixteen Vidyadevis or goddesses
of knowledge among the Yakshi[n.]is, whilst the other sect include
scarcely a third of them.
These Vidyadevis, as given by Hemachandra, are--(1) Rohi[n.]i; (2)
Prajnapti; (3) Vajras[r.]i[`n]khala; (4) Kuli['s]anku['s]ca--probably the
Anku['s]a-Yakshi of the ['S]vetambara fourteenth Jina; (5) Chakre['s]vari;
(6) Naradatta or Purushadatta; (7) Kali or Kalika; (8) Mahakali;
(9) Gauri; (10) Gandhari; (11) Sarvastramahajvala; (12) Manavi;
(13) Vairo[t.]ya; (14) Achchhupta; (15) Manasi; and (16) Mahamanasika.
The images of the Tirthakaras are always represented seated with their
legs crossed in front--the toes of one foot resting close upon the knee
of the other; and the right hand lies over the left in the lap. All are
represented exactly alike except that Par['s]vanatha, the twenty-third,
has the snake-hoods over him; and, with the Digambaras, Supar['s]va--the
seventh, has also a smaller group of snake hoods. The Digambara images are
all quite nude; those of the ['S]vetambaras are represented as clothed,
and they decorate them with crowns and ornaments. They are distinguished
from one another by their attendant _Yakshas_ and _Yakshi[n.]is_
as well as by their respective _chihnas_ or cognizances which are
carved on the cushion of the throne.
All the Jinas are ascribed to the Ikshvaku family (_kula_)except the
twentieth Munisuvrata and twenty-second Neminatha, who were of the
Hariva[m.]['s]a race.
All received _diksha_ or consecration at their native places; and all
obtained _j[`n]ana_ or complete enlightenment at the same, except
[R.]ishabha who became a _Kevalin_ at Purimatala, Nemi at Girnar, and
Mahavira at the Rijupaluka river; and twenty of them died or obtained
_moksha_ (deliverance in bliss) on Sameta-['S]ikhara or Mount
Par['s]vanatha in the west of Bengal. But [R.]ishabha, the first, died on
Ash[t.]apada--supposed to be ['S]atrunljaya in Gujarat; Vasupujya died at
Champapuri in north Bengal; Neminatha on mount Girnar; and Mahavira, the
last, at Pavapur.
Twenty-one of the Tirthakaras are said to have attained Moksha in the
Kayotsarga (Guj. _Kauesagga_) posture, and [R.]ishabha, Nemi, and
Mahavira on the _padmasana_ or lotus throne.
For sake of brevity the following particulars for each Arhat are given
below in serial order viz.:--
(1) The _vimana_ or _vahana_ (heaven) from which he
descended for incarnation.
(2) Birthplace, and place of consecration or _diksha_.
(3) Names of father and mother.
(4) Complexion.
(5) Cognizance--_chihna_ or _lanchha[n.]a_.
(6) Height; and
(7) Age.
(8) Diksha-vriksha or Bodhi tree.
(9) Yaksha and Yakshi[n.]i, or attendant spirits.
(10) First Ganadhara or leading disciple, and first
Arya or leader of the female converts.
I. [R.]ishabhadeva, V[r.]ishabha, Adintha or Adi['s]vara Bhagavan:--(I)
Sarvarthasiddha; (2) Vinittanagari in Ko['s]ala and Purimatala;
(3) Nabhiraja by Marudeva; (4) golden--_var[n.]a_-, (5)the
bull,--_v[r.]isha, balada;_ (6) 500 poles or _dhanusha_;
(7) 8,400,000 purva or great years; (8) the Va[t.]a or banyan tree;
(9) Gomukha and Chakre['s]vari; (10) Pundarika and Brahmi.
II. Ajitanatha: (1) Vijayavimana; (2) Ayodhya; (3) Jita['s]atru by
Vijayamata; (4) golden; (5) the elephant--_gaja_ or _hasti_;
(6) 450 poles; (7)7,200,000 purva years; (8) ['S]ala--the Shorea robusta;
(9) Mahayaksha and Ajitabala: with the Digambaras, the Yakshi[n.]i is
Rohi[n.]i-yakshi; (10) ['S]i[.m]hasena and Phalgu.
III. Sambhavanatha: (1) Uvarimagraiveka;(2) Savathi or ['S]ravasti;
(3) Jitari by Senamata; (4) golden; (5) the horse,--_a['s]va,
gho[d.]a_; (6) 400 poles; (7) 6,000,000 purva years; (8) the
Prayala--Buchanania latifolia; (9) Trimukha and Duritari
(Digambara--Prajnapti); (10) Charu and ['S]yama.
IV. Abhinandana: (1) Jayantavimana; (2) Ayodhya; (3) Sambararaja by
Siddhartha; (4) golden; (5) the ape,--_plavaga, vanara_ or
_kapi_; (6) 350 poles; (7) 5,000,000 purva years; (8) the Priya[n.]gu
or Panicum italicum; (9) Nayaka and Kalika, and Digambara--Yakshe['s]vara
and Vajra['s][r.]i[.n]khala; (10) Vajranabha and Ajita.
V. Sumatinatha: (1) Jayantavimana; (2) Ayodhya; (3) Megharaja by
Ma[.n]gala; (4) golden; (5) the curlew,--_krau[.n]cha_, (Dig.
_chakravakapaksha_--the Brahmani or red goose); (6) 300 poles;
(7) 4,000,000 purva years; (8) ['S]ala tree; (9) Tu[.m]buru and Mahakali
(Dig. Purushadatta); (10) Charama and Ka['s]yapi.
VI. Padmaprabha: (1) Uvarimagraiveka; (2) Kau['s]ambi; (3) ['S]ridhara by
Susima; (4) red (_rakta_); (5) a lotus bud--_padma, abja_, or
_kamala_; (6) 250 poles; (7) 3,000,000 purva years; (8) the Chhatra
--(Anethum sowa?); (9) Kusuma and ['S]yama (Dig. Manovega or Manogupti);
(10) Pradyotana and Rati.
VII. Supar['s]vanatha: (1) Madhyamagraiveka; (2) Vara[n.]a['s]i;
(3) Pratish[t.]haraja by P[r.]ithvi; (4) golden; [Footnote: The
Digambara describe the colours of the seventh and twenty-first Jinas as
_marakada_ or emerald coloured.] (5) the swastika symbol; (6) 200
poles; (7) 2,000,000 purva years; (8) the ['S]irisha or Acacia sirisha;
(9) Mata[.n]ga and ['S]anta;--Digambara, Varanandi and Kali; (10) Vidirbha
and Soma.
VIII. Chandraprabha: (1) Vijayanta; (2) Chandrapura; (3) Mahasenaraja by
Lakshma[n.]a; (4) white--_dhavala, ['s]ubhra_; (5) the
moon--_chandra or ['s]a['s]i_; (6) 150 poles; (7) 1,000,000 purva
years; (8) the Naga tree; (9) Vijaya and Bh[r.]iku[t.]i:
Digambara--['S]yama or Vijaya and Jvalamalini; (10) Dinna and Sumana.
IX. Suvidhinatha or Pushpadanta: (1) Anatadevaloka;
(2) Kana[n.][d.]inagari; (3) Sugrivaraja by Ramara[n.]i; (4) white;
(5) the Makara (Dig. the crab--_e[d.]i_); (6) 100 poles;
(7) 200,000 purva years; (8) the ['S]ali; (9) Ajita and Sutaraka:
Digambara--Ajita and Mahakali or Ajita; (10) Varahaka and Varu[n.]i.
X. ['S]italanatha: (1) Achyutadevaloka; (2)Bhadrapura or Bhadilapura;
(3) D[r.][.)i][d.]haratha-raja by Nanda; (4) golden; (5) the ['S]rivatsa
figure: (Dig. _['S]ri-vriksha_ the ficus religiosa); (6) 90 poles;
(7) 100,000 purva years; (8) the Priya[.n]gu tree; (9) Brahma and A['s]oka
(Dig. Manavi); (10) Nanda and Sujasa.
XI. ['S]reya[.m]['s]anatha or ['S]reyasa: (1) Achyutadevaloka;
(2) Si[.m]hapuri; (3) Vish[n.]uraja by Vish[n.]a; (4) golden; (5) the
rhinoceros--_kha[d.]ga, ge[.n][d.]a_: (Dig. Garu[d.]a); (6) 80 poles;
(7) 8,400,000 common years; (8) the Ta[n.][d.]uka tree; (9) Yakshe[t.] and
Manavi: Digambara--I['s]vara and Gauri; (10) Ka['s]yapa and Dhara[n.]i.
XII. Vasupujya: (1) Pra[n.]atadevaloka; (2) Champapuri; (3) Vasupujya by
Jaya; (4) ruddy--_rakta_, Guj. _ratu[.n]_; (5) the female
buffalo--_mahishi, pada_; (6) 70 poles; (7) 7,200,000 common years;
(8) the Pa[t.]ala or Bignonia suaveolens; (9) Kumara and Cha[n.][d.]a
(Dig. Gandhari); (10) Subhuma and Dhara[n.]i.
XIII. Vimalanatha: (1) Mahasaradevaloka; (2) Kampilyapura;
(3) K[r.][.)i]tavarmaraja by ['S]yama; (4) golden; (5) a
boar--_['s]akara, varaha_; (6) 60 poles; (7) 6,000,000 years;
(8) the Jambu or Eugenia jambolana; (9) Sha[n.]mukha and Vidita (Dig.
Vairo[t.]i); (10) Mandara and Dhara.
XIV. Anantanatha or Anantajit: (1) Pra[n.]atadevaloka; (2) Ayodhya;
(3) Si[.m]hasena by Suya['s]a[h.] or Sujasa; (4) golden; (5) a
falcon--_['s]yena_ (Dig. _bhalluka_ a bear); (6) 50 poles;
(7) 3,000,000 years; (8) the A['s]oka or Jonesia asoka; (9) Patala and
Anku['s]a (Dig. Anantamati); (10) Jasa and Padma.
XV. Dharmanatha: (1) Vijayavimana; (2) Ratnapuri; (3) Bhanuraja by
Suvrita; (4) golden; (5) the thunderbolt--_vajra_; (6) 45 poles;
(7) 1,000,000 years; (8) Dadhipar[n.]a tree (Clitoria ternatea?);
(9) Kinnara and Kandarpa (Dig. Manasi); (10) Arish[t.]a and Artha['s]iva.
XVI. ['S]antinatha: (1) Sarvarthasiddha; (2) Gajapura or Hastinapuri;
(3) Vi['s]vasena by Achira; (4) golden; (5) an antelope--_m[r.]iga,
hara[n.]a, hull[)e]_, (6)40 poles; (7) 100,000 years; (8) the Nandi or
Cedrela toona; (9) Garu[d.]a and Nirva[n.]i (Dig. Kimpurusha and
Mahamanasi); (10) Chakrayuddha and Suchi.
XVII. Kunthtinatha: (1) Sarvarthasiddha; (2) Gajapura; (3) Suraraja by
['S]rirani; (4) golden; (5) a goat--_chhaga_ or _aja_; (6) 35
poles; (7) 95,000 years; (8) the Bhilaka tree; (9) Gandharva and Bala
(Dig. Vijaya); (10) Samba and Damini.
XVIII. Aranatha: (1) Sarvarthasiddha; (2) Gajapura; (3) Sudar['s]ana by
Devira[n.]i; (4) golden; (5) the Nandyavarta diagram, (Dig.
_Mina_--the zodiacal Pisces); (6) 30 poles; (7) 84,000 years;
(8) Amba or Mango tree; (9) Yakshe[t.]a and Dha[n.]a (Dig. Kendra and
Ajita); (10) Kumbha and Rakshita.
XIX. Mallinatha: (1) Jayantadevaloka; (2) Mathura; (3) Kumbharaja by
Prabhavati; (4) blue--_nila_; (5) a jar--_kumbham, kala['s]a_ or
_gha[t.]a_; (6) 25 poles; (7) 55,000 years; (8) A['s]oka tree;
(9) Kubera and Dhara[n.]apriya (Dig. Aparajita); (10) Abhikshaka and
Bandhumati.
XX. Munisuvrata, Suvrata or Muni: (1) Aparajita-devaloka;
(2) R[a`]jag[r.]iha; (3) Sumitrar[a`]ja by Padmavati;
(4) black--_['s]yama, asita_; (5) a tortoise--_kurma_;
(6) 20 poles; (7) 30,000 years; (8) the Champaka, Michelia champaka;
(9) Varu[n.]a and Naradatta, (Dig. Bahurupi[n.]i); (10) Malli and
Pushpavati.
XXI. Naminatha, Nimi or Nime['s]vara: (1) Pra[n.]atadevaloka; (2) Mathura;
(3) Vijayaraja by Viprara[n.]i; (4) yellow; (5) the blue
water-lily--_nilotpala_, with the Digambaras, sometimes the A['s]oka
tree; (6) 15 poles; (7) 10,000 years; (8) the Bakula or Mimusops elengi;
(9) Bh[r.]iku[t.]i and Gandhari, (Dig. Chamu[n.][d.]i); (10) ['S]ubha and
Anila.
XXII. Neminatha or Arish[t.]anemi: (1) Aparajita; (2) Sauripura
(Prakrit--Soriyapura) and Ujjinta or Mount Girnar; (3) Samudravijaya by
['S]ivadevi; (4) black--_['s]yama_; (5) a conch,--_['s]a[.n]kha_;
(6) 10 poles; (7) 1000 years; (8) the Ve[t.]asa; (9) Gomedha and Ambika:
with the Digambaras, Sarvah[n.]a and Kushma[n.][d.]ini; (10) Varadatta and
Yakshadinna.
XXIII. Par['s]vanatha: (1) Pra[n.]atadevaloka; (2) Vara[n.]asi and
Sameta-['S]ikhara; (3) A['s]vasenaraja by Vamadevi; (4) blue--_nila_;
(5) a serpent--_sarpa_; (6) 9 hands; (7) 100 years; (8) the Dhataki
or Grislea tomentosa; (9) Par['s]vayaksha or Dhara[n.]endra and Padmavati;
(10) Aryadinna and Pushpachu[d.]a.
XXIV. ['S]ri-Mahavira, Vardhamana or Vira, the ['S]rama[n.]a:
(1) Pra[n.] atadevaloka; (2) Ku[n.][d.]agrama or Chitraku[t.]a, and
[R.]ijupaluka; (3) Siddhartharaja, ['S]reyan['s]a or Ya['s]asvin by
Tri['s]ala Vidchadinna or Priyakari[n.]i; (4) yellow; (5) a
lion--_ke['s]ari-simha_; (6) 7 hands or cubits; (7) 72 years; (8) the
_['s]ala_ or teak tree; (9) Mata[.m]ga and Siddhayika;
(10) Indrabhuti and Chandrabala.
The Tirthakuras may be regarded as the _dii majores_ of the Jainas,
[Footnote: For an account of the ritual of the Svetambara sect of Jainas,
see my account in the _Indian Antiquary_, vol. XIII, pp. 191-196.]
though, having become Siddhas, emancipated from all concern, they can have
no interest in mundane affairs. They and such beings as are supposed to
have reached perfection are divided into fifteen species:
1. Tirthakarasiddhas;
2. Atirthakarasiddhas;
3. Tirthasiddhas;
4. Svali[.n]gasiddas;
5. Anyali[.n]gasiddhas;
6. Strili[.n]gasiddhas;
7. Purushali[.n]gasiddhas;
8. Napu[.m]sakali[.n]gasiddhas;
9. G[r.]ihali[.n]gasiddhas;
10. Tirthavyavachchhedasiddhas;
11. Pratyekabuddhasiddhas;
12. Svayambuddhasiddhas;
13. Ekasiddas;
14. Anekasiddhas;
15. Buddhabodhietasiddllas.
[Footnote: _Jour. Asiat_. IXme Ser. tom. XIX, p. 260.]
But the gods are divided into four classes, and each class into several
orders: the four classes are:--
I. Bhavanadhipatis, Bhavanavasins or Bhaumeyikas, of which there are ten
orders, viz.--
1. Asurakumaras;
2. Nagakumaras;
3. Ta[d.]itkumaras or Vidyutkumaras;
4. Suvar[n.]a- or Suparnaka-kumaras;
5. Agnikumaras;
6. Dvipakumaras (Divakumaras);
7. Udadhikumaras;
8. Dikkumaras;
9. Pavana- or Vata-kumaras;
10. Gha[n.]ika- or Sanitakumaras.
II. Vyantaras or Va[n.]amantaras, who live
in woods are of eight classes:--
1. Pi['s]achas;
2. Bhutas;
3. Yakshas;
4. Rakshasas;
5. Kimnaras;
6. Kimpurushas;
7. Mahoragas;
8. Gandharvas.
III. The Jyotishkas are the inhabitants of;
1. Chandras or the moons;
2. Suryas or the suns;
3. Grahas or the planets;
4. Nakshatras or the constellations;
5. Taras or the hosts of stars.
And IV. The Vaimanika gods are of two orders: (1) the Kalpabhavas, who
are born in the heavenly Kalpas; and (2) the Kalpatitas, born in the
regions above the Kalpas.
(1) The Kalpabhavas again are subdivided into twelve genera who live in
the Kalpas after which they are named; viz,--
1. Saudharma;
2. I['s]ana;
3. Sanatkumara;
4. Mahendra;
5. Brahmaloka;
6. Lantaka;
7. ['S]ukra or Maha['s]ukla;
8. Sahasrara;
9. Anata (A[n.]aya);
10. Pra[n.]ata (Pa[n.]aya);
11. Ara[n.]a;
12. Achyuta.
(2) The Kalpatitas are subdivided into--(a) the Graiveyakas, living on the
upper part of the universe; and (b) the Anuttaras or those above whom
there are no others.
(a) The Graiveyakas are of nine species, viz.--
1. Sudarsa[n.]as;
2. Supratipandhas;
3. Ma[n.]oramas;
4. Sarvabhadras;
5. Suvi['s]alas;
6. Soma[n.]asas;
7. Suma[.n]kasas;
8. Priya[.n]karas;
9. Adityas or Nandikaras.
(b) the Anuttara gods are of five orders: viz.--
1. Vijayas;
2. Vaijayantas;
3. Jayantas;
4. Aparajitas; and
5. Sarvarthasiddhas.
[Footnote: Conf. _Ratnasagara_, bh. II, pp. 616, 617; _Jour.
Asiat._ IXme Ser. tome XIX, p. 259; _Sac. Bks. E_. vol. XLV, p.
226 f. See also _Rev. de l'Histoire des Relig_. tom. XLVII, pp.
34-50, which has appeared since the above was written, for "La doctrine
des etres vivants dans la Religion Jaina".]
These Anuttara gods inhabit the highest heavens where they live for
varying lengths of time as the heavens ascend; and in the fifth or
highest--the great Vimana called Sarvarthasiddha--they all live
thirty-three Sagaropamas or periods of unimagiable duration. Still all the
gods are mortal or belong to the _sa[.m]sara_.
Above these is the paradise of the Siddhas or perfected souls, and the
_Uttaradhyana Sutra_ gives the following details of this realm of the
perfected, or the paradise of the Jainas:--[Footnote: See _ante_, p.
11, note 10; The following extract is from _Sac. Books of the East_,
vol. XLV, pp. 211-213.]
"The perfected souls are those of women, men, hermaphrodites, of
orthodox, heterodox, and householders. Perfection is reached by people
of the greatest, smallest and middle size; [Footnote: The greatest
size--_ogaha[n.]a_--of men is 500 dhanush or 2000 cubits, the
smallest is one cubit.] on high places, underground, on the surface of
the earth, in the ocean, and in waters (of rivers, etc.).
"Ten hermaphrodites reach perfection at the same time, twenty women,
one hundred and eight men; four householders, ten heterodox, and one
hundred and eight orthodox monks.
"Two individuals of the greatest size reach perfection
(simultaneously), four of the smallest size, and one hundred and eight
of the middle size. Four individuals reach perfection (simultaneously)
on high places, two in the ocean, three in water, twenty underground;
and where do they go on reaching perfection? Perfected souls are
debarred from the non-world (Aloka); they reside on the top of the
world; they leave their bodies here (below) and go there, on reaching
perfection.
"Twelve _yojanas_ above the (Vimana) Sarvartha is the place called
Ishatpragbhara, which has the form of an umbrella; (there the
perfected souls go). It is forty-five hundred thousand _yojanas_
long, and as many broad, and it is somewhat more than three times as
many in circumference. Its thickness is eight _yojanas_, it is
greatest in the middle, and decreases towards the margin, till it is
thinner than the wing of a fly. This place, by nature pure, consisting
of white gold, resembles in form an open umbrella, as has been said by
the best of Jinas.
"(Above it) is a pure blessed place (called ['S]ita), which is white
like a conch-shell, the _anka_-stone, and Kunda-flowers; [Footnote:
The gourd Lagenaria vulgaris.] a _yojana_ thence is the end of the
world. The perfected souls penetrate the sixth part of the uppermost
_kro['s]a_ of the (above-mentioned) _yojana_. There, at the
top of the world reside the blessed perfected souls, rid of all
transmigration, and arrived at the excellent state of perfection. The
dimension of a perfected soul is two-thirds of the height which the
individual had in his last existence.
"The perfected souls considered singly--_egatte[n.]a_ (as
individuals)--have a beginning but no end, considered
collectively--_puhutte[n.]a_ (as a class)--they have neither a
beginning nor an end. They have no (visible) form, they consist of
life throughout, they are developed into knowledge and faith, they
have crossed the boundary of the Sa[.m]sara, and reached the excellent
state of perfection."
* * * * *
Like both the Brahma[n.]s and Buddhists, the Jainas have a series of
hells--Narakas, numbering even which they name--
1. Ratnaprabha;
2. ['S]arkaraprabha;
3. Valukaprabha;
4. Pa[.n]kaprabha;
5. Dhumaprabha;
6. Tamaprabha;
7. Tamatamaprabha.
[Footnote: _Ratnasagara_, bh. II, p. 607; _Jour. As_. u.s. p. 263.]
Those who inhabit the seventh hell have a stature of 500 poles, and in
each above that they are half the height of the one below it.
Everything in the system as to stature of gods and living beings, their
ages and periods of transmigration is reduced to artificial numbers.
The Jaina Gachhas.
About the middle of the tenth century there flourished a Jaina high priest
named Uddyotana, with whose pupils the eighty four gachhas originated.
This number is still spoken of by the Jainas, but the lists that have been
hitherto published are very discordant. The following was obtained from a
member of the sect as being their recognised list,--and allowing for
differences of spelling, nearly every name may be recognised in those
previously published by Mr. H. G. Briggs or Colonel Miles.
The Eighty four Gachchhas of the Jainas. [Footnote: Those names marked [A]
are found in Col. Miles's list _Tr. R. A. S._ vol. III, pp. 358 f.
363, 365, 370. Those marked [B] are included in H. G. Brigg's
list,--_Cities of Gujarashtra_, p. 339.]
1. ? [A][B] 43. Sopariya[A][B]
2. Osvala[A][B] 44. Ma[n.][d.]aliya[A][B]
3. A[.n]chala[A] 45. Kochhipana[A][B]
4. Jiravala[A][B] 46. Jaga[.m]na[A][B]
5. Kha[d.]atara or Kharatara 47. Laparavala[A][B]
6. Lonka or Richmati[A][B] 48. Vosara[d.]a[A][B]
7. Tapa[A][B] 49. Dueiva[.n]daniya[A][B]
8. Ga[.m]ge['s]vara[A][B] 50. Chitravala[A][B]
9. Kora[n.][t.]avala[B] 51. Vega[d.]a
10. Anandapura[B] 52. Vapa[d.]a
11. Bharavali 53. Vijahara, Vijhara[A][B]
12. U[d.]haviya[A][B] 54. Kauepuri[B]
13. Gudava[A][B] 55. Kachala
14. Dekauepa or Dekawa[A][B] 56. Ha[.m]daliya[B]
15. Bh nmala[B] 57. Mahukara[B]
16. Mahu[d.]iya[A][B] 58. Putaliya[A][B]
17. Gachhapala[A][B] 59. Ka[.m]narisey[B]
18. Goshavala[B] 60. Revar[d.][.)i]ya[A][B]
19. Magatragagada[B] 61. Dhandhuka[B]
20. V[r.]ihmaniya[B] 62. Tha[.m]bhanipa[n.]a[A]
21. Talara[A][B] 63. Pa[.m]chivala[B]
22. Vika[d.]iya[A][B] 64. Pala[n.]pura[A]
23. Munjhiya[A][B] 65. Ga[.m]dhariya[A][B]
24. Chitro[d.]a[B] 66. Veliya[B]
25. Sachora[A][B] 67. Sa[d.]hapunamiya
26. Jacha[n.][d.]iya[B] 68. Nagarako[t.]iya[A][B]
27. Sidhalava[A][B] 69. Hasora[A][B]
28. Miya[n.][n.]iya 70. Bha[t.]anera[A][B]
29. Agamiya[B] 71. Ja[n.]ahara[A][B]
30. Maladhari[A][B] 72. Jagayana[A]
31. Bhavariya[B] 73. Bhimasena[A][B]
32. Palivala[A][B] 74. Taka[d.]iya[B]
33. Nagadige['s]vara[B] 75. Ka[.m]boja[A][B]
34. Dharmaghosha[B] 76. Senata[B]
35. Nagapura[A][B] 77. Vaghera[A][B]
36. Uchatavala[B] 78. Vahe[d.]iya[A]
37. Na[n.][n.]avala[A][B] 79. Siddhapura[A][B]
38. Sa[d.]era[A][B] 80. Ghoghari[A][B]
39. Ma[n.][d.]ovara[A][B] 81. Nigamiya
40. ['S]ura[n.]i[A][B] 82. Punamiya
41. Kha[.m]bhavati[A][B] 83. Varha[d.]iya[B]
42. Paecha[.m]da 84. Namila.[B]
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