The Jains and Their Creed

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The Jains And Their Creed

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by Sir Charles EliotBefore leaving pre-Buddhist India, it may be well to say somethingof the Jains. Many of their doctrines, especially their disregardnot only of priests but of gods, which seems to us so strange in any

system which can be called a religion, are closely analogous toBuddhism and from one point of view Jainism is part of the Buddhistmovement. But more accurately it may be called an early specializedform of the general movement which culminated in Buddhism. Itsfounder, Mahvra, was an earlier contemporary of the Buddha and nota pupil or imitator[252]. Even had its independent appearance beenlater, we might still say that it represents an earlier stage ofthought. Its kinship to the theories mentioned in the last chapter

is clear. It does not indeed deny responsibility and free will, butits advocacy of extreme asceticism and death by starvation has atouch of the same extravagance and its list of elements in whichphysical substances and ideas are mixed together is curiously crude.Jainism is atheistic, and this atheism is as a rule neitherapologetic nor polemical but is accepted as a natural religiousattitude. By atheism, of course, a denial of the existence of Devasis not meant; the Jains surpass, if possible, the exuberant fancy of

the Brahmans and Buddhists in designing imaginary worlds andpeopling them with angelic or diabolical inhabitants, but, as inBuddhism, these beings are like mankind subject to transmigrationand decay and are not the masters, still less the creators, of the

universe. There were two principal world theories in ancient India.One, which was systematized as the Vednta, teaches in its extremeform that the soul and the universal spirit are identical and theexternal world an illusion. The other, systematized as the Snkhya,is dualistic and teaches that primordial matter and separateindividual souls are both of them uncreated and indestructible. Both

lines of thought look for salvation in the liberation of the soul to

be attained by the suppression of the passions and the acquisitionof true knowledge.Jainism belongs to the second of these classes. It teaches that theworld is eternal, self-existent and composed of six constituent

substances: souls, dharma, adharma, space, time, and particles ofmatter[253]. Dharma and adharma are defined by modern Jains assubtle substances analogous to space which make it possible forthings to move or rest, but Jacobi is probably right in supposingthat in primitive speculation the words had their natural meaningand denoted subtle fluids which cause merit and demerit. In any case

the enumeration places in singular juxtaposition substances andactivities, the material and the immaterial. The process ofsalvation and liberation is not distinguished from physical


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processes and we see how other sects may have drawn the conclusion,which apparently the Jains did not draw, that human action isnecessitated and that there is no such thing as free will. ForJainism individual souls are free, separate existences, whoseessence is pure intelligence. But they have a tendency towardsaction and passion and are misled by false beliefs. For this reason,

in the existence which we know they are chained to bodies and arefound not only in Devas and in human beings but in animals, plantsand inanimate matter. The habitation of the soul depends on themerit or demerit which it acquires and merit and demerit haverespectively greater or less influence during immensely long periods

called Utsarpin and Avasarpin, ascending and descending, in whichhuman stature and the duration of life increase or decrease by aregular law. Merit secures birth among the gods or good men. Sinsends the soul to baser births, even in inanimate substances. Onthis downward path, the intelligence is gradually dimmed till atlast motion and consciousness are lost, which is not howeverregarded as equivalent to annihilation.Another dogmatic exposition of the Jain creed is based on sevenprinciples, called soul, non-soul, influx, imprisonment, exclusion,dissipation, release[254]. Karma, which in the ordinary language ofIndian philosophy means deeds and their effect on the soul, is here

regarded as a peculiarly subtle form of matter[255] which enters thesoul and by this influx (or srava, a term well-known in Buddhism)defiles and weighs it down. As food is transformed into flesh, sothe Karma forms a subtle body which invests the soul and prevents it

from being wholly isolated from matter at death. The upward path and

liberation of the soul are effected by stopping the entrance ofKarma, that is by not performing actions which give occasion to theinflux, and by expelling it. The most effective means to this end is

self-mortification, which not only prevents the entrance of new

Karma but annihilates what has accumulated.Like most Indian sects, Jainism considers the world oftransmigration as a bondage or journey which the wise long toterminate. But joyless as is its immediate outlook, its ultimateideas are not pessimistic. Even in the body the soul can attain abeatific state of perfect knowledge[256] and above the highestheaven (where the greatest gods live in bliss for immense periodsthough ultimately subject to transmigration) is the paradise ofblessed souls, freed from transmigration. They have no visible formbut consist of life throughout, and enjoy happiness beyond compare.With a materialism characteristic of Jain theology, the treatisefrom which this account is taken[257] adds that the dimensions of aperfected soul are two-thirds of the height possessed in its last

existence.How is this paradise to be reached? By right faith, right knowledgeand right conduct, called the three jewels, a phrase familiar toBuddhism. The right faith is complete confidence in Mahvra and histeaching. Right knowledge is correct theology as outlined above.Knowledge is of five degrees of which the highest is called Kevalamor omniscience. This sounds ambitious, but the special method ofreasoning favoured by the Jains is the modest Sydvda[258] ordoctrine of may-be, which holds that you can (1) affirm theexistence of a thing from one point of view, (2) deny it from


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another, and (3) affirm both existence and non-existence withreference to it at different times. If (4) you should think ofaffirming existence and non-existence at the same time and from thesame point of view, you must say that the thing cannot be spoken of.

The essence of the doctrine, so far as one can disentangle it fromscholastic terminology, seems just, for it amounts to this, that asto matters of experience it is impossible to formulate the whole and

complete truth, and as to matters which transcend experiencelanguage is inadequate: also that Being is associated withproduction, continuation and destruction. This doctrine is calledaneknta-vda, meaning that Being is not one and absolute as theUpanishads assert: matter is permanent, but changes its shape, andits other accidents. Thus in many points the Jains adopt the commonsense and prim facie point of view. But the doctrines ofmetempsychosis and Karma are also admitted as obvious propositions,and though the fortunes and struggles of the embodied soul aredescribed in materialistic terms, happiness is never placed inmaterial well-being but in liberation from the material universe.We cannot be sure that the existing Jain scriptures present thesedoctrines in their original form, but the full acceptance ofmetempsychosis, the animistic belief that plants, particles of earth

and water have souls and the materialistic phraseology (from whichthe widely different speculations of the Upanishads are by no meansfree) agree with what we know of Indian thought about 550 B.C.Jainism like Buddhism ignores the efficacy of ceremonies and thepowers of priests, but it bears even fewer signs than Buddhism ofbeing in its origin a protestant or hostile movement. Theintellectual atmosphere seems other than that of the Upanishads, but

it is very nearly that of the Snkhya philosophy, which alsorecognizes an infinity of individual souls radically distinct frommatter and capable of attaining bliss only by isolation from matter.

Of the origin of that important school we know nothing, but it

differs from Jainism chiefly in the greater elaboration of itspsychological and evolutionary theories and in the elimination ofsome materialistic ideas. Possibly the same region and climate ofopinion gave birth to two doctrines, one simple and practical,inasmuch as it found its principal expression in a religious order,the other more intellectual and scholastic and, at least in the form

in which we read it, later[259].Right conduct is based on the five vows taken by every Jain ascetic,

(1) not to kill, (2) not to speak untruth, (3) to take nothing thatis not given, (4) to observe chastity, (5) to renounce all pleasurein external objects. These vows receive an extensive and strict

interpretation by means of five explanatory clauses applicable toeach and to be construed with reference to deed, word, and thought,to acting, commanding and consenting. Thus the vow not to killforbids not only the destruction of the smallest insect but also all

speech or thought which could bring about a quarrel, and the doing,causing or permitting of any action which could even inadvertentlyinjure living beings, such as carelessness in walking. Naturallysuch rules can be kept only by an ascetic, and in addition to themasceticism is expressly enjoined. It is either internal or external.


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The former takes such forms as repentance, humility, meditation andthe suppression of all desires: the latter comprises various formsof self-denial, culminating in death by starvation. This form ofreligious suicide is prescribed for those who have undergone twelveyears' penance and are ripe for Nirvana[260] but it is wrong ifadopted as a means of shortening austerities. Numerous inscriptionsrecord such deaths and the head-teachers of the Digambaras are saidstill to leave the world in this way.Important but not peculiar to Jainism is the doctrine of theperiodical appearance of great teachers who from time to timerestore the true faith[261]. The same idea meets us in the fourteenManus, the incarnations of Vishnu, and the series of Buddhas whopreceded Gotama. The Jain saints are sometimes designated as Buddha,

Kevalin, Siddha, Tathgata and Arhat (all Buddhist titles) but theirspecial appellation is Jina or conqueror which is, however, alsoused by Buddhists[262]. It was clearly a common notion in India that

great teachers appear at regular intervals and that one mightreasonably be expected in the sixth century B.C. The Jains gavepreference or prominence to the titles Jina or Trthankara: theBuddhists to Buddha or Tathgata.2

According to the Jain scriptures all Jinas are born in the warriorcaste, never among Brahmans. The first called Rishabha, who was born

an almost inexpressibly[263] long time ago and lived 8,400,000years, was the son of a king of Ayodhy. But as ages elapsed, thelives of his successors and the intervals which separated thembecame shorter. Parva, the twenty-third Jina, must have somehistorical basis[264]. We are told that he lived 250 years beforeMahvra, that his followers still existed in the time of thelatter: that he permitted the use of clothes and taught that fourand not five vows were necessary[265]. Both Jain and Buddhistscriptures support the idea that Mahvra was a reviver and reformerrather than an originator. The former do not emphasize the novelty

of his revelation and the latter treat Jainism as a well-known formof error without indicating that it was either new or attributableto one individual.Mahvra, or the great hero, is the common designation of thetwenty-fourth Jina but his personal name was Vardhamna. He was acontemporary of the Buddha but somewhat older and belonged to aKshatriya clan, variously called Jta, ta, or ya. His parentslived in a suburb of Vail and were followers of Parva. Whe

n hewas in his thirty-first year they decided to die by voluntarystarvation and after their death he renounced the world and startedto wander naked in western Bengal, enduring some persecution as well

as self-inflicted penances. After thirteen years of this life, hebelieved that he had attained enlightenment and appeared as theJina, the head of a religious order called Nirgahas (o

rNiganthas). This word, which means unfettered or free from bonds, is

the name by which the Jains are generally known in Buddhistliterature and it occurs in their own scriptures, though itgradually fell out of use. Possibly it was the designation of anorder claiming to have been founded by Parva and accepted by


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Mahvra.The meagre accounts of his life relate that he continued to travelfor nearly thirty years and had eleven principal disciples. Heapparently influenced much the same region as the Buddha and came in

contact with the same personalities, such as kings Bimbisra andAjtasattu. He had relations with Makkhali Gosla and his disciplesdisputed with the Buddhists[266] but it does not appear that hehimself ever met Gotama. He died at the age of seventy-two at Pvnear Rjagaha. Only one of his principal disciples, Sudharman,survived him and a schism broke out immediately after his death.There had already been one in the fifteenth year of his teachingbrought about by his son-in-law.3We have no information about the differences on which these schismsturned, but Jainism is still split into two sects which, thoughfollowing in most respects identical doctrines and customs, refuseto intermarry or eat together. Their sacred literature is not thesame and the evidence of inscriptions indicates that they weredistinct at the beginning of the Christian era and perhaps muchearlier.The Digambara sect, or those who are clothed in air, maintain thatabsolute nudity is a necessary condition of saintship: the otherdivision or vetmbaras, those who are dressed in white, admit th

at Mahvra went about naked, but hold that the use of clothes does notimpede the highest sanctity, and also that such sanctity can beattained by women, which the Digambaras deny. Nudity as a part ofasceticism was practised by several sects in the time ofMahvra[267] but it was also reprobated by others (including allBuddhists) who felt it to be barbarous and unedifying. It istherefore probable that both Digambaras and vetmbaras existed i

nthe infancy of Jainism, and the latter may represent the older sectreformed or exaggerated by Mahvra. Thus we are told[268] that "thelaw taught by Vardhamna forbids clothes but that of the great sageParva allows an under and an upper garment." But it was not un

til considerably later that the schism was completed by the constitution

of two different canons[269]. At the present day most Digambaraswear the ordinary costume of their district and only the higherascetics attempt to observe the rule of nudity. When they go aboutthey wrap themselves in a large cloth, but lay it aside when eating.

The Digambaras are divided into four principal sects and thevetmbaras into no less than eighty-four, which are said to date

from the tenth century A.D.Apart from these divisions, all Jain communities are differentiated

into laymen and members of the order or Yatis, literally strivers.It is recognized that laymen cannot observe the five vows. Killing,lying, and stealing are forbidden to them only in their obvious andgross forms: chastity is replaced by conjugal fidelity andself-denial by the prohibition of covetousness. They can alsoacquire merit by observing seven other miscellaneous vows (whence we

hear of the twelvefold law) comprising rules as to residence, trade,

etc. Agriculture is forbidden since it involves tearing up the


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ground and the death of insects.Mahvra was succeeded by a long line of teachers sometimes calledPatriarchs and it would seem that their names have been correctlypreserved though the accounts of their doings are meagre. Variousnotices in Buddhist literature confirm the idea that the Jains wereactive in the districts corresponding to Oudh, Tirhut and Bihar inthe period following Mahvra's death, and we hear of them in Ceylonbefore our era. Further historical evidence is afforded byinscriptions[270]. The earliest in which the Jains are mentioned are

the edicts of Asoka. He directed the officials called"superintendents of religion" to concern themselves with theNiganas[271]: and when [272] he describes how he has p

rovidedmedicine, useful plants and wells for both men and animals, we arereminded of the hospitals for animals which are still maintained bythe Jains. According to Jain tradition (which however has not yetbeen verified by other evidence) Samprati, the grandson of Asoka,was a devout patron of the faith. More certain is the patronageaccorded to it by King Khravela of Orissa about 157 B.C. which isattested by inscriptions. Many dedicatory inscriptions prove thatthe Jains were a flourishing community at Muttra in the reigns ofKanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva and one inscription from the samelocality seems as old as 150 B.C. We learn from these records that

the sect comprised a great number of schools and subdivisions. Weneed not suppose that the different teachers were necessarilyhostile to one another but their existence testifies to an activityand freedom of interpretation which have left traces in themultitude of modern subsects.Jainism also spread in the south of India and before our era it hada strong hold in Tamil lands, but our knowledge of its earlyprogress is defective. According to Jain tradition there was asevere famine in northern India about 200 years after Mahvra'sdeath and the patriarch Bhadrabhu led a band of the faithful to thesouth[273]. In the seventh century A.D. we know from various records

of the reign of Harsha and from the Chinese pilgrim Hsan Chuang

that it was nourishing in Vail and Bengal and also as far southas Conjeevaram. It also made considerable progress in the southernMaratha country under the Clukya dynasty of Vatapi, in the moderndistrict of Bijapur (500-750) and under the Rshrakta sovereigns

of the Deccan. Amoghavarsha of this line (815-877) patronized theDigambaras and in his old age abdicated and became an ascetic. Thenames of notable Digambara leaders like Jinasena and Gunabhadradating from this period are preserved and Jainism must in somedistricts have become the dominant religion. Bijjala who usurped the

Clukya throne (1156-1167) was a Jain and the Hoysala kings ofMysore, though themselves Vaishnavas, protected the religion.

Inscriptions[274] appear to attest the presence of Jainism at Girnarin the first century A.D. and subsequently Gujarat became a modelJain state after the conversion of King Kumarapala about 1160.Such success naturally incurred the enmity of the Brahmans and there

is more evidence of systematic persecution directed against theJains than against the Buddhists. The Cola kings who ruled in thesouth-east of the Madras Presidency were jealous worshippers of Siva


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and the Jains suffered severely at their hands in the eleventhcentury and also under the Pndya kings of the extreme south. KingSundara of the latter dynasty is said to have impaled 8000 of themand pictures on the walls of the great temple at Madura representtheir tortures. A little later (1174) Ajayadeva, a Saiva king ofGujarat, is said to have raged against them with equal fury. Therise of the Lingyats in the Deccan must also have had anunfavourable effect on their numbers. But in the fourteenth centurygreater tolerance prevailed, perhaps in consequence of the commondanger from Islam. Inscriptions found at Sravana Belgola and otherplaces[275] narrate an interesting event which occurred in 1368. The

Jains appealed to the king of Vijayanagar for protection frompersecution and he effected a public reconciliation between them and

the Vaishnavas, holding the hands of both leaders in his own anddeclaring that equal protection would be given to both sects.Another inscription records an amicable agreement regulating theworship of a lingam in a Jain temple at Halebid. Many others,chiefly recording grants of land, testify to the prosperity ofJainism in the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and in the region of MtAbu in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries[276]. The greatEmperor Akbar himself came under the influence of Jainism andreceived instruction from three Jain teachers from 1578 to 1597.

Persecution and still more the steady pressure and absorptive powerof Hinduism have reduced the proportions of the sect, and the lastcensus estimated it at one million and a third. It is probable,however, that many Jains returned themselves as Hindus, and thattheir numbers are really greater. More than two-fifths of them arefound in Bombay, Rajputana, and Central India. Elsewhere they aregenerally distributed but only in small numbers. They observe caste,

at least in some districts, and generally belong to the Baniyas.They include many wealthy merchants who expend large sums on theconstruction and maintenance of temples, houses for wanderingascetics and homes for cattle. Their respect and care for animallife are remarkable. Wherever Jains gain influence beasts are not

slaughtered or sacrificed, and when old or injured are often kept inhospitals or asylums, as, for instance, at Ahmadabad[277]. Theirascetics take stringent precautions to avoid killing the smallestcreature: they strain their drinking water, sweep the ground beforethem with a broom as they walk and wear a veil over their mouths.Even in the shops of the laity lamps are carefully screened toprevent insects from burning themselves.The principal divisions are the Digambara and vetmbara as above

described and an offshoot of the latter called Dhundia[278] whorefuse to use images in worship and are remarkable even among Jainsfor their aversion to taking life. In Central India the Digambaras

are about half the total number; in Baroda and Bombay thevetmbaras are stronger. In Central India the Jains are said tobe

sharply distinguished from Hindus but in other parts they intermarry

with Vaishnavas and while respecting their own ascetics as religious

teachers, employ the services of Brahmans in their ceremonies.4The Jains have a copious and in part ancient literature. The oldest


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works are found in the canon (or Siddhnta) of the vetmbaras,which is not accepted by the Digambaras. In this canon the highestrank is given to eleven works[279] called Angas or limbs of the lawbut it also comprises many other esteemed treatises such as theKalpastra ascribed to Bhadrabhu. Fourteen older books calledPuvvas (Sk. Prvas) and now lost are said to have together formed atwelfth anga. The language of the canon is a variety ofPrakrit[280], fairly ancient though more modern than Pali, andremarkable for its habit of omitting or softening consonants comingbetween two vowels, e.g. syam for stram, loo for loko[281]. Wecannot, however, conclude that it is the language in which the books

were composed, for it is probable that the early Jains, rejectingBrahmanical notions of a revealed text, handed down their religiousteaching in the vernacular and allowed its grammar and phonetics tofollow the changes brought about by time. According to a traditionwhich probably contains elements of truth the first collection ofsacred works was made about 200 years after Mahvra's death by acouncil which sat at Pataliputra. Just about the same time came thefamine already mentioned and many Jains migrated to the south. Whenthey returned they found that their co-religionists had abandonedthe obligation of nakedness and they consequently refused torecognize their sacred books. The vetmbara canon was subsequent

ly

revised and written down by a council held at Valabhi in Gujarat inthe middle of the fifth century A.D. This is the edition which isstill extant. The canon of the Digambaras, which is less well known,

is said to be chiefly in Sanskrit and according to tradition wascodified by Pushpadanta in the second century A.D. but appears to be

really posterior to the vetmbara scriptures[282]. It is divided

into four sections called Vedas and treating respectively ofhistory, cosmology, philosophy and rules of life[283].Though the books of the Jain canon contain ancient matter, yet theyseem, as compositions, considerably later than the older parts of

the Buddhist Tripitaka. They do not claim to record recent eventsand teaching but are attempts at synthesis which assume that Jainism

is well known and respected. In style they offer some resemblance to

the Pitakas: there is the same inordinate love of repetition and inthe more emotional passages great similarity of tone andmetaphor[284].Besides the two canons, the Jains have a considerable literatureconsisting both of commentaries and secular works. The most eminentof their authors is Hemacandra, born in 1088, who though a monk wasan ornament of the court and rendered an important service to hissect by converting Kumrapla, King of Gujarat. He composed numerous

and valuable works on grammar, lexicography, poetics andecclesiastical biography. Such subjects were congenial to the laterJain writers and they not only cultivated both Sanskrit and Prakritbut also had a vivifying effect on the vernaculars of southernIndia. Kanarese, Tamil, and Telugu in their literary form owe muchto the labours of Jain monks, and the Jain works composed in theselanguages, such as the Jvakacintmai in Tamil, if not ofworld-wide importance, at least greatly influenced Dravidiancivilization.Though the Jains thus occupy an honourable, and even distinguished


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place in the history of letters it must be confessed that it is hard

to praise their older religious books. This literature is ofconsiderable scientific interest for it contains many data aboutancient India as yet unsifted but it is tedious in style and rarelyelevated in sentiment. It has an arid extravagance, which merelypiles one above the other interminable lists of names andcomputations of immensity in time and space. Even more than in theBuddhist suttas there is a tendency to repetition which offends oursense of proportion and though the main idea, to free the soul fromthe trammels of passion and matter, is not inferior to any of thereligious themes of India, the treatment is not adequate to thesubject and the counsels of perfection are smothered under a mass of

minute precepts about the most unsavoury details of life andculminate in the recommendation of death by voluntary starvation.5But observation of Jainism as it exists to-day produces a quitedifferent impression. The Jains are well-to-do, industrious andpractical: their schools and religious establishments are wellordered: their temples have a beauty, cleanliness, and cheerfulnessunusual in India and due to the large use made of white marble andbrilliant colours. The tenderness for animal life may degenerateinto superstition (though surely it is a fault on the right side)

and some observances of the ascetics (such as pulling out the hairinstead of shaving the head) are severe, but as a community theJains lead sane and serious lives, hardly practising and certainlynot parading the extravagances of self-torture which theytheoretically commend. Mahvra is said to have taught that place,time and occasion should be taken into consideration and hissuccessors adapted their precepts to the age in which they lived.Such monks as I have met[285] maintained that extreme forms of tapas

were good for the nerves of ancient saints but not for the weakernatures of to-day. But in avoiding rigorous severity, they have notfallen into sloth or luxury.The beauty of Jainism finds its best expression in architecture.

This reached its zenith both in style and quantity during theeleventh and twelfth centuries which accords with what we know ofthe growth of the sect. After this period the Mohammedan invasionswere unfavourable to all forms of Hindu architecture. But the tastefor building remained and somewhat later pious Jains again began toconstruct large edifices which are generally less degenerate thanmodern Hindu temples, though they often show traces of Mohammedaninfluence. Hathi Singh's temple at Ahmadabad completed in 1848 is afine example of this modern style.There is a considerable difference between Jain and Buddhistarchitecture both in intention and effect. Jain monks did not livetogether in large communities and there was no worship of relics.Hence the vihra and the stpathe two principal types of Buddhist

buildingsare both absent. Yet there is some resemblance betweenJain temples (for instance those at Palitna) and the larger Burmesesanctuaries, such as the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. It is partly due to thesame conviction, namely that the most meritorious work which alayman can perform is to multiply shrines and images. In bothlocalities the general plan is similar. On the top of a hill ormound is a central building round which are grouped a multitude ofother shrines. The repetition of chapels and images is veryremarkable: in Burma they all represent Gotama, in Jain temples thefigures of Trthankaras are nominally different personalities but so


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alike in presentment that the laity rarely know them apart. In bothstyles of art white and jewelled images are common as well as groups

of four sitting figures set back to back and facing the fourquarters[286]: in both we meet with veritable cities of temples, onthe hill tops of Gujarat and in the plain of Pagan on the banks ofthe Irawaddy. As some features of Burmese art are undoubtedlyborrowed from India[287], the above characteristics may be due toimitation of Jain methods. It might be argued that the architectural

style of late Indian Buddhism survives among the Jains but there isno proof that the multiplication of temples and images was a feature

of this style. But in some points it is clear that the Jains havefollowed the artistic conventions of the Buddhists. Thus Prvanth

ais sheltered by a cobra's hood, like Gotama, and though the Bo-treeplays no part in the legend of the Trthankaras, they arerepresented as sitting under such trees and a living tree isvenerated at Palitna.As single edifices illustrating the beauty of Jain art both in grace

of design and patient elaboration of workmanship may be mentionedthe Towers of Fame and Victory at Chitore, and the temples of Mt

Abu. Some differences of style are visible in north and south India.In the former the essential features are a shrine with a porticoattached and surmounted by a conical tower, the whole placed in aquadrangular court round which are a series of cells or chapelscontaining images seated on thrones. These are the Trthankaras,almost exactly alike and of white marble, though some of the latersaints are represented as black. The vetmbaras represent theirTrthankaras as clothed but in the temples of the Digambaras theimages are naked.In the south are found religious monuments of two kinds known asBastis and Bettus. The Bastis consist of pillared vestibules leading

to a shrine over which rises a dome constructed in three or fourstages. The Bettus are not temples in the ordinary sense butcourtyards surrounding gigantic images of a saint named Gommate

;varawho is said to have been the son of the first Trthankara[288]. Thelargest of these colossi is at Sravana Belgola. It is seventy feetin height and carved out of a mass of granite standing on the top of

a hill and represents a sage so sunk in meditation that anthills and

creepers have grown round his feet without breaking his trance. Aninscription states that it was erected about 983 A.D. by theminister of a king of the Ganga dynasty[289].

But even more remarkable than these gigantic statues are thecollections of temples found on several eminences, such as Girnarand Satrunjaya[290], mountain masses which rise abruptly to a height

of three or four thousand feet out of level plains. On the summit of

Satrunjaya are innumerable shrines, arranged in marble courts oralong well-paved streets. In each enclosure is a central templesurrounded by others at the sides, and all are dominated by onewhich in the proportions of its spire and courtyard surpasses the


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rest. Only a few Yatis are allowed to pass the night in the sacredprecincts and it is a strange experience to enter the gates at dawnand wander through the interminable succession of white marblecourts tenanted only by flocks of sacred pigeons. On every sidesculptured chapels gorgeous in gold and colour stand silent andopen: within are saints sitting grave and passionless behind thelights that burn on their altars. The multitude of calm stone faces,

the strange silence and emptiness, unaccompanied by any sign ofneglect or decay, the bewildering repetition of shrines and deitiesin this aerial castle, suggest nothing built with human purpose butsome petrified spirit world.Soon after dawn a string of devotees daily ascends the hill. Mostare laymen, but there is a considerable sprinkling of ascetics,especially nuns. After joining the order both sexes wear yellowishwhite robes and carry long sticks. They spend much of their time invisiting holy places and usually do not stop at one rest house formore than two months. The worship performed in the temples consistsof simple offerings of flowers, incense and lights made with littleceremony. Pilgrims go their rounds in small bands and kneelingtogether before the images sing the praises of the Jinas.6It is remarkable that Jainism is still a living sect, whereas theBuddhists have disappeared from India. Its strength and persistence

are centred in its power of enlisting the interest of the laity andof forming them into a corporation. In theory the position of theJain and Buddhist layman is the same. Both revere and support areligious order for which they have not a vocation, and are bound by

minor vows less stringent than those of the monks. But among theBuddhists the members of the order came to be regarded more and more

as the true church[291] and the laity tended to become (what theyactually have become in China and Japan) pious persons who reverethat order as something extraneous to themselves and very often only

as one among several religious organizations. Hence when in India

monasteries decayed or were destroyed, little active Buddhism wasleft outside them. But the wandering ascetics of the Jains neverconcentrated the strength of the religion in themselves to the sameextent; the severity of their rule limited their numbers: the laitywere wealthy and practically formed a caste; persecution acted as atonic. As a result we have a sect analogous in some ways to theJews, Parsis, and Quakers[292], among all of whom we find the samefeatures, namely a wealthy laity, little or no sacerdotalism andendurance of persecution.Another question of some interest is how far Jainism should beregarded as separate from Buddhism. Historically the position seemsclear. Both are offshoots of a movement which was active in India in

the sixth century B.C. in certain districts and especially among thearistocracy. Of these offshootsthe survivors among many whichhardly outlived their birthJainism was a trifle the earlier, butBuddhism was superior and more satisfying to the intellect and moral

sense alike. Out of the theory and practice of religious lifecurrent in their time Gotama fashioned a beautiful vase, Mahvra ahomely but still durable pot. The resemblances between the twosystems are not merely obvious but fundamental. Both had their


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origin outside the priestly class and owed much of their success tothe protection of princes. Both preach a road to salvation open toman's unaided strength and needing neither sacrifice nor revealedlore. Both are universal, for though Buddhism set about its worldmission with more knowledge and grasp of the task, the Jain strasare addressed "to Aryans and non-Aryans" and it is said that inmodern times Mohammedans have been received into the Jain Church.Neither is theistic. Both believe in some form of reincarnation, inkarma and in the periodical appearance of beings possessed ofsuperhuman knowledge and called indifferently Jinas or Buddhas. Thehistorian may therefore be disposed to regard the two religions asnot differing much more than the varieties of Protestant Dissentersto be found in Great Britain. But the theologian will perceive realdifferences. One of the most important doctrines ofBuddhism---perhaps in the Buddha's own esteem the centraldoctrineis the non-existence of the soul as a permanent entity: inJainism on the contrary not only the human body but the whole worldincluding inanimate matter is inhabited by individual souls who canalso exist apart from matter in individual blessedness. The Jaintheory of fivefold knowledge is unknown to the Buddhists, as istheir theory of the Skandhas to the Jains. Secondly as to practiceJainism teaches (with some concessions in modern times) thatsalvation is obtainable by self-mortification but this is the method

which the Buddha condemned after prolonged trial. It is clear thatin his own opinion and that of his contemporaries the rule and ideal

of life which he prescribed differed widely from those of the Jains,

jvikas and other wandering ascetics.Suggested Further Reading

Similarities and Differences Between Buddhism andJainismThe philosophy of JainismEssential Concepts and Beliefs of JainismAn Introduction to Jainism or Jain DharmaJainism and the Concept of Karma

Vardhamana Mahavira of JainismThe 24 Thirthankaras of JainismThe place of svetambara jains and digambar jains inJainism

Footnote252: In J.R.A.S. 1917, pp. 122-130 s.v. Venkatevara argues tha

tVardhamna died about 437 B.C. and that the Nigahas of t

he Pitakas were followers of Parva. His arguments deserve consideration but he

seems not to lay sufficient emphasis on the facts that (a) according

to the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha and Gosla werecontemporaries, while according to the Jain scriptures Gosla andVardhamna were contemporaries, (b) in the Buddhist scripturesNtaputta is the representative of the Nigahas, while ac

cording to


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the Jain scriptures Vardhamna was of the ata clan.][Footnote 253: The atoms are either simple or compound and fromtheir combinations are produced the four elements, earth, wind, fire

and water, and the whole material universe. For a clear statement of

the modern Jain doctrine about dharma and adharma, see JagmanderlalJaini, l.c. pp. 22 ff.][Footnote 254: Jva, ajva, srava, bandha, savara, nirjar,moksha. The principles are sometimes made nine by the addition ofpunya, merit, and ppa, sin.][Footnote 255: Paudgalikam karma. It would seem that all these ideas

about Karma should be taken in a literal and material sense. Karma,which is a specially subtle form of matter able to enter, stain andweigh down the soul, is of eight kinds (1 and 2) jna- anddarana-varanya impede knowledge and faith, which the soulnaturally possesses; (3) mohanya causes delusion; (4) vedanyabrings pleasure and pain; (5) ayushka fixes the length of life; (6)nma furnishes individual characteristics, and (7) gotra generic;(8) antarya hinders the development of good qualities.][Footnote 256: Kevalam also called Jna, moksha, nirva. Thenirva of the Jains is clearly not incompatible with thecontinuance of intelligence and knowledge.]

[Footnote 257: Uttardhyyana XXXVI. 64-68 in S.B.E. XLV. pp.212-213.][Footnote 258: S.B.E. XLV. p. xxvii. Bhandarkar Report for 1883-4,pp. 95 ff.][Footnote 259: Somewhat similar seems to be the relation of Jainismto the Vaieshika philosophy. It accepted an early form of theatomic theory and this theory was subsequently elaborated in thephilosophy whose founder Kada was according to the Jains a pup

ilof a Jain ascetic.][Footnote 260: E.g. see Acarnga S. I. 7. 6.][Footnote 261: They seem to have authority to formulate it in a form

suitable to the needs of the age. Thus we are told that Parvaenjoined four vows but Mahvra five.][Footnote 262: When Gotama after attaining Buddhahood was on his way

to Benares he met Upaka, a naked ascetic, to whom he declared thathe was the Supreme Buddha. Then, said Upaka, you profess to be theJina, and Gotama replied that he did, "Tasm 'ham Upak jinoti."(Mahvag. I. 6. 10.)][Footnote 263: The exact period is 100 billion sgaras of years. Asgara is 100,000,000,000 palyas. A palya is the period in which awell a mile deep filled with fine hairs can be emptied if one hairis withdrawn every hundred years.][Footnote 264: See M. Bloomfield, Life and Stories of Prvantha

(1919).][Footnote 265: See the discussions between followers of Parvaand

Mahvra given in Uttardhyyana XXIV. and Strakritnga II. 7.][Footnote 266: There are many references to the Nigaha

s in theBuddhist scriptures and the Buddha, while by no means acceptingtheir views, treats them with tolerance. Thus he bade Siha, Generalof the Licchavis, who became his disciple after being an adherent of


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Ntaputta to continue to give alms as before to Nigaha ascetics

(Mahvag. VI. 32).][Footnote 267: Especially among the jvikas. Their leader Goslahad a personal quarrel with Mahvra but his teaching was almostidentical except that he was a fatalist.][Footnote 268: Uttardhyyana. XXIII. 29.][Footnote 269: According to vetmbara tradition there was a grea

tschism 609 years after Mahvra's death. The canon was not fixeduntil 904 (? 454 A.D.) of the same era. The Digambara traditions are

different but appear to be later.][Footnote 270: See especially Gurinot, Rpertoire d'ipigraphieJaina][Footnote 271: So Bhler, Pillar Edict no. VIII. Senart Inscrip. dePiyadasi II. 97 translates somewhat differently, but the referenceto the Jains is not disputed.][Footnote 272: Rock Edict VI.][Footnote 273: Rice (Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, 1909,p. 310) thinks that certain inscriptions at Sravana Belgola inMysore establish that this tradition is true and also that theexpedition was accompanied by King Candragupta who had abdicated and

become a Jain ascetic. But this interpretation has been muchcriticised. It is probably true that a migration occurred andincreased the differences which ultimately led to the division intovetmbaras and Digambaras.][Footnote 274: Gurinot, pig. Jaina, no. 11.][Footnote 275: Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, 1909,pp. 113-114, 207-208.][Footnote 276: Similar tolerance is attested by inscriptions (e.g.Gurinot, nos. 522 and 5776) recording donations to both Jain andSaiva temples.][Footnote 277: They also make a regular practice of collecting andrearing young animals which the owners throw away or wish to kill.][Footnote 278: Or Sthnakavsi. See for them Census of India, 1911,

1. p. 127 and Baroda, p. 93. The sect waa founded about A.D. 1653.][Footnote 279: Their names are as follows in Jain Prakrit, theSanskrit equivalent being given in bracketa:1. *yrngasuttam (crnga).2.*Syagadangam (Strakitngam).3. Thnangam (Sth.).4. Samavyangam.5. Viyhapaatti (Vykhyprajnpti). This work is commonly known asthe Bhagavat.6. ydhammakaho (Jtadharmakath).7. *Uvsagadasao (Upsakadash).8. *Antagadadasao (Antakritad.).9. *Anuttarovavidaso (Anuttaraupaptikad.).

10. Panhvgaranim (Prasnavyakarani).11. Vivgasuyam (Vipkasrutam).The books marked with an asterisk have been translated by Jacobi(S.B.E. vols. XXII. and XIV.), Hoernle and Barnett. See too Weber,Indischie Studien, Bd. XVI. pp. 211-479 and Bd. XVIII. pp. 1-90.][Footnote 280: It is called rsha or Ardha-Mgadhi and is theliterary form of the vernacular of Berar in the early centuries ofthe Christian era. See H. Jacobi, Ausgewhlte Erzhlungen inMaharashtri, and introduction to edition of Ayarnga-sutta.][Footnote 281: The titles given in note 2 illustrate aome of its


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peculiarities.][Footnote 282: When I visited Sravana Belgola in 1910, the head ofthe Jains there, who professed to be a Digambara, though dressed inpurple raiment, informed me that their sacred works were partly inSanskrit and partly in Prakrit. He showed me a book calledTrilokasra.][Footnote 283: But see Jagmanderlal Jaini, l.c. appendix V.][Footnote 284: Compare for instance Uttardyayana X., XXIII. andXXV. with the Sutta-Nipta and Dhammapada.][Footnote 285: I have only visited establishments in towns. Possibly

Yatis who follow a severer rule may be found in the country,especially among Digambaras.][Footnote 286: In Gujarat they are called Cho-mukhji and it is saidthat when a Trthankara preached in the midst of his audience eachside saw him facing them. In Burma the four figures are generallysaid to be the last four Buddhas.][Footnote 287: This seems clear from the presence in Burma of thecurvilinear sikra and even of copies of Indian temples, e.g. ofBodh-Gaya at Pagan. Burmese pilgrims to Gaya might easily havevisited Mt Parasnath on their way.][Footnote 288: I have this information from the Jain Guru at Sravana

Belgola. He said that Gomatevara (who seems unknown to the

vetmbaras) waa a Kevalin but not a Trthankara.][Footnote 289: Two others, rather smaller, are known, one at Karkl(dated 1431) and one at Yannur. These images are honoured atoccasional festivals (one was held at Sravana Belgola in 1910)attended by a considerable concourse of Jains. The type of thestatues is not Buddhist. They are nude and represent sagesmeditating in a standing position whereas Buddhists prescribe asitting posture for meditation.][Footnote 290: The mountain of Satrunjaya rises above Palitna, thecapital of a native state in Gujarat. Other collections of templesare found on the hill of Parasnath in Bengal, at Songir near Dati,and Muktagiri near Gwlgarh. There are also a good many on thehills above Rajgr.]

[Footnote 291: The strength of Buddhism in Burma and Siam is nodoubt largely due to the fact that custom obliges every one to spend

part of his lifeif only a few daysas a member of the order.][Footnote 292: One might perhaps add to this list the Skoptsy ofRussia and the Armenian colonies in many European and Asiatic

towns.][Footnote 293: Throughout this book I have not hesitated to make use

of the many excellent translations of Pali works which have beenpublished. Students of Indian religion need hardly be reminded howmuch our knowledge of Pali writings and of early Buddhism owes tothe labours of Professor and Mrs Rhys Davids.]

[Footnote 294: Sanskrit Stra, Pali Sutta. But the use of the wordsis not quite the same in Buddhist and Brahmanic literature. ABuddhist sutta or stra is a discourse, whether in Pali or inSanskrit; a Brahmanic stra is an aphorism. But the 227 divisions ofthe Ptimokkha are called Suttas, so that the word may have beenoriginally used in Pali to denote short statements of a singlepoint. The longer Suttas are often called Suttanta.][Footnote 295: E.g. Maj. Nik. 123 about the marvels attending thebirth of a Buddha.][Footnote 296: See some further remarks on this subject at the end


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of chap. XIII. (on the Canon).][Footnote 297: Also Sakya or Sakka. The Sanskrit form is kya.]

Reproduced from Hinduism And Buddhism An Historical Sketch bySir Charles Eliot in three volumes Volume I Routledge & KeganPaul Ltd Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane, London, E.C.4.First published 1921 reprinted 1954 reprinted 1957 reprinted1962 printed in Great Britain By Lund Humphries London oBradford

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The Jains and Their Creed