The Indian Sect of the Jains FOOTNOTES

Footnote 1: In notes on the Jainas, one often finds the view expressed, that the Digambaras belong only to the south, and the Śvetâmbaras to the north. This is by no means the case. The former in the Panjâb, in eastern Râjputâna 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 Râjputâna and Gujarât: see Indian Antiquary, vol. VII, p. 28.

Footnote 2: The ascetics of lower rank, now called Pandit, now-a-days wear the costume of the country. The Bhattâraka, 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."

Footnote 3: See below.

Footnote 4: 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 Aupapâtika Sûtra § 56.(Leumann) it runs as follows: tesim[postvocalic] savvesim[postvocalic] âr iyamanâriyanam[postvocalic] agilâe dhammatm[postvocalic] âikkhai "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 Ah[postvocalic]madâbâd in the year 1876, as great triumphs of the Jainas. Tales of the conversion of the emperor Akbar, through the patriarch Hîravijaya (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.

Footnote 5: Even the canonical works of the Śvetâmbara, as for example, the Âchârâm[postvocalic] 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 Śvetâmbara 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 Śvetâmbara 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 Nirvân a; see Peterson, Second Report, in Jour. Bom. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XVII, p. 84.

Footnote 6: The titles Siddha, Buddha and Mukta are certainly borrowed by both sects from the terminology of the Brâhmans, which they used, even in olden times, to describe those saved during their lifetimes and used in the Śaivite doctrine to describe a consecrated one who is on the way to redemption. An Arhat, among the Brâhmans, is a man distinguished for his knowledge and pious life (comp. for example Âpastamba, Dharmasûtra. 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 Tîrthakara "prophet, founder of religion", is derived from the Brâhmanic use of tîrtha 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.

Footnote 7: A Sâgara or Sâgaropamâ 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.

Footnote 8: For the list of these Jinas, see below.

Footnote 9: 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, Kalpasûtra, pp. xix-xxv; A. Barth, Religions de l'Inde, pp. 84-91.

Footnote 10: On the Jaina Paradise see below. Dr. Bühler seems here to have confounded the Alôka 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

Footnote 11: The Digambara sect, at least in southern India, do not seem to be all quite so punctiliously careful in this as the Śvetâmbara of western India.--Ed.

Footnote 12: On the five great vows see the Âchârâm[postvocalic] ga Sûtra, II, 15: S. B. E. Vol. XXII, pp. 202-210. The Sanskrit terms of the Jains are: 1. ahim[postvocalic] sâ, 2. sûnrita, 3. asteya, 4. brahmâchârya, 5. aparigraha; those of the Brahmanical ascetics: 1. ahim[postvocalic] sa, 2. satya, 3. asteya, 4. brahmâchârya, 5. tyâga.

Footnote 13: With reference to asceticism, comp. Leumann, Aupapâtika Sûtra § 30. The death of the wise ones by starvation is described, Weber, Bhagavatî Sûtra, II, 266-267; Hoernle Upâsakadaśa Sûtra, pp. 44-62; Âchârâm[postvocalic] ga Sûtra, 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 Śvetâmbara, cases of this kind occur, see K. Forbes, Râs Mâlâ, Vol. II, pp. 331-332, or 2nd ed. pp. 610-611.

Footnote 14: An example may be found in Jacobi's careful comparison of the customs of the Brâhmanic and Jaina ascetics, in the beginning of his translation of the Âchârâm[postvocalic] ga Sûtra, S. B. E., Vol. XXII, pp. xxi--xxix. In relation to the death by starvation of Brahmanical hermits and Sannyâsin, see Âpastamba, Dharmasûtra, 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".

Footnote 15: The Upâsakadaśâ Sûtra treats of the right life of the laity, Hoernle, pp. 11-37 (Bibl. Ind.), and Hemachandra, Yogasûtra, Prakâsa 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 Brâhmans. The occupations forbidden to the Jaina laity are almost all those forbidden by the Brâhmanic law to the Brâhman, who in time of need lives like a Vaî śya. Hemachandra, Yogaśâstra, III, 98--112 and Upâsakadaśâ Sûtra, 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).

Footnote 16: For the Jaina ritual, see Indian Antiquary. Vol. XIII, pp. 191-196. The principal sacred places or Tirthas are--Sameta Śikhara in Western Bengal, where twenty of the Jinas are said to have attained Nirvâna; Śatruñjaya and Girnâr in Kâthiâwâd sacred respectively to R ishabhanâtha and Neminâtha; Chandrapuri where Vâsupûjya died; and Pâwâ in Bengal at which Vardhamâna died.--Ed.

Footnote 17: The latter assertion is to be found In the Shad darśanasamuchchaya Vers. 45, 77-78. A creative activity is attributed to the Jinas even in the Kuhâon inscription which is dated 460-461 A. D. (Ind. Antiq. Vol. X, p. 126). There they are called âdikartri 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.

Footnote 18: A complete review of the Am[postvocalic] 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 Âchârám[postvocalic] ga and the Kalpasûtra are translated by H. Jacobi in the S. B. E Vol. XXII, and a part of the Upâsakadasâ Sûtra by R. Hoernle in the Bibl. Ind. In the estimates of the age of the Am[postvocalic] ga I follow H. Jacobi, who has throughly discussed the question S. B. E. Vol. XXII, pp. xxxix-xlvii.

Footnote 19: The later tradition of the Jainas gives for the death of their prophet the dates 545, 527 and 467 B. C. (see Jacobi, Kalpasûtra 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 Tîrhakara died during Buddha's lifetime (see p. 34).

Footnote 20: 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 Sammatîya. 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 Nigantha.

The observation that the Buddhists recognise the Nigantha and relate of their head and founder, that he was a rival of Buddha's and died at Pâvâ where the last Tîrthakara is said to have attained Nirvân 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 Tîrthakara 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 Kalpasûtra, 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.

Footnote 21: The statement that Vardhamâna'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.

Footnote 22: Dr. Bühler by a slip had here "Magadha oder Bihâr".--J. B.

Footnote 23: This is General Cunningham's identification and a probable one.--Ed.

Footnote 24: Notes on Mahâvîra's life are to be found especially in Âchârâm[postvocalic] ga Sûtra in S. B. E. Vol. XXII, pp. 84-87, 189-202; Kalpasûtra, 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 Kalpasûtra introd. p. ii. We have to thank Dr. Hoernle for the important information that Vardhamâna's birthplace Kundapura is still called Vasukund: Upâsakadaśâ Sûtra 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.

Footnote 25: The Mahâparinibbân a Sutta, in S. B. E. Vol. XI, p. 106.

Footnote 26: Jacobi, Zeitschrift der Deutsch. Morg. Ges. Bd. XXXIV, S. 187; Ind. Antiq. Vol. IX, p. 159.

Footnote 27: Jacobi, Ind. Antiq. Vol. IX, p. 159.

Footnote 28: Jacobi, loc. cit.. p. 160, and Leumann, Actes du Vlième Congrès Int. des Or. Sect. Ary. p. 505. As the Jaina accounts of the teaching of Pârśva and the existence of communities of his disciples, sound trustworthy, we may perhaps accept, with Jacobi, that they rest on a historical foundation.

Footnote 29: Jacobi loc. cit.. p. 159-160.

Footnote 30: See for example the account in the Chullavagga, in S. B. E. Vol. XX. p. 78-79; Ind. Antiq. Vol. VIII, p. 313.

Footnote 31: Spence Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 225.

Footnote 32: S. B. E. Vol. XVII, pp. 108-117.

Footnote 33: 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 Vardhamâna 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 Nâtaputta's death in more detail. In a lengthy account they give as the cause of the same the apostacy of one of his disciples, Upâli who was converted by Buddha. After going over to Buddhism, Upâli 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 Nigantha fell into despair. He declared his alms-vessel was broken, his existence destroyed, went to Pâva, and died there. Naturally no importance is to be given to this account and its details. They are apparently the outcome of sect-hatred.

Footnote 34: According to Jacobi's supposition, S. B. E. Vol. XXII, p. xvi, the error was caused, by the only disciple of Vardhamâna, who outlived his master, Sudharman being an Âgniveśyâyana.

Footnote 35: See for the history of Sîha related above, Spence Hardy, Manual of Budhism, pp. 226, 266, and Jacobi, Ind. Antiq. Vol. VIII, p. 161

Footnote 36: Beal, Si-yu-ki. Vol. II, p. 168.

Footnote 37: Turnour, Mahâvam[postvocalic] sa, pp. 66-67 and p. 203, 206: Dîpavan[g]sa XIX 14; comp. also Kern, Buddhismus, Bd. I, S. 422. In the first passage in the Mahâvam[postvocalic] sa, three Nighantas are introduced by name, Jotiya, Giri, and Kumbhanda. The translation incorrectly makes the first a Brâhman and chief engineer.

Footnote 38: 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.

Footnote 39: See Ind. Antiquary, vol. XX, pp. 361 ff.

Footnote 40: The meaning of these inscriptions, which were formerly believed to be Buddhist, was first made clear by Dr. Bhangvânlâl's Indrâji's careful discussion in the Actes du Vlième Congrès Internat.des Orientalistes Sect. Ary.pp.135-159. H; first recognised the true names of the King Khâravela and his predecessors and shewed that Khâravela 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 Kalim[postvocalic] ga by Aśoka 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 Khâravela 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 Khâravela'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 Mathurâ 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.

Footnote 41: This inscription also was first made known by Dr Bhagwanlal Indiaji, loc. cit. p. 143.

Footnote 42: Dr. Bühler'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.

Footnote 43: See Weber's and Barth's opinions quoted above in note I, p. 23.

Footnote 44: What follows is from the author's later and fuller paper in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Bd. I, S. 170 f., but abridged.--Ed.

Footnote 45: 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 nivatanam[postvocalic] 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.

Footnote 46: 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.

Footnote 47: Sac. Bks. East, vol. XXII p. 292.

Footnote 48: S. B. E. vol. XXII, p. 288, note 2.

Footnote 49: Wiener Zeitshe. f. d. Kunde der Morgenl., Bd. II, S. 142 f.

Footnote 50: At a later date Dr. Bühler 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.

Footnote 51: Epigraphia Indica, vol. I, pp. 382, 388.

Footnote 52: For the above lists see Wiener Zeitschi. Bd. IV, S. 316 ff. and Kalpasûtra in S. B. E. vol. XXII, pp. 290 f.