There are two main sects of Jains, S'vetâmbaras (wearers of white cloths) and Digambaras (the naked). They are generally agreed on all the fundamental principles of Jainism. The tenets peculiar to the Digambaras are firstly that perfect saints such as the Tîrtha@nkaras live without food, secondly that the embryo of Mahâvîra was not removed from the womb of Devanandâ to that of Tris'alâ as the S'vetâmbaras contend, thirdly that a monk who owns any property and wears clothes cannot reach Mok@sa, fourthly that no woman can reach Mok@sa [Footnote ref 3]. The Digambaras deny the canonical works of the S'vetâmbaras and assert that these had been lost immediately after Mahâvîra. The origin of the Digambaras is attributed to S'ivabhûti (A.D. 83) by the S'vetâmbaras as due to a schism in the old S'vetâmbara church, of which there had already been previous to that seven other schisms. The Digambaras in their turn deny this, and say that they themselves alone have preserved the original practices, and that under Bhadrabâhu, the eighth sage after Mahâvîra, the last Tîrtha@nkara, there rose the sect of Ardhaphâlakas with laxer principles, from which developed the present sect of S'vetâmbaras (A.D. 80). The Digambaras having separated in early times from the S'vetâmbaras developed peculiar religious ceremonies of their own, and have a different ecclesiastical and literary history, though there is practically no difference about the main creed. It may not be out of place here to mention that the Sanskrit works of the Digambaras go back to a greater antiquity than those of the S'vetâmbaras, if we except the canonical books of the latter. It may be noted in this connection that there developed in later times about 84 different schools of Jainism differing from one another only in minute details of conduct. These were called gacchas, and the most important of these is the Kharatara Gaccha, which had split into many minor gacchas. Both sects of Jains have
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[Footnote 1: See "_Digumbara Jain Iconography (1. A, xxxii [1903] p. 459" of J. Burgess, and Bûhler's "Specimens of Jina sculptures from Mathurâ," in Epigraphica Indica, II. pp. 311 etc. See also Jacobi's article on Jainism, E.R.E.]
[Footnote 2: See Jacobi's article on Jainism, E.R.E.]
[Footnote 3: See Gu@naratna's commentary on Jainism in @Sa@ddars'anasamuccaya.]
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preserved a list of the succession of their teachers from Mahâvîra (sthavirâvali, pa@t@tâvali, gurvâvali) and also many legends about them such as those in the Kalpasûtra, the Paris'i@s@ta-parvan of Hemacandra, etc.
The Canonical and other Literature of the Jains.
According to the Jains there were originally two kinds of sacred books, the fourteen Pûrvas and the eleven A@ngas. The Pûrvas continued to be transmitted for some time but were gradually lost. The works known as the eleven A@ngas are now the oldest parts of the existing Jain canon. The names of these are Âcâra, Sûtrak@rta, Sthâna, Samavâya Bhagavatî, Jñâtadharmakathâs, Upâsakadas'âs, Antak@rtadas'âs Anuttaraupapâtikadas'âs, Pras'navyâkara@na, Vipâka. In addition to these there are the twelve Upâ@ngas [Footnote ref 1], the ten Prakîr@nas [Footnote ref 2], six Chedasûtras [Footnote ref 3], Nândî and Anuyogadvâra and four Mûlasûtras (Uttarâdhyayana, Âvas'yaka, Das'avaikâlika, and Pi@n@daniryukti). The Digambaras however assert that these original works have all been lost, and that the present works which pass by the old names are spurious. The original language of these according to the Jains was Ardhamâgadhî, but these suffered attempts at modernization and it is best to call the language of the sacred texts Jaina Prâkrit and that of the later works Jaina Mahârâ@s@trî. A large literature of glosses and commentaries has grown up round the sacred texts. And besides these, the Jains possess separate works, which contain systematic expositions of their faith in Prâkrit and Sanskrit. Many commentaries have also been written upon these independent treatises. One of the oldest of these treatises is Umâsvâti's Tattvârthâdhigamasûtra(1-85 A.D.). Some of the most important later Jaina works on which this chapter is based are Vis'e@sâvas'yakabhâ@sya, Jaina Tarkavârttika, with the commentary of S'ântyâcâryya, Dravyasa@mgraha of Nemicandra (1150 A.D.), Syâdvâdamañjarî of Malli@sena (1292 A.D.), Nyâyâvatâra of Siddhasena Divâkara (533 A.D.), Parîk@sâmukhasûtralaghuv@rtti of Anantavîryya (1039 A.D.), Prameyakamalamârta@n@da of Prabhâcandra
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