Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/186

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17° The Jaina Philosophy [CH. Tirthai1karas have reached mok!?a at their death, and they neither care for nor have any influence on worldly affairs, but yet they are regarded as "Gods" by the J ains a.nd are worshipped 1 Two Sects of Jainism 2 . There are two main sects of Jains, Svetambaras (wearers of white cloths) and Digambaras (the naked). They are generally agreed on all the fundamental principles of J ainism. The tenets peculiar to the Digam baras are firstly that perfect saints such as the Tirthai1karas live without food, secondly that the embryo of Mahavira was not removed from the womb of Devananda to that of Trisala as the Svetambaras contend, thirdly that a monk who owns any property and wears clothes cannot reach Moka, fourthly that no woman can reach Moka3. The Digambaras deny the canonical works of the Svetambaras and assert that these had been lost immediately after Mahavira. The origin of the Digambaras is attributed to Sivabhliti (A.D. 83) by the Svetam baras as due to a schism in the old Svetambara 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 Bhadrabahu, the eighth sage after Mahavira, the last Tirthai1kara, there rose the sect of Ardhaphalakas with laxer principles, from which developed the present sect of Svetam baras (A.D. 80). The Digambaras having separated in early times from the Svetambaras 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. I t 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 Svetambaras, 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 J ainism 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 J ains have 1 See" Digumbara Jaill Icono.r;raphy (I. A, xxxii [1903] p. 459" of J. Burgess, and BUhler's "Specimens of Jina sculptures from Mathura," in EPigraPhica indica, II. pp. 31 I etc. See also Jacobi's article on Jainism, E. R. E. 2 See Jacohi's article on Jainism, E. R. E. 8 See Gu[)aratna's commentary on Jainism in $atJdarfallasa11luccaya.