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JAINISM attitude of "dismissing the body" (kāyotsarga)-rigid, erect, and immobile, with arms held scissly down, knees straight, and the toes directly forward. The ideal physique of such a superman is compared to the body of a lion: powerful chest and shoulders, no hips, slim feline buttocks, a tall pillarlike abdomen, and strong toes and fingers, elongated and well sormed. The chest, broad and smooth from shoulder to shoulder, fully expanded and without the least hollowness, shows the effect of prolonged breathing exercises, practiced according to the rules of yoga. Such an ascetic is termed a "hero" (vira), for he has achieved the supreme human victory: this is the sense of the title Mahāvīra, “the grcat (mahat) hero (vīra)," which was bestowed on thc Buddha's contemporary, Vardhamāna, the twenty-fourth Tīrthankara. The saint is termed also Jina, the "victor," and his disciples, therefore, Jainas, the "followers, or sons, of the victor."
In ancient times the Jaina monks went about completely naked, having put away all those caste marks and particularizing tokens that are of the essence of Indian costume and symbolize the wearer's involvement in the web of human bondage. Later on, in Mahāvīra's period, many assumed a white garment as a concession to decency and termed themselves Svetambara, "those whose garment (ambara) is white (sveta)." This raiment denoted their ideal of alabaster-like purity, and so was not too great a departure from the heroic mode of the conservatives, who continued to style themselves Digambara, "those whose garment (ambara) is the element that fills the four quarters of space (dig).” 20 The Tīrthařkaras are therefore sometimes de
26 At the time of Alexander the Great's raid across the Indus (327-326 B.c.), the Digambara were still numerous enough to attract the notice of the Greeks, who called them gymnosophists, "naked philosophers," a most appropriate name. They continued to flourish side by side with the Svetambara until after 1000 A.D., when, through Moslem rule, they were forced to put on clothes.
Editor's note: Dr. Zimmer's view of the relationship of those "clothed in space" to those "clothed in white" differs from that of the Svetambaras,
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| SR No. | 007309 |
| Book Title | Philosophies of India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell |
| Publisher | Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1953 |
| Total Pages | 709 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 34 MB |