Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
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

Page 244

THE MAKERS OF THE CROSSING Mahāvīra to take ascetic vows, whereas by the sky-clad sect they were debarred from doing so, having to wait for a later, masculine incarnation. Nevertheless, it is certain that Mahāvīra preached nothing absolutely new; he only modified and developed what had already been taught by Pārsvanātha-and no doubt by numerous even earlier saints and sages. 42
The writings of the Jainas mention as contemporaries of Mahāvīra the same kings of northeastern India as those who according to Buddhist sources reigned during the Buddha's career. The canonical texts of the Buddhists, dating from the first centuries B.C., mention the Jaina frequently under their old name of Nirgrantha,43 "without knot, tic, or string," i.e., “the unfettered ones”; and refer to them as a rival sect, but nowhere as one newly founded. Their leader is called jñātaputra Vardhamāna ("Vardhamāna, son of the jñāta clan"), Mahāvīra (the “Great Hero"), and Jina (the "Victor"), and, in contrast to the Buddha, is never described as having first become a disciple of
42 Editor's note: The reader may experience some difficulty in following Dr. Zimmer's argument, since in the text to which he refers (Uttaradhya. yana Sutra 28. 29) the statement about the clothes is precisely the reverse of what he would lead one to expect. “The law taught by Vardhamana," we read, "forbids clothes, but that of the great sage Parsva allows an under and upper garinent." I confess that I do not know how Dr. Zimmer planned to deal with this inconsistency; for he left no pertinent notes, and I do not recall his having discussed the point. His manuscript for this portion of his history of Jainism is incomplete. However, since he stresses the fact that "the authenticity of this text is denied by the Digambaras" (footnote supra), it may be that he intended to suggest that the Svetāmbaras inverted the historical situation to give to their own customs the prestige of the carlier master. This would make the Digambaras seem to be the followers of a later and merely temporary ruling, whereas it was the contention of the Diganbaras that the Svetämbaras represented the later form. As noted above (p. 210, Editor's note), Dr. Zimmer adheres to the Digambara version of the historical sequence of the sky-clad and the white-clad modes.
48 Nirgrantha is Sanskrit; the Pāli word, in the Buddhist texts, is Nigantha.
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