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p. 35
The atonements which it was possible for the Jaina religious to incur are in theory directly related to the status and to the physical, intellectual and moral aptitudes of the transgressor (cf. Vav Bh 1, 422 ff, = Nis Bh 6655; 6657). They are most often practised within the group of which he is a member. Before studying the atonements, therefore, it seems advisable to sum up the main divisions of the Jaina community and in particular the minutely classified hierarchical system within which the defaulter holds a very strictly defined rank (Lehre 138 ff.; Deo, History 143 ff., 216 ff.). In order to understand how justice was carried out, it will be necessary to bear in mind certain distinctions and classifications which appear in the commentaries although not necessarily in the canon. The opposition between the giyatthas and the agiyatthas, for example, plays an important role, although it does not feature in the suttas. (infra 46).
