Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/189

 VI] .!VI ahiivfra 173 by taking upon themselves particular vows, and the monks are required to deliver sermons and explain the sacred texts in the upasrayas (separate buildings for monks like the Buddhist viharas). The principle of extreme carefulness not to destroy any living being has been in monastic life carried out to its very last consequences, and has shaped the conduct of the laity in a great measure. No layman will intentionally kill any living being, not even an insect, however troublesome. He will remove it care- fully without hurting it. The principle of not hurting any living being thus bars them from many professions such as agriculture, etc., and has thrust them into commerce l. Life of Mahavira. Mahavlra, the last prophet of the J ains, was a Kattriya of the Jnata clan and a native of Vaisali (modern Besarh, 27 miles north ofPatna). He was the second son of Siddhartha and Trisala. The Svetambaras maintain that the embryo of the Tlrthankara which first entered the womb of the Brahmin lady Devananda was then transferred to the womb of TriSala. This story the Digambaras do not believe as we have already seen. His parents were the worshippers of Parsva and gave him the name Varddha- mana (Vlra or Mahavira). He married Yasoda and had a daughter by her. In his thirtieth year his parents died and with the per- mission of his brother N andivardhana he became a monk. After twelve years of self-mortification and meditation he attained omniscience (kevala, c( bodhi of the Buddhists). He lived to preach for forty-two years more, and attained mok!?a (emanci- pation) some years before Buddha in about 480 B.C. 2 . The Fundamental Ideas of J aina Ontology. A thing (such as clay) is seen to assume various shapes and to und.ergo diverse changes (such as the form of a jug, or pan, etc.), and we have seen that the Chandogya U paniad held that since in all changes the clay-matter remained permanent, that alone was true, whereas the changes of form and state were.but appearances, the nature of which cannot be rationally 1 See Jacobi's article on Jainism, E. R. E. 2 See HoernIe's translation of Uviisagadasdo, Jacobi, loco cit., and HoernIe's article on the Ajivakas, E. R. E. The Svetambaras, however, say that this date was 527 B.C., and the Digambaras place it eighteen years later.