Page:The Heart of Jainism (IA heartofjainism00stevuoft).djvu/78

 Another reform which they say Mahāvīra introduced was the making confession compulsory instead of optional for monks. All these traditions bear out the idea that Mahāvīra was a reformer rather than a founder of his faith and order, and that the rule of Pārśvanātha had not been found in practice sufhciently stringent.

We have begun our survey of Jaina legend with the birth of Mahāvīra, but no Jaina historian would do that. The Jaina firmly believe that theirs is the oldest religion in India, and delight to quote many passages from the Veda which prove to them that Jainism existed before the Veda were written and cannot therefore be an offshoot of Brāhmanism, as most scholars believe. They reject the old theory that Gautama Indrabhūti revolted from Jainism and became the founder of Buddhism, and claim Buddhism as a late offshoot of Jainism, telling the following legend to prove it. During the interval between the days of Pārśvanātha and those of Mahāvīra there lived a certain Jaina monk called Buddha Kīrti, who was well learned in the scriptures. One day he was performing austerities by the side of the river Sarayū in Pālāśa Nagara, and as he sat there he saw a dead fish floating by him. As he watched it, he reflected that there could be no harm in eating the flesh of dead fish, for there was no soul within it. This thought inspired him, the Jaina say, to found a new religion; he left his austerities, assumed red garments, and preached Buddhism.

According to the Jaina, the best way to begin the study of their history is through the stories of the Tīrthaṅkara. We have studied the lives of the two latest Tīrthaṅkara, Pārśvanātha, the twenty-third, and Mahāvīra, the twenty