Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/293

September, 1873.] LASSEN ON THE JAINS. 261 such as are kept by the other Hindus, e. g. the Vasantaydtrd,or vernal festival.* From the Buddhist priests, the pious among the Jainas, have taken to the custom of living quietly during the varsha or rainy season, of devoting them¬ selves to the study of their Bacred scriptures, and of practising fasting and meditationf during that time. J The V a i s y a s among the Jainas engage in trade only, and the names Brahmana, Kshatriya, and Sudra denote among them other occupations and ranks.§ Before bringing this to a close, I have only to add an outline of the history of the sect, and to lay before my readers a condensed view of the present extension of the Jainas. Most probably Parsvaor Parsvanatlia, the 23rd Jina, may be considered as the real founder of this sect.|| He was the son of king Asvasena by his spouse Varna or B h a - mani, and was bom in Varanasi. The statement that he was a descendant of the old race of I k s h v a k u raises doubts, because Buddha’s family, the Sakya dynasty, which reigned in Kapilavastu, is well known to have belonged to that ancient Soma- v a h s a or solar race, and the Jainas would easily be tempted to attribute the same origin to the founder of their sect, especially as it had been attributed also to Rishabha, the first Jina.9^ He died aged 100 years, on Mount Sameta Sikhara, in Southern Bihar, 250 years, it is said, before the demise of his successor, Vardha- man a or Mahavira. The opinion that this Jina was a real person is specially supported by the circumstance that the duration of his life does not at all transgress the limits of probability, as is the case with his predeces¬ sors.** According to previous researches, that event took place during the first or second t See Ind. Alt. II. p. 45(1 and p. 723. X J. Stevenson’s Preface to his edition of the Kalpa- sdtra, p. xxii., and p. 9 of the text. The expression for it is Pary&shatM, and in the vernaculars Pajj&shan. This riod of time is divided into two sections, i. e. one which gins 50 days before, and another which commences after the 5th day of the bright half of the month BhAdrapada, i. e. about the 26th July. During tho first portion the livet&mbara sect, characterized by its white dress, fasts, and during the second that of the Digambaras. JOn the Srawacs nr Jains, by Dr. Buchanan Ha- ton in Trans, of the R. As. S. I. pp. 531 seqq. The Jainas of South BihAr are treated also in the following dissertation:—On. the Srawacs or Jains, by Major James Delamaine, Bengal Army, ibid. I. pp. 418 seqq. 381. According to this passage, he had also the name Lunchitakesa generally in use among the Jainas, century of our era.f Of the next Jina, i. e. V ardhamitna or Mahavira, also V i r a, we possess more extensive biographies than of any of his predecessors, since the Kalpasutra deals specially with this subject, and since it has been treated with predilection also in other writings of the Jaitias; that book is moreover the oldest among the Jainas, the date whereof can be accurately fixed, because its author Bhadrabahu was a contemporary of the Vallabhi king Dhruvasena, and because the time of the Jina Suri A chara, the author of the most important Parana, is not quite certain. J One consequence of his great fame was that many miracles are related of him, and that supernatural power has been attributed to him. His father’s name was Siddhartha, and his real mother’s T r i s a 1 a ; the statement that his father was descended from the old epic monarch Ikshvaku must in this case also be a fiction§. The information that his wife was called J a s o d a must also be an invention, because, as is well known, one of the three spouses of the founder of the Buddhist religion bore a similar name, viz. Jasodharaf|. Mahavira re¬ nounced the world in his 28th year, devoted himself entirely to a pious and contemplative life, and after two years had advanced so far that he attained the rank of a Jina. During the next six years he laboured with great success in the propagation of his views, and then took up his habitation in the village Nalanda, f in M a g a d h a, which is often mentioned, in the oldest history of the religion of & a k y a - sinha. Here he gained, among other per¬ sons as disciples, also G o s a 1 a, and convinced Vardhanasena, an adherent of Chan- dracharya, of his errors. This latter ob¬ because, when he entered the priesthood, ho cut off five handfuls of hair. Of him also the 5th chapter of the Kalpas&tra, p. 97, treats, and Hemachandra v. 28, p. 6, where also he is called P A r s v a. % Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 268. ing to Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 212. [Vide ante, p. 139.] f See above, p. 197. X See above, p. 198. § Kalpasutra, I. p. 221 seqa.; Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 213 seqq., and Wilson,As. Res. XVII. p. 251 seqq. Ac¬ cording to the last author he was born in the unknown town Pavana, in BhAratakshetra. The father of this Jina is also called £ r e y Ansa and Yasasvin, and his son Sramana. father of J a s o d 6. On this celebrated village see Ind. Alt. IV. 692.
 * Wilson, As. Res. XVII. p. 272 and p. 277•
 * Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, vol. II. p. 312 and I. p.
 * Thus, e. a. his predecessor lived 1000 years, accord¬
 * See Ind. Alt. II. p. 68. Prince Sarvavir a was the