Historical development of Jainism (Introduction)

‘…….Jain worship is based on the conception
of bhakti of an ideal, or an apostle representing
an idea, not for reward but for self-purification’

U.P. Shah (1987:9)

This chapter deals with the historical development of Jainism with reference to the rise and growth of this religious ideology through the ages in ancient Bengal. According to Jain traditions, it is an eternal truth and has great antiquity. There is a general tendency to justify the origin of this religious order as an offshoot of the Brahmanical order in sixth century BCE as a protestant religion and Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra being the founder of this religious ideology. However, the Jainas themselves believe in the existence of the twenty-four Tīrthaṅkaras^[1] and accorging to the different Jain texts most of the Tīrthaṅkaras hailed from eastern India^[2]. However, the historicity of the first twenty-two Tīrthaṅkaras lies buried in the lap of hoary times and it seems to be completely mythical. At the same time it is acceptable that there is a certain amount of historicity regarding the twenty-third Tīrthaṅkara Pārśvanātha, besides the twenty-fourth Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra. According to Professor Rhys Davids (1911: 543) Tīrthaṅkara Pārśvanātha was the real founder of Jainism^[3].

In spite of its remote antiquity, Jainism as an organized and methodical form of religious creed probably flourished during the sixth century BCE under the leadership of the twenty-fourth Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra. He actually reformulated the system as apparent from Jain texts. Ācārāṅga Sūtra (Jacobi 1884: II.3.401: 389) records that the parents of Mahāvīra followed the faith of Pārśva and were adherents of the Samaṇas. Mahāvīra himself seems to have first followed the order of Pārśva (Shah 1987: 2). Pārśvanātha prescribed four vows for the people who followed him, viz., not to injure life; to speak the truth; not to steal and non-attachment (Bhattacharyay 1939/1974: XIII). Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra added the fifth one i.e., chastity. There are other minor differences with regard to the rituals. However, the followers of Pārśva, known as Nirgranthas, maintained their separate entity for a long time. In this context it should be mentioned that the followers of Mahāvīra were also known as Nirgranthas and Mahāvīra himself is referred to as Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta (naked scion or son of the Jñātṛ-clan) in Buddhist texts (Malalasekera 1938: 61-65; Shah 1932: 5-7). Subsequently, they were more commonly known as Jainas (Shah op. cit.:1), followers of the Jina or the Conqueror.