Section in Jain Order : Digambar (Part 1/4)

Jainism order is divided into two major sects.

• The Digamabar Sect
• The Shwetambars Sect

The Digambar sect, in recent centuries, has been divided into the following major sub-sects:

1. Beespanth / Bispanthi
2. Terapanth
3. Taranpanth or Samaiyapanth

• Beespanth : The followers of Bisapantha support the Dharma-gurus, that is, religious authorities known as Bhattarakas who are also the heads of Jain Mathas, that is. religious monasteries. The Bisapanthas, in their temples, worship the idols of Tirthankaras and also the idols of Kshetrapal, Padmavati and other deities. They worship these idols with saffron, flowers, fruits, sweets, scented 'agara-battis', i.e., incense sticks, etc. While performing these worships. the Bisapanthis sit on the ground and do not stand. They perform Arati, i.e., waving of lights over the idol, in the temple even at night and distribute prasad, i.e., sweet things offered to the idols. The Bisapantha, according to some, is the original form of the Digambara sect and today practically all Digambar Jains from Maharashtra, Karnataka and South India and a large number of Digambara Jains from Rajasthan and Gujarat are the followers of Bisapanth.

• Terapanth : Terapanth arose in North India in the year 1683 of the Vikram Era as a revolt against the domination and conduct of the Bhattarakas. i.e. religious authorities, of the Digambar Jains. As a result in this sub-sect, the institution of Bhattarakas lost respect in North India, however in South India the Bhattarakas continue to play an importent role. In their temples, the Terapanthis install the idols of Tirthankars and not of Kshetrapal, Padmavati and other deities. 
• Further. they worship the idols not with flowers, fruits and other green vegetables (known as sachitta things), but with sacred rice called 'Aksata', cloves, sandal, almonds, dry coconuts, dates, etc. As a rule they do not perform Arathi or distribute Prasad in their temples. Again, while worshipping they stand and do not sit.
• From these differences with the Bisapanthis it is clear that the Terapanthis appear to be reformers. They are opposed to various religious practices. As according to them these are not real Jain practices. The Terapanth had performed a valuable task of rescuing the Digambars from the clutches of wayward Bhattarakas and hence the Terapanthis occupy a peculiar position in the Digambar Jain community. The Terapanthis are more numerous in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
• It is pertinent to note that even though the name Terapanth sub-sect appears both among the Digambar and the Svetambar sects. Still the two Terapanthis are entirely different from each other. While the Digambara Terapanthis believe in nudity and idol-worship, the Svetambar Terapanthis are quite opposed to both.

• Taranpanth : The sub-sect Taranapanth is known after its founder Taran-Swami(1448-1515 A.D.). This sub-sect is also called Samaiyapanth because its followers worship Sarnaya, i.e., sacred books and not the idols. Taran-Swami died at Malharagarh, in former Gwalior State in Madhya Pradesh, and this is the central place of pilgrimage of Taranapanthis. 
• The Taranapanthis strongly refute idolatry but they have their own temples in which they keep their sacred books for worship. They do not offer articles like fruits and flowers at the time of worship. Besides the sacred books of the Digambars, they also worship the fourteen sacred books written by their founder Taran-Swami. Further, Taranapanthis give more importance to spiritual values and the study of sacred literature. That is why we find a complete absence of outward religious practices among them. Moreover, Taran-Swami; was firmly against the caste-distinctions and in fact threw open the doors of his sub-sect even to Muslims and low-caste people. 
• There are three main traits of the Taranapanthis:
• The aversion to idol worship
• The absence of outward religious practices
• The ban on caste distinctions
• They were evolved as a revolt against the religious beliefs and practices prevailing in the Digambar Jain sect, and it appears that Taran-Swami might have formulated these principles under the direct influence of Islamic doctrines and the teachings of Lonkashaha, the founder of the non-idolatrous Sthanakvasi sub-sect of the Swetambara sect. 
• The Taranapanthis are few in number and they are mostly confined to Bundelkhand, Malwa area of Madhya Pradesh and Khandesh area of Maharashtra.

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Source:: Internet

Acharya Shrimad Rajendra Suri

Abhidhana-Rajendra Kosh (Encyclopedia) was a outstanding achievement of the 19th century. It has become an inspiration and an example for Jain encyclopedia efforts in our time. This text is widely consulted by Jain scholars. Ordinary Jains may not come across it, but it has significantly influenced study of Jainism.

The author, Rajendra Suri, belonged to the Tristutik (or Agamik) sect of the  Swetambaras, originated by Shilaguna and Devabhadra Suri in 1193 AD.  It is a small sect that is opposed to worship of minor gods etc.

He was born as Ratna Raj Parakh on Vikram Samvat 1833 (3rd December, 1827) in Bharatpur.  He became a trader with his brother and lived in Srilanka for a while. He became a yati under Hemavijayaji at Udaipur in 1846 (vikram samvat 1925). He became a reformer against the traditional life of many yatis then (use of chanwar, palkhi etc )and gave up the "daftari" title.

He finished his Abhidhan-Rajendra Kosh, in vikram samvat 1960. It was published in 9200 pages in 7 volumes. It took 13 years to write and 21 years to publish. He also wrote 13 other major texts. He passed away in Mohankhera (Rajagarha) in vikram samvat 1963, on the same thithi  he was born (paush shukla 7th). This day is celebrated as Guru Saptami by the Tristutik sect.

Mohankheda has become a tirtha because of the presence of  Acharya Shrimad Rajendra Suriji since vikram samvat 1940. He was also associated with Mandava, Swarnagiri, Talanapur tirthas.

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Source: Internet

Taran-swami and his Taran-panth

The 15-16th century was an age of transition in India. During this time several reform movements arose in Jainism. Lonkashah of Gujarat founded his Dhundhia order in Samvat 1508 (1451 AD), The Terapanth (Atyadhma movement) among the Digambaras arose in Samvat 1683 in Agra. The main founders of this movement were Banarasi Das of Agra and Amarchand of Sanganer. Taran-swami in Bundelkhand founded his Taranpanth sect of the Digambaras in Samvat 1563 (1506).

The Digambar Terapanth movement was against the domination of the Bhattarakas. They opposed worship of various minor gods and goddesses. Some Terapanthi practices, like not using flowers in worship, gradually spread throughout North India among the Digambars. The Taran-panthis on the other hand, traditionally do not have idols in their shrines at all. 

Taranswami was a remarkable philosopher and author. He was born in Pushpavati (now Bilahari near Katni). His father was a government official there. His mama(uncle) lived in Sironj, where a Bhattaraka institution was present. When he was 8 years old, while accompanying his father to Sironj, he came across Bhattarak Shruta-kirti. The Bhattarak persuaded the boy to start attending the lectures where "Samayasar"was discussed. Later Taran-swami organized his group , meditated and preached at Semalkheri, Sukha and Rakh. His samadhi is at Nisaiji in Dist Guna.

He wrote 14 books. His language is very unique, being a blend of Prakrit, Sanskrit and Apabhransha. Note that at this time Jains have not been using Prakit for several centuries. His language was perhaps influenced by his reading of the books of Acharya kundakunda. Copies of his books are very hard to obtain. Mostly Kanjiswami has some lectures based on Taranswami's books.

The number of Taranpanthis is very small. Their shrinesare called Chaityalya (or some times Nisai/Nasia). At the altar (vimana) they have a book instead of an idol. The Taranpanthis were originally from 6 communities. These days they are gradually merging with other Jain in the area. In recent past, some of them have been followers of Kanjiswami of Songarh.

One interesting note. Rajneesh/Osho was born in a Taranpanthi family.

Notes

[1] Bundelkhand region is Lalitpur (UP), Guna, Sagar, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Damoh districts and nearby region. The Taranpanthis are mainly found here. 

[2] This Shrutakirti may be the same one who wrote Dharma-Pariksha, arivansha-purana and Parameshthisarin Apabhramsha. His teacher's teacher was Devendrakirti who originated from Gujarat and had placed his students at the Bhattarak seats of Surat as well as Chanderi in Bundelkhand region. 

[3] The term Nasia for a temple may have been derived from the practice of saying "Jay jay jay,nisahi, nisahi, nisahi" when one enters a temple.

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Source: Internet

Acharya Kundakunda

Great organizer of highly complex ideas

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, atop a hill known as Ponnur Malai, on a large stone under a certain champa tree pilgrims may come across an engraved pair of stylized footprints (charan). These footprints are symbolic of a thinker who, nearly two millennia ago composed some of the most influential philosophical books in world history. Some scholars from generations since then remember the exact day of their first encounter with his spiritual masterpiece, the Samaya Sara.

Among the most famous of all Jain acharyas, Kundakunda, the celebrated author of the four renowned books Samaya Sara (Treatise of the True Self), Pravachana Sara (Treatise of Lectures), Niyama Sara (Treatise on Pure Rules), Panchastikaya Sara (Treatise on Five Universal Components) and Ashta Pahuda (Eight Steps), which is a collection eight texts. All his works are written in a Jain dialect known as Shourseni Prakrit. The organization of Jain ideas into certain relationships and structures taken for granted in more recent centuries was ultimately a product of his genius. Such has been his fame since early items, that many other books actually written by his pupils and others are popularly ascribed to him. In the Digambar tradition he is named immediately after Lord Mahavira and the preceptor Indrabhuti Goutam in the Mangalacharana (auspicious 

blessing) prayer, and Jains of the Digambar tradition dub their tradition Kundakund-anvaya  (the order  of Kundakunda). However, scholars of all sects study his books with deep veneration.

He was born around the beginning of the first century AD in South India in a place becoming a Jain monk was Padmanandi, but he is better known by the place of his origin. Kundakunda mentions that he was an intellectual descendant of Bhadrabahu I, the last Shrut Kevalin. Kundakunda belonged to an ancient order called the Nandi Sangha, wherein most monks assumed names ending in ‘nandi’. The Punyashrava Katha Kosh mentions that in his previous life, Kundakunda was a cow-herder who had found and preserved ancient texts and was blessed by a wandering monk. Acharya Kundakunda’s intense learning and moral character attracted royal disciples such as King Shivakumar. The story of Kundakunda is also surrounded buy legend- it is even said he could walk in air.

Kundakunda’s influence extends far beyond Jainism. India has always been a land where philosophical debate is a standard feature of intellectual life. The concise and systematized aphorismic forms he brought to Jain literature  and the literary structures in which he explained Jainism’s most advanced scientific principles relating to such area as atomic structure, cosmic dimensions, the cosmic ethers, and psychology, rivaled anything produced up to that time anywhere in the world. Hindu and Buddhist thinkers were put to the task of finding ways to respond to his explications of Jain philosophy and conduct, and he thus set unprecedented levels of erudition and rationalism in India’s overall philosophical discourse which would last through modern times.

Out of enthusiastic respect, Acharya Kundakunda has been called “Light of this Dark Age”. Several commentaries on his Samaya Sara have been written in Sanskrit and modern languages. In more recent centrues, the Samaya Sara had greatly moved leaders and scholars like Banarasi Das, Taran Svami, Shrimad Rajachandra and Kanaji Swami.

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Source: Internet

Acharya Bhadrabahu-I

Leader of the undivided Sangha

Today, most Jains adhere to either of two great traditions: Digambar or Shvetambar. But in antiquity there was only one Jain tradition, and a man named Bhadrabahu holds the distinction of having been the leader of the undivided Sangha.

Teacher - student lineages recorded separately by both the Shvetambar and Digambar traditions join each other when they are traced back to Bhadrabahu, the very last individual to have attained the state of Shrut Kevalin, an authority on the 14 original Purva texts handed down from Mahavira’s own times.

The teachings of omniscient Lord Mahavira were compiled 12 Anga text and 14 Purvas. The Purvas were regarded as part of the  twelfth Anga, entitled Drishtivada. These texts were passed down from teacher to student by a well-regulated system of oral tradition and mnemonics. Teacher recited them and students memorized them. All Jain principles are based on these texts. After Lord Jambu (fifth century BC) who, in all time since, would be the last human being to achieve omniscience, Jain monks and scholars were guided only by these texts. Those who knew all of these texts are called Shrut Kevalins, indicating that although they did not have full and total Keval Jnan through those texts.As already mentioned, Acharya Bhadrabahu was simply the last Shrut Kevalin. Since there have been other Jain acharyas with the name Bhadrabahu , he is sometimes referred to as Bhadrabahu I.

Bhadrabahu was born at Pundravardhan, now in Bangladesh. During his time, the secondary capital of the Mauryans was the city of Ujjain. While there Bhadrabahu was able to perceive through is nimitta jnan (subtle cognition of causes and effects) that there would occur a 12-year famine across North India. He decided the famine would make it harder for monks to survive as it would naturally make them a burden on a society already in need. He thus migrated with a group of monks to South India bringing with him Chandragupta, the aging founder of the Mauryan Empire turned Jain monk.  While Bhadrabahu was away the remaining monks in the North realized that the sacred scriptures were being forgotten. A monk named Sthulabhadra convened a ouncil to recompile the Purva scriptures. However, because Sthulabhadra’s own knowledge of these texts was imperfect, he wanted Bhadrabahu to study the sections missing from his memory. Bhadrabahu taught Sthulabhadra, but forbade him to teach the Purvaa to others upon witnessing a demonstration by Sthulabhadra of certain extra corporal powers, which indicated that with time these sacred scriptures would become corrupted. Thus, the 14 Purvas in their original form  died with these two men.

Bhadrabahu remains an exemplar of dedication to first principles at any cost. After him, the Sangha split into two separate teacher-student lineages of monks. Digambar monks belong to the lineage of Acharya Vishakha and Shvetambar monks follow the tradition of Sthulabhadra. Bhadrabahu composed some new texts as well. In the Shvetambar tradition, Brihatkalpa, Vyavahara, and Nisitha are considered his works.

Sadhvi Chandanbala (A brief & Known History)

To see a group of Jain nuns pass by is awe-inspiring. Barefoot, clad simply in a pure white garment, white garment, with a gentle demeanor but firm in following a noble but arduous code of conduct, the order of nuns(sadhivs) has been a major source of inspiration for  Jain shravakas throughout the centuries. They are following in the footsteps of the first nun, Aryika(Sadhvi) Chandanbala.

Over 25 centuries ago, Lord Mahavira, having established the final Tirtha of this declining era, attained Moksha in 599 BC. The Kalpa Sutra mentions that at that time Mahavira’s Sangha consisted of 14,000 monks,36,000 nuns,159,000 shravakas and 318,000 shavikas. Able Aryika(Sadhvi) Chandanbala, who was also known as Chandana, led the congregation of  nuns.

Chandanbala was born into a royal family. Tragically, as the result of a war, she was taken into slavery and sold. She was purchased by Seth Dhanadatta for use as a domestic servant. When the seth’s wife saw Dhanadatta treat  his slave kindly, she became jealous of the beautiful Chandanbala. While Dhanadatta was away, she had Chandanbala’s head shaved and her legs chained to the door of her slave quarters where she cried in anguish for days. When hungry, she was given half-cooked lentils (urad) in a flimsy bamboo container used for winnowing(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnowing) grain called a supa. Chance awaited her in this miserable condition.

Lord Mahavira was a Jain monk, and Jain monks may often take a vow to accept food only when it is possible to observe a set of pre-determined special conditions. The practice originates with Mahavira himself. A few months before he attained Keval Jnan, continuously fast until offered food by only that individual who met 10 untold and seemingly impossible conditions. He would accept (1)only urad lentils,(2) offered in a winnowing basket, (3) given by a person standing sideways with one foot on the threshold of  a dwelling place and the other foot outside, (4) who was a princess turned in to a slave, (5) who had a shaven head, and (6) whose legs were bound by chains. She had to be (7) a chaste woman, (8) at the time performing the penances of attham (3 days’s fast), and would serve him (9) only after all other mendicants had rejected her food offering, (10) with tears in her eyes.

Many would have cherished  the honor of giving food to Mahavira. Five months and 28 days lapsed, and no donor fulfilled his secret conditions. But Chandanbala, a princess sold as a slave, shackled and humiliated by the jealous wife of a depraved merchant, fulfilled his secret conditions. But Chandanbala fulfilled all the other conditions except weeping. As Mahavira passed by, he turned his face away at the last moment without accepting her humble alms. Already tormented and abused, Chandanbala began to cry.

And thus the final condition was met. To the amazement of onlookers including her captors, in his bare palms Mahavira accepted the food Chandanbala offered from her simple winnowing basket, breaking his six-month fast with a small handful of the rough slave fodder that Chandanbala had been living on for weeks. Chandanbala was released and she joined Lord Mahavira’s monastic order. She thus became the first nun of the Mahavirian Jain tradition and eventually the leader of thousands of Aryika(Sadhvi)s.

The significance of  Chandanbala’s leadership may be judged by comparing the order of Jain nuns with the Buddhist nun. Buddha agreed to ordain nuns only after considerable hesitation and persistent pressure from his aunt. Within a few centuries of Buddhist nuns was completely done away with in the Theravada sect. Some scholars believe this lack of female leadership contributed significantly to Buddhism’s eventual extinction in India.

Thousands of jain nuns today walk all over India and now travel  the world, presenting the message of Lord Mahavira and following the path of Aryika(Sadhvi) Chandanbala. 

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Source : Internet

Purpose of Life as per Jainism

For Jains, the purpose of life is to attain moksa, or release, from the cycle of rebirth. There are five levels on the path of human development:

1. Sadhus (monks) and sadhvis (nuns)
2. Upadhyayas (teachers of the Jain scriptures)
3. Acharyas (spiritual leaders)
4. Siddhas (liberated souls)
5. Arihantas (liberated souls who have attained salvation; both Ordinary and Tirthankar)

Ordinary laypersons(Shravak & Shravika) are householders. When householders decide to undertake the renounced life, they first must live with monks or nuns for a time being. If, after learning more about religion and observing the renounced life, they still wish to undertake it, they take the five vows and become a sadhu or a sadhvi. In addition to keeping these vows carefully, Jain monks and nuns observe other special practices that set them apart.

Sadhus who have acquired special knowledge of Jain scriptures and philosophy, and teach the scriptures to others, are known as Upadhyayas.

Acharyas are special spiritual leaders. They have mastered the Jain scriptures, as well as several languages and a knowledge of various religions. Their lives exemplify spiritual excellence and they are able to lead a monastic community.

An Arihanta ("destroyer of enemies") is a person who has conquered all of his or her inner passions. They have shed all destructive karma and have become omniscient, omnipotent and completely without desires. Arihantas become Siddhas at death. Until then, they teach and help others. There are two categories of Arihantas, Ordinary and Tirthankara. Tirthankaras

Siddhas are liberated souls. They have escaped the cycle of rebirth, rid themselves of all karma, and are experiencing ultimate bliss in the highest level of heaven. Each Siddha is unique, but they are all equal and formless. Because they are completely detached from the world, they are unable to help others.

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Source: Internet