What is the cycle of rebirths - samsara?
According to Jainism (and also Hinduism) every living being is associated with a soul or jiva, and these souls are trapped in the never ending cycle of rebirths where a soul transfers to different bodies (animal and human) based on its Karma. If the soul has performed good Karma, it gets to live in more knowledgeable creatures (better Karma leads the soul close to a human life). Jainism states that a soul can attain enlightenment only when it is born as a human. A soul after attaining enlightenment leaves the body behind and is liberated i.e. it has broken the cycle of rebirths. It is stated that a soul which has any karma attached to it cannot attain enlightenment. More details on what Karma is and how it gets attached to a soul can be found on the Jainpedia site.
The 24 Tirthankaras
As seen earlier, Tirthankara is a person who has built a ford across the river of rebirth so others can follow him to liberation. Jains follow the teachings of the Tirthankaras to attain liberation, making them the spiritual teachers or prophets of the religion. In Jain cosmology, the wheel of time is divided in two halves, Utsarpini or ascending time cycle and avasarpini, the descending time cycle. In each half of the cosmic time cycle, exactly 24 Tirthankaras grace the universe. It is considered that we are currently living in avasarpini, and its Tirthankaras are listed below. There has been no historical evidence of the existence of the first 22 Tirthankaras.
- Rishabhanatha (Adinatha)
- Ajitanatha
- Sambhavanatha
- Abhinandananatha
- Sumatinatha
- Padmaprabha
- Suparshvanatha
- Chandraprabha
- Pushpadanta
- Shitalanatha
- Shreyanasanatha
- Vasupujya
- Vimalanatha
- Anantanatha
- Dharmanatha
- Shantinatha
- Kunthunatha
- Aranatha
- Mallinatha
- Munisuvrata
- Naminatha
- Neminatha
- Parshvanatha
- Mahavira (Vardhamana)
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| Twenty Four Tirthankaras |
According to Jain traditional texts, Rishabhanatha or Adinatha is the first Tirthankara who is believed to have lived millions of years ago in Ayodhya and achieved liberation on Mount Ashtapada (or Mount Kailash). He is credited with setting up the customs and institutions of society which include the caste system, marriage, farming, crafts, reading, writing, and mathematics. In traditional Jain texts the Tirthankaras are believed to have been born in the Ikshvaku dynasty, which is the same dynasty in which the Hindu God, Rama was born. Neminatha the 22nd Tirthankara is considered to be a cousin of the Hindu God, Krishna. It is fascinating how the history of these two religions coincide and have very similar concepts. There has been some historical evidence on the existence of Parshvanatha the 23rd Tirthankara, placing his birth year between 950 and 850 B.C.E.. According to Jain texts, he was born in the Varanasi region of India.
Mahavira
Mahavira was born in the royal family of Vrijji (Vajji) kingdom of the Mahajanapadas. His birthplace is Vaishali, the capital of the Vrijji kingdom. He is considered to have lived in the time period of 563 to 483 B.C.E.. It is believed that his parents were devotees of Parshvanatha. Mahavira grew up as a prince, and there have been controversial claims made by the two sects of Jainism - Digambaras and Svetambaras, regarding his marriage. The Digambaras believe that he was unmarried, while the Svetambaras believe that he was married to Yashoda and had a daughter Priyadarshana.
Mahavira left the royal lifestyle at the age of 30 in pursuit of spiritual awakening. He undertook severe fasts and bodily mortifications, meditated under the Ashoka tree, and discarded his clothes. According to traditional accounts, Mahavira achieved Kevala Jnana (omniscience, or infinite knowledge) under a Sala tree on the bank of the River Rijubalika near Jrimbhikagrama at age 43 after 12 years of rigorous penance. Jain texts document 11 Brahmins as Mahavira's first disciples, traditionally known as the 11 Ganadharas. After achieving Kevala Jnana, Mahavira and his disciples set out to spread the knowledge and guide others towards enlightenment. His teachings were mainly focused around the five fundamental vows that the Jains have to follow to attain liberation,
- Ahimsa - Non-violence
- Satya- Truth
- Asteya or Acaurya - No stealing
- Brahmacharya - Celibacy
- Aparigraha - No attachments or possessions
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| Lord Mahavira |
According to Jain texts, Mahavira's nirvana (death) occurred in the town of Pawapuri in present-day Bihar. His life and the night of his nirvana are commemorated by Jains as Diwali at the same time that Hindus celebrate it. After Mahavira left his body, his preachings were passed on generation over generation orally as 14 texts. It is believed that Bhadrabahu (born 150 years after Mahavira) was the last person to memorise all the texts and after his death, the original texts have become extinct. Revised editions of the texts were made with whatever knowledge was passed on to the people during that time.
Digambaras and Svetambaras
Around 200 years after Mahavira attained Nirvana, during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, Bhadrabahu, a leader of Jain community predicted a terrible famine hence decided to migrate towards the south. Sthulbhadra, another Jain leader and his followers decided to stay in the Magadha kingdom. The ones who stayed started to wear white clothes and are referred to as a Svetambaras (white-clad). The community that migrated south believed that losing all worldly possessions meant losing clothes, hence the monks of this sect are naked giving them the name Digambaras (sky-clad). During this split, some doctrines were changed or lost, hence giving rise to differences among these sects.
- Svetambaras can adorn their idols with clothes and ornaments while Digambaras do not.
- Svetambara monks can possess 14 different things specified by doctrines while Digambara monks can only have fans made from fallen peacock feathers and a vessel.
- Digambara monks don't ask for food and take the food given voluntarily to them and only eat and drink water once a day; while Svetambara monks usually collect a small amount of food from 3 to 4 different households.
- Digambaras believe that women cannot achieve liberation directly. They first have to be reborn as a man for this, however according to Svetambara, women are equally capable of achieving liberation.
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| Digambara statue is Shravanabelagola |
What's next in the series?
After looking at Hinduism and Jainism, in the next part let us see why Buddha could not follow one of these and went in search for something more.
Foot notes
The information provided here is based on my research of various sources. If you feel like this information is inaccurate, let me know and I would love to correct myself and learn more. In my encounter with various books I have seen that the history of India is mainly concentrated around the Indus valley and Delhi and very little information is provided of the southern and north-eastern parts, in this series I plan to cover all parts of India equally to the best of my efforts.
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Also let me know what topics you would want me to cover in the comments below. :)
- Aniruth
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