MOUTHS, WITH SWEEPING BRUSHES the nucleus of the sect as a strict monastic order, which eschewed ownership of everything mun dane, even garments, as the Digambara ascetic does still when feasible. But Jain history has suffered much from schism. Still some facts may be regarded as ascertained. About 317 B.C. under Bhadrabahu, Jainism expanded vigorously in north and north-west India, and good proof of this is that the language of the canons, redacted about A.D. 600 (though the Digambaras deny their authenticity), was old Magadhi (the tongue of south Behar). While it is doubtful if Samprati, a grandson of Asoka, was the first patron King of the Jains, inscriptions show that the Jains were powerful in Orissa in the 2nd century B.C., and during the 1st at Mathura.
At an early stage, however, schisms had weakened the sect. Mahavira was succeeded by patriarchs. But we have two distinct lines of them. According to the Digambaras, in the time of Bhad rabahu arose the Ardhaphalakas, an order of laxer principles, which in A.D. So developed into the Swetambaras, so called because they wear "white" clothes. The Swetambaras however claim to be the original order, and aver that the Digambaras originated in an heretical sect called Botika, three years later. Both orders agree that Bhadrabahu was the 6th patriarch, but the Digambaras claim that he led the true monks to the south, accompanied by Chandragupta Maurya, who had abdicated his throne. The truth may be that Chandragupta was deposed and exiled, but he. was eclectic in his beliefs and can only have embraced Jainism late in life. Since this exodus the Digambaras have been strongest in the south. In the north the Swetambara patriarchs each set up his own gachchha or "school of thought"; among them the Upakesa, fol lowed by the Oswal Jains. About 1125 the conversion of the powerful King of Guzerat, Siddharaja, gave the Jains their first historical royal patron, and under that cynasty they established their strong position in the west. The two orders differ little in but, if we except the Swetambara canons, the Digambara have the older literature, mostly in Sanskrit. They deny that women can attain nirvana.
Jainism may be described as lacking an absolute Godhead. Sharing in the theoretical pessimism of the Buddhist, Sankhya and Yoga philosophies, it aims in practice at the goal of liberation from the transmigration of the soul. Matter exists, but only as something which may become anything. Being is indefinite, yet complex, not simple : a thesis upheld by a subtle dialectic. All substances are divided, broadly, into lifeless things, and souls or lives (jiva). The former may become anything, whence the ele ments are bodies of souls in the lowest stage of development. But souls, though substances, are not matter : yet they are capable of expansion, indestructible and characterized by intelligence which can never be annihilated. And they are of two kinds, mundane and liberated; the former still subject to the Birth Cycle, the latter disembodied for ever. Into the mundane soul pours subtle matter, ready to be transformed into karma, of eight kinds, and combining almost chemically with the soul it forms a subtle body which, clinging to it, determines its state and lot. Having done its work
every karma is purged off from the soul until it is light enough to ascend to the top of the universe. But in actual life fresh karma tends to replace those eliminated, and then the soul must at death enter a new body. Moreover, the soul has transcendental colours, three good and three bad, indicating its character, and the soul itself may enter five stages, according as karma is neutralized, annihilated or partly one or the other. There are as many vows, first of which comes that "not to kill." This leads to a remarkable care to preserve all living things, and in strict practice the mouth should be covered with a cloth, lest the air be injured. Vermin must be removed, not killed, a Jain house being kept scrupulously clean. Monastic discipline is intense, and is not confined to bodily restraints, chastity, abstinence from alcohol, flesh, honey and roots, but includes mental discipline, purity of thought, con templation, confession and repentance. The strength of Jainism lies in its association of the laity in these principles to a degree compatible with secular pursuits. A layman may make vows, after he has made sufficient progress, without entering an order or taking its full obligations upon him. While suicide is a sin, both ascetics and laymen may hasten death by voluntary starvation, though to the latter this is only permissible in old age. The weak ness of Jainism is that it is essentially a creed of a cultivated class, from which the masses are excluded. Its stability is due to its recognition of lay co-partnership in spirituality, and though many minor schools weakened the Jain solidarity, only one new movement threatened to destroy it. At the close of the 15th cen tury Lonka Sha denounced idol-worship and founded the hia ("Searchers") or Sthanakavasi sect, which in turn split up into several sub-sects.
The Jain literature is vast, but only a fraction of it has been published. ,The Digambaras say that most of the older has been lost, and the Swetambaras have only preserved a part of theirs. Books are strictly safeguarded and some may be concealed. In architecture the Jains excel, and though Buddhist models were adopted in stupas and cave-temples, they carried the art of carving in stone to the highest point. Under Brahman influence Ajayapala (A.D. 1174-76) is said to have destroyed many fanes in Delhi and the north, but more were pillaged by the Muslims to furnish mate rials for mosques. To save their temples from desecration the Jains often made miniatures of Mohammedan tombs in them, and blended their style with Moghul features. In the south the original characteristics were kept more intact. The temple courtyards contain colossi of the Digambara saint, Gomata or Gomateshvara, and those in Kanara, with their reversed eaves, recall those of Nepal.