The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c18.56

v1.c18.56

Thus, the history of the Jains during these centuries is enveloped in almost total darkness; nor have we any further information as to the internal conditions of the community. Almost the only light thrown upon these comes from the Mathurā inscriptions, which incidentally mention a number of various branches, schools, and families of the Jain community. From this source, too, we learn the names of teachers who under different titles acted as spiritual leaders of these subdivisions, and of monks and nuns who practised their austere life under their leadership. Much the same religious conditions as are shown by the inscriptions have been preserved in the Jain church till the present day, although the names and external forms of the sects and the monastic schools may have changed in the course of twenty centuries. Moreover, the inscriptions mention the names of a vast number of these pious lay people, both male and female, who, in all ages, by providing the monks and nuns with their scanty livelihood, have proved one of the firmest means of support for the Jain church, and whose zeal for their religion is attested by the numerous gifts of objects for worship recorded in the inscriptions. Dr Hoernle¹ is no doubt right in maintaining that this good organisation of the Jain lay community must have been a factor of the greatest importance to the church during the whole of its existence, and may have been one of the main reasons why the Jain religion continued to keep its position in India, whilst its far more important rival, Buddhism, was entirely swept away by the Brāhman reaction. The inflexible conservatism of the small Jain community in holding fast to its original institutions and doctrine has probably been the chief cause of its survival during periods of severe affliction; for, as Professor Jacobi has pointed out long ago¹, there can be little doubt, that the most important doctrines of the Jain religion have remained practically unaltered since the first great separation in the time of Bhadrabāhu about 300 b.c. And, although a number of the less vital rules concerning the life and practices of monks and laymen, which we find recorded in the holy scriptures, may have fallen into oblivion or disuse, there is no reason to doubt that the religious life of the Jain community is now substantially the same as it was two thousand years ago. It must be confessed from this that an absolute refusal to admit changes has been the strongest safeguard of the Jains. To what extent the well-known quotation ‘*sint ut sunt aut non sint*’ may be applicable to the Jains of our days, may be questioned; but the singularly primitive idea that even lifeless matter is animated by a soul, and the austerest perhaps of all known codes of disciplinary rules seem scarcely congruent with modern innovations.