Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c14.t1.33

c14.t1.33

The religious corporation of the Jain monks was an important and unique organisation in ancient India. In fact, the Jains have remained as an organised community all through the history of India even before the rise of Buddhism down to the present day. The Jain sangha as it has been pointed out included the monks (samana), the nuns (samaṇī), the laymen (sāvaya) and the laywomen (sāviyā). Jain texts furnish us evidence about the existence of collective bodies of ascetics, who lived together under the leadership of one teacher in an *uvassaya* or a *vasati*, and who followed a code of rules and regulations laid down for them. We have seen that Pārśva and Mahāvīra had a large number of followers Likewise Vairasāmi had a *gana* of five hundred monks under his supervision.²¹