The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c6.40.1

c6.40.1

§ 16. JACOBI expressed the idea¹ that among the Titthagara such men were admitted who were dear to those communities that had attached themselves to Mahāvīra. This would have its counterpart on a larger scale in the structure of the Hindu pantheon. Provided that Mahāvīra’s community really gained in strength by the incorporation of whole bodies of sects, we must, however, bear in mind that the Titthagara are separated from each other by “astronomical figures”, whereas those persons must have lived more or less distinctly in the memory of the contemporaries. As is the case with so many characters of the Brahman legends we can neither prove nor can we definitely dispute the assertion that the preachers of salvation relic on individual persons. The lowest rungs of the Titthagara ladder leading from primeval times up to the present are more or less clearly visible in the light of history.² Yet we would be more correct in saying that the ladder reaching from an historically attested experience on dogmatic grounds far up into the past is still hit by this light at a point not far from its foot. The question to be asked is how far up this is the case. We meet Ariṭṭhanemi in Nāya 5; Antag. 1-5; Vaṇhid.; Utt. 22. He is placed within the Kṛṣṇa circle as the brother-in-law of Kaṃsa; the scene is Dvāravatī (Bāravai).