Great Jain Ascetics

Index

• Acharya Bhadrabahu
• Acharya Kundakunda
• Acharya Kundkund
• Acharya Sushil Kumarji Maharaj
• Acharya Tulsi: Peaace and Austerity
• Buterai (Budhivijayji Maharaj)
• Gandhi 'The peace icon'
• Life of a Reformist Saint Kanaji Swami
• Life of Shri Mad Rajchandra
• Mahakavi Pampa
• Rajendra Suri
• Rajendra Suri: Reformer and Revivalist
• Revolutionary Jain Monk Munishri Tarunsagarji
• Saint Tiruvalluvar was a Jain
• Taran-swami and his Taran-panth

Seminar on Marathi Literature of Saint Brahm Mahatisagar

Seminar on Marathi Literature of Saint Brahm Mahatisagar

A full day seminar on Marathi literature of 17th century Jain Saint Brahm Mahatisagar is organized at Pune on Sunday, 14th March 2010.

The seminar will be inaugurated by Dr. Arun Adsul, Acting Vice Chancellor of Pune University at 9.00 A.M.

In first session of theseminar, five scholars will speak on Jainism in Maharashtra and its impact on other sects. This section will be held under presidentship of Dr. Ashok Kamat, Ex President of Saint Namdev Chair of Pune University.

In session two, another five scholars will speak on the life and literature of Saint Brahm Mahatisagar, under presidentship of renowned writer Shri Shrenik Annadate,

The seminar is jointly organized by Shri Brahm Mahatisagar Jain Sahitya Sanshodhan aani Prakashan Kendra of Dahigaon (Solapur), Seth Hirachand Nemchand Jain Chair of Pune University and Bhandarkar Oriental Research University of Pune.

In the concluding session, renowned educationalist and scholar Dr. M.P. Mangudkar will give his speech. Shri Milind Phade, educationalist and activist will be the president of this session.

Venue:
Kale Hall
Gokhale Institute
BMCC Road, Deccan Gymkhana
Pune 411004

Time:
9 A.M. to 5.30 P.M.
Sunday 14th March 2010

For more details, please contact me on 962 372 5249

-Mahavir Sanglikar

The Jain Community of Present Days

Mr. Lothar Clermont,Thomas Dix & Dilip Surana

The Sangha
Among the Jains, the community of followers is divided into the ordained (monks and nuns) and a vast multitude of lay followers these two groups have always been closely associated with one another. By convention, the lay following in Gujarat and Rajasthan supervises the selection, training and conduct of the ascetics. Their morals strictly watched and even the slightest cause for complaint results in their expulsion from the class of the ordained. Sometimes their background is investigated and often the executive committee of the lay following rejects unworthy applicants for the selection of abbots This supervision, however, extends only to those monks belonging to one's own sect, reminding one a little of the Free church of Scotland.

Monks and nuns
There is a fundamental difference in the concept of monk hood as understood by the Europeans and the Jains. The west associates this concept with the idea of a settled existence which binds one to a community, whereas the Jains associate with it the idea of eternal wandering from place to place, with no permanent residence.

Consequently, Monks and nuns, who take their vows seriously and through their ascetic achieve liberation or, moksha, are thus the ideal for the community and consequently very highly respected. Since they are compelled to lead the lives of homeless wanderers, certain social obligations, which in the West identified with religious orders, lay people for example, performed the responsibility of running hospitals and schools.

To become a monk it is necessary to take five great vows': not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, the vow of chastity, and renunciation of property. The vow not to steal implies the renunciation of everything that is not essential for survival. In some extreme cases, this may mean that a monk will, sleep huddled and doubled up on the floor to occupy an area less than the length of his body. Renunciation of property also means not becoming attached to things and places. Consequently, the monk has to be permanently on the move. Originally, Mahavira had permitted monks a rest period of only a day in a village and five days in a city. Later, this extended to one week and one month, respectively, it is for this reason that Jain communities have constructed lodging and community halls at several places. These are very often the focus of community activity. The monks and nuns use these community centres for delivering their Sermons and seek to promote morality among the lay-followers. For this, they are shown extraordinary gratitude and reverence in the form of the ritualistic washing of the feet or through prostration. The vow not to lie, is to mean the matching of words with deeds.

The life of the homeless ascetic is extremely hard for he has to dispense with the comforts of life such as a soft bed or a bath. The ascetic leads a regulated life, day divided into four equal parts for preaching, self-study, meditation and collecting alms.

The monk is to wake up around 4.00 am and after performing ablutions to reflect on any transgressions he may have committed the previous night. At the break of day, he inspects his body, clothes and his place of rest for insects, in order to remove them to a place of safety. After this, he preaches and studies. He cannot begin his tour for alms before 10.00 in the morning. Even this activity governed by strict rules; the donor must not be the same person who provided the monk shelter for the night, the food should not have been prepared especially for the monk, and it should neither be taken nor be bought for the monk. He must eat before sunset, since after nightfall there is a danger through oversight of swallowing tiny living beings. At 3.00 pm, the clothes and body again inspected for animals. No light can be brought into lodging as this too may injure the insects. After nightfall, the monk has to concentrate on meditation or the recitation of mantras.

Apart from this code of conduct, monks often take an additional vow, mostly with regard to fasting, which has developed into a complete system by itself, lasting ranges from the renunciation of certain foodstuffs to a total rejection of food. Several monks are capable of setting records, for example, in 1923, ascetic Sundarlalji fasted for eighty-one days.

Within the community of monks, the monk rises to various ranks, from muni (monk) to Vachaka (instructor) Upadhyaya (instructor) and Acharya (master). In most cases, the lay people celebrate the necessary ceremony as a festival.

Earlier, the goal of every monk was to die through self-starvation on a mountain after twelve years of practicing asceticism. Today this is hardly the case. However, it is quite common to refuse food in the case of an incurable disease or in the face of death.

The entire community comprising of the ordained and lay followers select the candidates for asceticism. Only those found with a morally unblemished character and pure in body accepted into this spiritual class. Provided these criteria are met, one can join from the age of seven-and-a-half years. For three years, one remains a brahmachari during which stage one may keep a tuft of hair and only take some of the vows of self-discipline, following this, the ascetic reaches the next, higher stage of kshullaka. At this stage, he must undertake the vows and begin the study of the scriptures.

The performance of the Pravrajya ceremony marks the initiation of a fully ordained monk. This ceremony includes the discarding of clothes, the handing over of the dhoti, the mouth cloth, the alms bowl, broom and stall to the monk. Finally, to tear out the last five tufts of hair from their roots, and this is extremely painful. This lengthy ceremony (which lasts for a month) is as magnificent as it is expensive For example, the candidate once again returns to the world bedecked with jewels, and these jewels then auctioned at the end of the ceremony. The cost of the ceremony is borne by the family of the prospective monk, or if this is not possible, by the entire community.

The ordination is a matter of honour for the family who may also use it for the purposes of publicity. Since the Jains are often very rich, the ordaining of a person from such a family is cause for an extended celebration lasting for days. In the first chapter of her book, A River Sutra, Gita Mehta has described the ordaining of the son of a millionaire jeweller beginning with the crisis in the life of the young man, she weaves in the conflicts arising in the family over the son's resolve to renounce the world. Despite this, the event is utilised to publicise the family's wealth, at the same time it reflects the family's desire of being admired.

The lay followersThe principle of not killing any living being is also enjoined on the non-ordained as the highest ideal. Therefore, from very early on, the choice of profession for the Jains was restricted. They are normally not soldiers, nor are they farmers since the ploughing of the field would inevitably result in the death of the smaller living beings. Until recently, the Jains could not study medicine since religious reasons forbade them to dissect. Consequently, the professions typical of them are banking, money lending and especially, the jewellery business in the modern world with its traffic system; it is no longer possible entirely to protect animals. The Jains have managed to reconcile this state of affairs due to their sense of pragmatism: since they cannot, as lay followers, ever achieve moksha. They prefer to let the ascetics achieve completion and perfection by strictly observing the vows taken by them rather than seeking to realise these themselves.

Since all life is regarded as sacred and inviolable, the Jains are in principle vegetarians. For improving their karma they feed rats, snakes and ants. In Bombay, there is a man who is earning his livelihood by being carried through the Streets on a bed - as food for the bugs. For Europeans the animal hospitals run by the Jains are strange: it is not only animals suffering from a disease which are brought here but also those which were sought to be saved, perhaps from slaughter, and were so purchased in the market or even directly from the butcher before the deed was committed . In 1875, there were three hundred and ninety-five cows and buffaloes, four blind calves, eight hundred and ninety-four goats, twenty horses, seven cats, two monkeys, two hundred and seventy-four hens, two hundred and ninety ducks, two thousand doves, fifty parrots, twenty-five sparrows and thirty-eight other birds in the animal hospital in Ahmedabad. Some of these hospitals even maintain insectariums where insects brought in before the monsoon, so they can be safe. A certain number of them then kept in one room and the room closed for about ten years, since it assumed that all life would have gone out by then.

Devout Jains are involved in minimising the influx of negative karma and in maximising the inflow of positive karma. They seek to achieve this goal by practicing great self-discipline and by avoiding all kinds of excesses, such as unnecessary travel, useless or sinful speech and the excessive expansion of commerce and business. Instead, they restrict themselves to their residential areas, eat moderately and are charitable. All this activity, including the decision to fast totally, achieved through repeatedly making vows to this effect.

A famous method of fasting, which obviously leads to achievements, which could set records, is to fast on one day, then to take one meal, fast the next two days and have a meal on the following day, then fast for the next three days etc. Having reached the limits of one's physical endurance, one should reverse the process to break the fast gradually. In recent times, a woman has succeeded in stretching the period of fasting and of gradually bringing it to thirty days. For this, she required a total of sixteen months.

Lay people can take the 'five small vows' as opposed to the five great vows' of the monks. This means renunciation of certain foodstuffs such as meat, honey, pumpkins, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, since according to the Jain religion several souls inhabit this foodstuff. Drinking water must be strained and boiled, and after sunset, nothing should be eaten.

Jainism, like all other Asian religions, lays a lot of stress on meditation. A conscious Jain meditates at least once daily for forty-eight minutes, and there are some who meditate two or three times in a day. The prerequisite for successful meditation is indifference towards everything worldly, neutrality, and being kindly disposed towards all living beings.
In addition to these activities, which presume self-discipline and control, the devout Jain imposes on himself six necessary duties daily. These include the glorification of the Tirthankaras, daily worship at the temple, the taking of a vow, revering one's guru, maintaining one particular posture and making a confession. The confession plays an important role in the worship. It can either be reeled off as a list of sins or take the form of an auricular confession made to the guru or monk.

An enormous amount of self-discipline is required to put into practice these vows and restrictions. This self-discipline is the basis of the Jain religion. Since no deity intervenes and the purging of the karma depends on the individual's effort, it clearly means an extremely difficult and thorny path has to be trodden by the individual. A European misses the Joie de vivre a little. This the Jains, like all other people, undoubtedly acquire along the way but the religion itself does not expressly mention it.

Certain social achievements deserve admiration. In contrast to the Hindu milieu, the widows, for example, enjoy a better and unproblematic status. If a marriage is in the offing and the family is too poor to bear the expenditure, the burden is shared by the entire community. In addition, the Jains finance the education of a student from a common fund: students receive a stipend, money for books, and personal necessities, and live in the Jain hostels in big cities. In return, the students have to keep the community informed of their progress and have to attend the class on religion daily. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Jain community is particularly well educated and cultured. This is yet another reason, in addition to their affluence, why Jains are often envied and resented.

Rituals accompanying life
The adaptation of certain ideas from Hinduism has resulted in the Jains having to perform innumerable rituals; a few are briefly mentioned here.

Five months into the pregnancy, the prospective mother is blessed with holy water to the accompaniment of the recitation of mantras in the Garbhadhana ceremony (the laying of the fruit of the womb) performed for the happiness and prosperity of the child.

Three months later, in a similar ceremony, prayers held for the birth of a boy. Soon after the birth, the horoscope is drawn up, which is very important for every Indian. In addition, mantras (devotional incantation) are recited to Ambika (refer to the chapter on Mt. Abu for the significance of this goddess)

On the third day the infant is, shown the sun during the day and the moon at night for the first time.

Within a month of the birth, mother and child cleansed of the impurities accompanying the birth in a ceremonial bath. A few days later, the child named either by the parents or a particularly respected family member or by a highly revered guru.

Sometime between the age of one and five, the child's hair is shorn off ceremoniously and the hair is either consecrated to a deity or buried in a temple.

If a Jain is devout or reveres a particular guru, he can become a member of the following through the performance of the Samana ceremony especially for this purpose. Although practically every family has its own traditional guru, yet the choice is of the individual. He can make decision at any time, once the individual concerned attains majority and provided he feels the need for it.

The marriage customs too are very similar to those of the Hindus. These include the long drawn out process of the parents selecting the partner by means of horoscopes and initiating inquiries. Another example is the Circumambulation of the holy fire and the tying together of the hands of both partners with a string.

We have already seen how important it is for the Jains to take vows, so after the marriage the couple should promise before a monk to refrain from doing certain things for a certain period of time, and if possible for their whole lives.

Even the last rites are similar to those of the Hindus the corpse is cremated and the ashes scattered in the river. The only difference is that the pile of wooden logs are on a small base made of stone or metal so as not to injure any living beings when the wooden logs are set ablaze.
This very brief overview of the rites of passage is necessarily of a general nature, i.e. the rites mentioned here may differ from region to region and sect to sect. Naturally, the degree of devoutness, the fact whether a family is conservative or liberal as well as the level of education play as decisive a role here as in Europe.

ARYIKA CHANDANA

ARYIKA CHANDANA
The first nun

By Prof. Yashwant Malaiya

To see a group of Jain nuns pass by is awe-inspiring. Barefoot, clad simply in a pure white garment, white garment, with a gentle demeanor but firm in following a noble but arduous code of conduct, the order of nuns(sadhivs) has been a major source of inspiration for Jain shravakas throughout the centuries. They are following in the footsteps of the first nun, Aryika Chandana.
Over 25 centuries ago, Lord Mahavira, having established the final Tirtha of this declining era, attained Moksha in 599 BC. The Kalpa Sutra mentions that at that time Mahavira’s Sangha consisted of 14,000 monks,36,000 nuns,159,000 shravakas and 318,000 shavikas. Able Aryika Chandana, who was also known as Chandanabala, led the congregation of nuns.

Chandana was born into a royal family. Tragically, as the result of a war, she was taken into slavery and sold. She was purchased by Seth Dhanadatta for use as a domestic servant. When the seth’s wife saw Dhanadatta treat his slave kindly, she became jealous of the beautiful Chandana. While Dhanadatta was away, she had Chandana’s head shaved and her legs chained to the door of her slave quarters where she cried in anguish for days. When hungry, she was given half-cooked lentils (urd) in a flimsy bamboo container used for winnowing grain called a supa. Chance awaited her in this miserable condition.

Lord Mahavira was a Jain monk, and Jain monks may often take a vow to accept food only when it is possible to observe a set of pre-determined special conditions. The practice originates with Mahavira himself. A few months before he attained Keval Jnan, continuously fast until offered food by only that individual who met 10 untold and seemingly impossible conditions. He would accept (1)only urad lentils,(2) offered in a winnowing basket, (3) given by a person standing sideways with one foot on the threshold of a dwelling place and the other foot outside, (4) who was a princess turned in to a slave, (5) who had a shaven head, and (6) whose legs were bound by chains. She had to be (7) a chaste woman, (8) at the time performing the penances of attham (3 days’s fast), and would serve him (9) only after all other mendicants had rejected her food offering, (10) with tears in her eyes.

Many would have cherished the honor of giving food to Mahavira. Five months and 28 days lapsed, and no donor fulfilled his secret conditions. But Chandana, a princes sold as a slave, shackled and humiliated by the jealous wife of a depraved merchant, fulfilled his secret conditions. But Chandana, a princess sold as a slave, shackled and humiliated by the jealous wife of a depraved merchant, fulfilled all the other conditions except weeping. As Mahavira passed by, he turned his face away at the last moment without accepting her humble alms. Already tormented and abused, Chandana began to cry.

And thus the final condition was met. To the amazement of onlookers including her captors, in his bare palms Mahavira accepted the food Chandana offered from her simple winnowing basket, breaking his six-month fast with a small handful of the rough slave fodder that Chandana had been living on for weeks. Chandana was released and she joined Lord Mahavira’s monastic order. She thus became the first nun of the Mahaviran Jain tradition and eventually the leader of thousands of Aryikas.

The significance of Chandana’s leadership may be judged by comparing the order of Jain nuns with the Buddhist nun. Buddha agreed to ordain nuns only after considerable hesitation and persistent pressure from his aunt. Within a few centuries of Buddhist nuns was completely done away with in the Theravada sect. Some scholars believe this lack of female leadership contributed significantly to Buddhism’s eventual extinction in India.

Thousands of jain nuns today walk all over India and now travel the world, presenting the message of Lord Mahavira and following the path of Aryika Chandana.

Buterai (Budhivijayji Maharaj)

Buteraiji was born in a Punjabi Jaat Sikh family of Dalua village near Balolpur in Punjab in Vikram Samvat 1863. His father's name was Gathapathi Patel who was `Mukhia' (Choudhary) of the village. Karmodevi was mother of Buteraiji. The child of this couple was named `Talsing' according to wish of a Hindu sadhu who had predicted that the child will become an ascetic in his twenties. Later people started to call Talsing as Dalsing. Eventually the family migrated to another village where the child became `Butasing' Butasing learnt Gurmukhi and studied Guru Granthsahib and other Sikh Granths. This created non-interest about worldly things into him. He told his mother that he was not interested in marriage and wanted to become an ascetic. His mother resisted but Butasing was firm. At last she said, `ok, but remember that you should choose the right path only'

With permission of his mother Butasing left his home in search of a true Guru. He traveled all the greater Punjab, Kashmir and Himalaya. He lived with fakirs, Nathpanthis, and even with Charasi, Bhangedi, Ganjedi Sadhus. He found how almost all the sadhus were keenly interested in wealth, money, power and women. He didn't find any true ascetic anywhere.

But one day he came into contact with a Jain monk Nagarmalji of Sthanakwasi sect. Nagramalji was a great Jain monk with lot of knowledge and famous for his right conduct. Butasing became his disciple and took the Munidiksha at Delhi in Vikram Samvat 1888. He became Buteraiji alias Muni Buddhivijayji after diksha. He learned Ardhmagadhi and Sanskrit languages and stared to study Jain Agams.

At that time Punjab was stronghold of Sthanakwasi sect. Buteraiji found that there were many wrong things were going on in this sect. He started to remove such things. He removed Muhpatti in spite of opposition from most of the Stahanakwasi sadhus and shravaks. But with his great knowledge about Jain agams he succeeded in establishing Shwetambar Murtipujak sect in Punajab.

Acharya Kundkund

If recent research is correct in considering him to have belonged to the second or third century ad, then this would make him the first significant and independent thinker of the post-canonical period whose views are accepted as representing the essence of Jaina thought. Although he was a pioneering Digambara thinker, probablyfrom South India, appreciation for his views also comes from the Digambar sect of Jainism. He was also known as Padmanandi. The name Grudhapiccha, erroneously used for him since about the fourteenth century, has led to confusion because it is also an alias for Umaswati.

A total of eighty-four works on various themes are ascribed to Kundakunda, of which fifteen are extant and three may be said to be philosophical masterpieces, all written in the Prakrit language. These are the Pañchastikaya (Essence of the Five Existent= s), the Pravacanasara (Essence of the Scripture) and the Samayasaa (Esse= nce of the Doctrine). The Pañcstikya and samaysara is an elementary work=dealingwith the Jaina substances (excluding time because it does not occupy any spatial points) and the fundamental truths, to which two additional categories are added, namely the meritorious and demeritorious acts related to karma (puṇya and pāpa). The Samaya= samaysara emphasizes, among other things, two standpoints mentioned in the canonical literature which seem to have no relation to the standard sevenfold standpoint (see Manifoldness, Jaina Theory of). These are the `definitive' standpoint (niścayanaya), used synonymously with the `pure' or `transcendental' (śuddha or paramārtha) standpoint,= and the `mundane' standpoint (vyavahārikanaya). It is an illuminating work dealing with the nature of the soul and its contamination by matter, and whether the soul's intrinsic nature is in any way affected or changed through karma bondage in so far as it is the doer and enjoyer of activities. An attempt is made to reconcile theseproblems, solutions to which depend on the standpoint from which one approaches the issues. The Pravacanasāra is an insightful work whose three sections clearly delineate its scope: knowledge, the objects of knowledge, and conduct. The problem of substance, quality and mode, is one of the pivotal issues in Jaina philosophy and a few points are outlined below in order to show how Kundakunda deals with it. It forms the subject matter of the second section of the Pravacanasara,which the tenth-century commentator Amṛtacandra says Kundakunda `properly discusses'.

The problem is basically that of how change in the world may be explained given the permanent, eternal nature of the two basic substances of ultimate reality; this has obvious implications for the essential nature of the soul. Kundakunda begins the section with the statement: `The object of knowledge is made up of substances, which are said to be characterized by qualities, and with which, moreover, are (associated) the modifications' (Pravacanasāra II, 1; trans. A.N.Upadhye). The basic problem is then evident when he says: `There can be no origination without destruction, nor is there destruction without origination; origination and destruction are not possible in the absence of permanent substantiality' (II, 8). How `origination' and `destruction', which in fact refer to change, are to beunderstood is expressed by Kundakunda in typical Jaina language in II, 19: `The substance forever retains its position, its own nature, as endowed with positive and negative conditions according as it is looked at from the substantial and the modificational viewpoints.'This is further elaborated:

All substances are nondifferent from the substantial viewpoint, but again they are different from the modificational view-point, because of the individual modification pervading it for the time being. According to some modification or the other it is stated that a substance exists, does not exist, is indescribable, is both or otherwise.

(II, 22–3)What Kundakunda means by origination and destruction is distinctively Jainist and is clarified later in the same section: `In this world, in which modifications originate and pass away at every moment, nothing is absolutely produced or destroyed; what is the production of one modification is the destruction of another; and thus origination and destruction are different' (II, 27). The change that occurs in matter is understandable on the analogy of objects and colour. Just as gold (regarded here as a substance), for example, can have not only different shades of colour (with colour being its basic quality) but also different forms (with the object made out of gold being its modification), so too all substances retain their substantiality despite the apparent destruction of their qualitiesand modes. The situation is more complicated with the soul substance. The problem is technical, and relates to two `operations' (upayogas) ascribed to the soul, namely `indeterminate intuition' and `determinate knowledge'; these operations are described as two qualities (guṇas) of the soul. The concern is with the unity or identity of the soul and involves the question of whether the two upayogas operate in the soul simultaneously or in succession, and if in succession, which is first, and whether they maintain their distinctness in the state of omniscience. Kundakunda maintains that they operate successively at the mundane level and simultaneously at the transcendental level of omniscience. His view, which is also held by Umāsvāti, represents the attitude of the Digambara sect and is=

opposed, for example, by Siddhasena Divakara, who, in regarding quality and mode as synonyms, says that they are not separate operations in the state of omniscience. His view represents the general Śvetāmbara standpoint, based on the fact that the canonical literature distinguishes only substance and quality, withoutmentioning the standpoint connected with the modifications of a substance.

RAJENDRA SURI: A REFORMER AND REVIVALIST

-B. N. LUNIYA

Seven hundred years of foreign rule in medieval period had sapped the political vitality of the Hindus, and uprooted whatever national consciousness they ever possessed. Their civil and religious rights were constantly trampled down, their property often plundered, and their blood was wantly shed. They were reduced to the position of hewers of wood and drawers of water. All this led to a general deterioration in Hindu society and religion. The society was honeycombed with caste, sub-caste and rigid distinctions. The characteristic of the society were a rigid caste-system with its attendant restrictions about touch, food, and marriage, and the strict prohibition of the re-marriage of the widows, Sati-system, rigid untouchability and the old inequitous attitude towards the lower castes. Dishonesty and corruption were rampart and the people were selfish and devoid of conscience. The purity of domestic life was threatened by luxury and debauchery, fashionable in the court, aristocracy and well-to-do families, and the sensual literature that grew up under such patrons.

So far as the Hindu masses were concerned, religion meant only an unending series of rituals and ceremonies, performed instrict accordance with scriptural rules. Many abnoxious rites were practiced by the common people and immoral customs, with belief in witchcraft and sorcery, were in vogue. These were partly legacies of tantric beliefs and practices which had a strong hold in the country. Religion as a source of moral purity and spiritual force, exercised little influence ever a large section of the common people. In fact, religion had become the handmaid of voice and folly.

The British rule in India introduced English education and western culture. English education opened the floodgates of the western ideal which almost overwhelmed the Indians at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It brought in a spirit of rationalism which seeks to inquire and argue before accepting anything. It made the Indian mind revolt against the tyranny of domgmas and traditional authorities, beliefs and customs. The impact of western culture and English education affected many aspects of Indian life and society, and he Brahma Samaj was its early outcome. Its founder Raja Ram Mohan Ray challenged the current religious beliefs and social practices of the Hindus as not being in consonance with their own scriptures. He openly protested against the blind acceptance of whatever passed current on the authority of priesthood or its interpretation of scriptures. He set in motion that liberalism in thought and action which has enabled Indians to shake off the fetters of ages. His Brahma Samaj effectively helped the progress of the Hindu society and religion by holding a living example of society, based on progressive and liberal views, and religion based, on rationalistic principles. Tow main planks of the Samaj were theistic worship and social reform-such as abandonment of caste-system, introduction of widow remarriage, encouragement of female education, and the abolition of Purdah and child-marriage.

Like Brahma Samaj in Bengal, Prarthana Samaj was established I Bombay and it had its branches in Bombay and Madras Presidencies. The Prarthana Samaj did not regard the Vedas as divine or infallible, nor believe in the doctrine of transmigration and incarnation of God. It drew its nourishment from the Hindu scriptures and used the hymns of the old Maratha poet-saints in the prayers.

But more important than the Brahma Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj was the Arya Samaj, socioreligious movement of the second half of the nineteenth century. It was founded by Dayanand Saraswati. The Arya Samaj condemned polytheism and monotheism as preached by Christianity and Islam. If the Brahma Samaj appealed to the English educated classes, the Arya Samaj appealed to the emotion of the masses. The Arya Samaj laid down that which every one should study. It tried to inculcate virtue and morality to which no religion can possible take any exception. It aimed at the reform of religion and society by reviving Vedic rituals and institutions, rejecting the hereditary caste-system, and not recognizing the authority and superiority of the Brahmans merely on the ground of birth. The Samaj denounced the worship of gods and goddesses and preached that only the Supreme Being should be worshipped; it proclaimed the right of everybody to study the Vedas and Hindu scriptures, it encouraged inter-caste marriage and adopted a brisk programme of education, especially female education.

A new religious movement called neo-Hidnuism also came in the lime light in the second half of the nineteenth century. Its common characteristic was the glorification of Hindu religion and society in their current forms and a spirited defense of these against hostile criticism both by Indian reformers and European missionaries. It sought to reconcile ancient Hindu ritualism and medieval Hindu faith with modern science, and it made people feel a new pride in their culture and religion, Pundit Sasadhar Tarka-Chudamani, Krishan Prasanna Sen, and Bankim Chandra Chatterji were great advocates of neo-Hinduism.

Another important religious movement of the last century was the Ramkrishna Math and Mission. Ramkrishna, a priest and saint of Dakshineswar Temple near Calcutta realized divinity in humanity and emphasized the service of mankind as a means to salvation. He expressed the highest wisdom or greatest truth in simple sentences and parables. The theme of all his discourses was the realization of God as the highest human ideal, attainable only by development of high spiritual life. This was only possible by discarding desire for material prosperity (vishayavasana) and lure for gold and women and turning all thoughts and actions towards God. He believed in the harmony of all religions. He demonstrated by precept and example that all the different religions are true in their essence and may lead to salvation if properly persued. He said that the different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God. He put on a high pedestal the virtue of toleration and reverence for all religions. The catholicity of view is great contribution of Ramkrishna to the modern world which religion has divided into so many watertight compartments. He said, “In whatsoever form or name you desire to call God, in that very form or name you will see Him.” The teaching of Ramkrishna gave the Hindu Revivalism a moral sanction, a philosophical basis, and a new spiritual significance of immense value. Swami Vivekanand, the worthy and noble disciple of Ramkrishna, stressing unflinching faith in Hindu religion, carried the divine message of Ramkrishna far and wide all over the world. He aimed at the elevation of masses by means of education based on religion and for this purpose he established new organization Ramkrishna Math and Mission the greatest spiritual force and centre of social service in Modern India. Vivekanand and Ramkrishna Mission saved Hinduism from destruction by the reactionary elements. It placed Hinduism on high pedestal and resisted onslaughts of Christianity and Islam.

The religious movements in the nineteenth century led to similar movements in other sects of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc. Various existing religious sects reacted in the same way to the new spirit of the age. The Madhavas of South India, the Shrivaishnavas of Mysore, the followers of Chaitanya cult in Bengal, the Shaivas, the Lingayats, the Smartas, the Radhaswami Satsang in Uttar Pradesh etc. launched their reformation and revival movements, to preach the principles of their sects and to strengthen and defend their position.

Jainism did not lag behind in this age of religious reform and revival. It also breathed the new spirit of the age. Jainism in the last century was divided and sub-divided into narrow sects. Superstition and dogmas rather than true rational principles of religion dominated them. The holy scriptures of Jainism including Agamas were stored in dark dingy cells in temples and Upashrayas, and they were forgotten. The study of holy books was callously neglected. To masses Jainism was an unending series of ritual and ceremonies, a rigid observance of certain beliefs, practices and fasts. Religious knowledge was based upon blind faith impervious to reason. Religion as a source of ethical values, moral parity and spiritual forces exercised little influence over a lager section of Jain community. The Jaina was expected to observe non-possession (aparigrah) and non-violence (ahimsa) in their daily life. They were to follow certain ethical code and moral values, but they set them at naught. Greed of possession and lust of gold were rampant in the Jain society. The Jain temples, which once were resounded with the recitation of prayers to Tirthankaras, songs of devotion and sayings from the holy saints and verses from scriptures, were now in dilapidated conditions, and were neglected. Some of the were in the custody of non-Jains and were used as armoury. Various types of arms were divided into different narrow sects. The life of a Jain monk was over burdened with the observance of rigid beliefs and practices. They neglected the study of holy books. The institution of Jain yati had degeneration considerably. The yatis were expected to be pious in life, observe celibacy, and be custodian of Jain scriptures. They were to be earnestly devoted to the cause of preaching and propagation of the principles of Jainism. But in the last century, the yatis were callously indifferent to the noble ethical code of Jainism. They neglected teaching and preaching. They lived in palacial mansions, surrounded by bond of admirers. They indulged in princely luxurious life and enjoyed all the privileges and pastimes of wealthy persons. The life of yati Dharnendrasuri bears testimony to all this. Jainism, therefore, needed reformers and revivalists like other religious sects in the nineteenth century and providence provided one in Ratan Raj, better known as Rajendrasuri. Reformation of Jainism was one of the main currents of the religious movements of the century.

Ratna Raj was born on the 3rd December, 1827 at Bharatpur (Rajasthan) in a family of business man named Rishabhadas Parakh. Having religious bent of mind he renounced the worldly life and was initiated as Jain yati by Hemavijayaji at Udaipur in 1846 and he was now known as Rajendrasuri. He had studied diligently the Jain scriptures, philosophy, literature, grammar, rhetoric, lexicography, etc. under Pramodsuri and Sagarchandji, the well-known yatis of the age and soon he acquired proficiency. Shri Dharanendrasuri yati was so much impressed by the profound scholarship of Rajendrasuri that he appointed him his daftari and entrusted the task of teaching the groups of yati disciples. But soon Rajendrasuri was disgusted with the princely and luxurious life of Dharanendrasuri, it was an utter disregard and contradiction to the Jain principles of non-possession and non-violence. Consequently Rajendrasuri left Dharanendrasuri in 1864 and this was a turning point in the life of Rajendrasuri.

Now he raised his voice against the corrupt and luxurious life of the yatis and condemned their abundance of possession and insisted on a pious ideal life in accordance with the principles laid down by Jain Tirthankaras and Jain holy scriptures. After prolonged deliberations, he issued none-point manifes to for the purpose and explained to the Jain world the significance of his nine principles of reform that the yatis had to follow. It was a vigorous attempts to reform the institution of yati and place it on sound, simple and rational principles and get rid of its age old traditions and superstitions. Though opposed in the initial stages, the attempts of Rajendrasuriji were ultimately crowned with success. His nine-point manifesto was accepted and recognized by the leading yatis of the age and even Shri Dharanendrasuriji also signed it. As a result of this the yatis had given up their worldly life and surrendered their princely symbols like silver rods, chanwar, palkhi, arms, etc. to the Jain temples, and tool solemn oath to lead a life of purity, simplicity, celebacy, non-possession, non-violence, teaching and preaching. Thus Rajendrasuri reformed and simplifies the yati institution, tin thui sect of Jainism, and a new life of revivalism was infused in them.

Rajendrasuri did not end at the reformation of the yati institution, it was his first task of revival movement. His other achievements were restoration and reconstruction of Jain temples and installation of Jain images and establishment of different socio-religious organizations for the uplift of the Jains and propagation of Jainism. Like a pious, true, diligent monk, devoted to the cause of Jainism. He walked from place to place in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Malwa, etc. teaching, preaching and infusing new spirit of the age among the people. He appealed to the masses by delivering his discourses in simple dialects of the people, the common spoken languages of the masses, - Malwi, Gujarati, Marwari, etc. He inspired the Jain monks to study profoundly the Jain scriptures. He himself devoted to the deep study of Jain works. He was bitterly opposed to the storage of Jain works in isolated places; he eagerly desired to bring them to light for the propagation of Jainism. He himself wrote collected and edited certain important Jain works. He complied the famous Jain encyclopedia Abhidan-Rajendra. It is a monumental work in seven volumes. This work itself places Rajendrasuri on a high pedestal of Jain scholars and pioneers of religious movements of the nineteenth century.