Jain Councils

                                Sthulabhadra Jain temple in Patna/ Ghosh Ujjwal via Wikimedia Common

On the death of great Jain saint Bhadrabahu, the First Jain Council was called by the Jaina monk Sthulabhadra at Patliputra. At this great council, the twelve Angas or sections, the sacred cantons of the Svetambaras, were compiled which replaced the fourteen former Jaina texts (Purvas). 

The Second Jaina Council was held in Valabhi in Saurashtra (Gujarat) in the 5th century AD under the leadership of Devardhi Kshamasraman. At the council, the Oral Jain traditions of the Svetambaras were finally reduced to writing in the form of twelve Upangas or minor sections, and various lesser sections. 

Royal patrons of Jainism

Samprati, grandson of Asoka, the great Mauryan Emperor, had embraced Jainism. His contribution to Jainism is similar to that of Asoka to Buddhism. In the latter half of the first century B.C. King Kharavela of Orissa professed Jainism and became its great patron. It is interesting to note that though Kharavela had embraced Jainism, which stresses on non-violence, he was an imperialist to the core and entered in sanguinary conflicts with his adversaries all over India. He is credited with setting up several images and his chief queen granted a rock-cut cave to the Jain monks.

From the fifth century AD onwards, famous rulers of royal dynasties of South India, such as the Eastern Chalukyas, the Western Gangas, the Kadambas and the Rashtrakutas were patrons of Jainism. Amma II of Eastern or Vengi Chalukyas  is known to have patronized the Jaina monks.  

Amoghavarsha of the Rashtrakuta dynasty became a Jain monk and patronized Jinasena, author of Adipuarana.

Life of Vardhamana Mahavira

Vardhamana Mahavira

A contemporary of The Buddha, Vardhamana, known to his followers as Mahavira, was born in village Kundandagrama near Vaishali in Bihar in a kshatriya (the warrior class) family about 540 BC. His father Siddhartha was the chief of the Jnatrikas clan and his mother Trishala was sister of Chetaka, the Licchavis king of Vaishali. Mahavira was also related to Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha, who was married to Chellana, the daughter of Chetaka. Mahavira was married to Yashoda and had a daughter whose husband, Jamali, became the first disciple of Mahavira.

Though Mahavira was educated in all branches of knowledge he shied away from materialistic life. At the age of 30, when his parents were dead, he renounced his family, became an ascetic, and proceeded in search of truth. For over twelve years, he went from one place to another and led a life of torture by subjecting his body to all kinds of hardships but it was of no avail. During this period he met another ascetic, Gosala Maskariputra, who later founded the sect of Ajivikas. The Ajivika sect enjoyed its heydays during the Mauryan rule under Ashoka and his successor Dasharatha. It, however, survived until fourteenth century in south India.

In the thirteenth year of his asceticism on the tenth of Vaishakha, outside the town of Jrimbhikgrama he found full enlightenment and Nirvana. From now onwards he was called Jaina or Jitendriya (one who has conquered his senses), Nirgranthas (“Free from Bonds”) and Mahavira (the brave) and his followers were named Jain. For the remaining thirty years Mahavira moved from one place to another in the Gangetic kingdoms and preached his religion. At the age of 72 he breathed his last at Pava, near the Magadhan capital Rajagrha in 527 BC.