Contributed by Nalini Balbir
All lay and mendicant Jains are members of sects, which are the largest divisions within the Jain tradition. Monks and nuns are organised into mendicant or monastic orders. These form the largest grouping for mendicants. In Jainism there is no central authority equivalent to a pope, so a mendicant’s relationship with the leader of his or her mendicant order or subgroup – usually called an ācārya – is the most important one. These relationships between teacher and pupil produce a mendicant lineage or monastic order. Succession lists document these relationships and help establish the history and context of a mendicant order.
Members of most Śvetāmbara Mūrti-pūjak groups use the term gaccha for a sect. Within this sect there are smaller sects or subsects, which take gaccha as part of their title. Śvetāmbara Sthānaka-vāsin use sampradāya instead.
All monks and nuns live in small groups or communities. Because mendicants have a wandering life – vihāra – they travel in small bands, each with a leader, which are deliberately similar to large families. These leaders are subordinate to higher-ranking mendicants within the same monastic lineage or mendicant order.
The followers of the Jinas split over time and developed into two distinct sectarian traditions with individual histories at the beginning of the Common Era. Describing this process even-handedly is hard because Digambara mendicant orders have developed in a complicated way, still in need of scholarly exploration. Today Śvetāmbara mendicant orders appear fairly organised and structured. Although only the Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin sect has a single leader, other Śvetāmbara sects organise themselves around different leaders and subdivide into various subsects. Digambara mendicants also live in small communities but among the few full-fledged monks there is more emphasis on individualism. Both sects have a strict mendicant hierarchy based on length of monastic life although nuns are always junior to monks, regardless of mendicant rank.
In Mahāvīra’s time living in organised communities was not the only option. Another possibility was to live ‘like a Jina’, that is outside any group, living alone.
Senior monk teaching
Image by Victoria and Albert Museum © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London
A variety of terms is still used for the subdivisions of mendicant orders within sects. Some signal identities and differences while other are more or less synonyms and are used rather loosely.
Saṅgha is the broadest term. It can refer to the complete Jain ‘community’, with its four components of monks, nuns, lay men and lay women. But it is also used in the more restricted sense of ‘monastic community’ – sādhu-saṅgha or muni-saṅgha.
‘Monastic orders’ are called either gaṇa or gaccha. Both terms mean ‘group’. The first one is technically older. The second one etymologically relates to a root meaning ‘to go’ and thus can be understood as designating ‘monks who go together’ – who travel together and who follow the same rules. Gaccha is the term commonly used among the Śvetāmbara Mūrti-pūjaks to refer to the largest unit, often called the ‘sect’. It appears as the second element of various proper names such as Tapā-gaccha, Añcala-gaccha and Kharatara-gaccha. The Sthānaka-vāsins prefer the term sampradāya.
A monastic order is first defined by a common descent, which indicates a lineage. Most Śvetāmbara Mūrti-pūjaka orders trace their origin to Sudharman, one of Mahāvīra’s direct disciples.
In modern times, the Terāpanthins are the only Śvetāmbara monastic order with a straightforward history because they have a centrally organised structure with a single leader – ācārya. All other Śvetāmbara sects that have emerged since the 11th to 12th centuries have a complex history of splits, which have generated a number of subsects or sub-branches. These are known as sampradāyas, śākhās or samudāyas. This term means ‘co-arising’ and underlines the creation of a lineage.
Each sect and subsect records the names of its leaders. These succession lists form a special type of literature – paṭṭāvalis or gurv-āvalis – of which mendicants are fully aware. Śvetāmbara mendicants place themselves within such lineages in manuscript colophons, inscriptions and in everyday usage. The usual formula names X as ‘pupil of Y, who was / is the pupil of Z, etc., at the time when N was/is the head of the monastic order So and So’. They recite this lineage when a new monk or nun is initiated (Cort 1991: 656), emphasising the sense of continuity and context.
In the 15th to 17th centuries, a major split occurred within the Śvetāmbara sect, which gave birth to two distinct sectarian traditions:
The main issue of contention is the worship of images. The Mūrti-pūjaks practise it while the Sthānaka-vāsin reject the notion.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, there are examples of mendicants who took initiation within a monastic order belonging to one of these two traditions and later joined the other one. Becoming a member of another sect may require a mendicant to change his or her name.
Name and dates |
Original mendicant order |
Second mendicant order |
---|---|---|
Buṭerāyjī |
Sthānaka-vāsin |
Mūrti-pūjaka |
Muni Jinavijaya |
Sthānaka-vāsin |
Mūrti-pūjaka |
Muni Ātmarām |
Sthānaka-vāsin |
Mūrti-pūjaka |
A distinct monastic order within the broader group of a sect is usually founded when a mendicant disagrees with something and his disciples or other mendicants follow him. The grounds for divisions are generally complex and multiple. They relate to:
Once a new monastic order is founded, it takes the name of its founder. For example the Nemisūri-gaccha is named after the ācārya Nemi and his title sūri while the Vijayarāmacandra-sūri-samudāya is called after Vijayarāmacandra and his title of sūri. A common element in the names, such as –vijaya or –sāgara may be an identifying sign.
The year when a new order is founded may become the starting point of a new era.
A change of group is fairly formalised in the Śvetāmbara canonical scriptures. A newcomer should be questioned as to why he left his former group and about his motivations for wanting to enter a new one (Caillat 1975: 61–65).
Internal hierarchy (Cort 1991: 663) is a characteristic of all Jain monastic orders. Śvetāmbara canonical scriptures show this is not a new phenomenon, but the terms and levels have changed.
Among today’s Digambara munis or naked ascetics, who are limited in number, the hierarchy is generally less marked because the main factor in a band of mendicants is personal charisma. A wandering group of ascetics includes only one muni, together with nuns and novices who are, by definition, subordinate to him.
As a rule monks, and especially nuns, are expected to serve their superiors – sevā or vaiyāvṛttya. They must perform obligatory duties such as confession and repentance in front of him when he or she is present. When he or she is absent, the superior is symbolised by the sthāpanācārya. These are signs of good education and modesty – vinaya. Relations between mendicants in the same monastic order combine such features with devotion and a sense of togetherness.
The monastic hierarchy is based on seniority in religious life, which means how long a mendicant has been a monk or nun, on knowledge of the scriptural tradition or ability to lead. It does not depend on chronological age. A nun is always subordinate to a monk, even though she may have equal or greater monastic seniority.
The Śvetāmbara scriptures that deal with monastic organisation give the levels of mendicant hierarchy.
Rank |
Meaning in English |
|
---|---|---|
Monk |
Nun |
|
thera |
|
‘elder’, referring to seniority and knowledge |
āyariya – Prakrit |
|
‘teacher’ or ‘superior’ |
vajjhāya – Prakrit |
|
‘preceptor’ or ‘tutor’ |
pavatta |
pavattiṇī |
‘promotor’, in charge of discipline |
gaṇi |
|
leader of a group of monks |
niggantha – Prakrit |
nigganthī |
ordinary monk or nun |
This is a rough picture, as the terms may be used differently and may not match this ranking. For instance, a teacher can be an elder and so on. Even so, the presence of teachers, preceptors and ordinary monks among the ‘Five Entities’ praised as part of the ‘Fivefold Homage’ – Pañca-namaskāra-mantra or Navakār-mantra – suggests that these three terms are fundamental.
Among Śvetāmbara Mūrti-pūjak monastic orders, the members are ranked as shown in the table.
Rank |
Meaning in English |
|
---|---|---|
Monk |
Nun |
|
gacchādhipati or sūri |
|
head of the main gaccha |
ācārya |
|
'teacher’, though usually translated as 'mendicant leader' |
gaṇi |
|
'leader of a group’ |
pravartak |
|
‘promoter’ |
upādhyāya |
|
'preceptor’ |
sādhu |
sādhvī |
ordinary monk or nun |
The basic frame of mendicant life has always been a small group centring on a religious teacher. This entourage is called parivāra or kula, which in common parlance means ‘family’. Indeed, especially among Śvetāmbara Mūrti-pūjak monastic orders, there is ‘a replication of many elements of the [lay] social order’ (Cort 1991: 652).
Śvetāmbara canonical scriptures detailing rules for daily monastic life – the Cheda-sūtras – are well aware of this and consider it a guarantee of harmonious religious life:
The entourage (parivāra) of an instructor [= ācārya], compared to the father, includes on the one hand his ‘descendants’ (pupil, pupil’s pupil, and also pupil of the pupil’s pupils) and on the other his ‘ancestors’. […] A lineage is thus constituted by seven generations […] The monks who have been brought up in the same ‘families’ and the same ‘flocks’ – and consequently in the same religious customs (pravrajyā), and those who have received the same teaching (śruta) from the same teacher are ‘members of the same party’. An educational community produces the strongest affinities
Caillat
1975, pages 27–28
The head of the working unit is always a monk, with nuns dependent on him. But as nuns live in monastic lodgings – upāśrayas – that are separate from monks, in practice one of them is the leader of the other nuns on the same premises, at least temporarily.
Evidence from the past as well as the present shows that groupings at these levels are quite fluid. Close disciples of a given teacher tend to travel and stay together, but groups may be rearranged. For instance members of various bands may be combined into different groups before the rainy season, when mendicants have to reside in one place.
Among Terāpanthins, who have a central organisation, the head of the sect decides which mendicants will form each group and their destinations for the coming rainy season. This takes place in the ceremony known as Māryadā Mahotsav.
During the fifth century BCE, approximately the time of the 24th Jina Mahāvīra, living in organised communities – sthavira-kalpa – was not the only option for monks. They could choose the ‘Jina’s mode of life’ – Jina-kalpa. This meant living outside any social structure, either alone or in small groups without any hierarchy. It implied the desirable condition of increased detachment, and could involve total nakedness or not using alms bowls. In this respect the Jina-kalpika monks imitated the mode of life followed by the first Jina, Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, and the last, Mahāvīra.
This mode of life requires great moral strength and is typical of early Jainism. Monks who lived as the Jinas did are exceptional cases and are perceived as representing extreme asceticism. Both Śvetāmbara and Digambara traditions agree that the Jina-kalpa came to an end ‘with the death of Jambū, which took place 64 years after the death of Mahāvīra’ (Wiley 2004: 108).
As part of the renunciation ceremony to become a monk or nun – dīkṣā – the initiation candidates pass through a joyful crowd, who throw sandalwood powder over them. The initiates have already shaven and plucked out their hair and wear the white monastic robe of Śvetāmbara mendicants. This undated ceremony on YouTube takes place in Gujarat.
In the keśa-loca rite, part of the renunciation ceremony of dīkṣā, new monks and nuns pull out their hair, which indicates indifference to worldly concerns, including pain. Ashes are smeared on the roots of the hair, making it easier to pluck out and reducing pain. In the Digambara sects, keśa-loca is a public ceremony. This rite took place among Digambara nuns, as shown by the peacock-feather broom – piñchī – one of them holds in this YouTube video. The dīkṣā was conferred by the nun Gaṇinī Āryikā Viśuddhamati mātājī in Kota, Rajasthan, a few years ago, though the precise date is unknown. The language used is Hindi, with Sanskrit and Prakrit for recitations from the scriptures.
Pravin K. Shah writes about the Five Great Vows taken by Jain monks and nuns. The information is provided by the Jainism Literature Center, associated with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/jainedu/5greatvows.htm
During a Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin renunciation ceremony – dīkṣā – Ācārya Mahāshraman, the present leader of this order, reads out the names of the new nuns and monks. Since mendicants are considered to be new persons, new monks and nuns are always given new names. Performed in Hindi, this ceremony found on YouTube takes place in Rajasthan in September 2010.
After studying with him for four years, 25 men are initiated into Digambara monkhood by the monk Vidyāsāgar. At the start of the public renunciation ceremony – dīkṣā – the candidates resemble grooms, wearing jewels and turbans, their eyes outlined in kohl. They are then seen after the rite of keśa-loca. Dressed in orange and saffron robes, lay Jains dance in celebration. Scenes from the life of a Digambara monk are also shown, such as the monk carrying his broom and water pot, making the gesture to signal that he seeks alms. A group of fully nude monks leads the ailaka novices in loincloths, followed by the junior novices wearing white robes. Digambara nuns, wearing the white robe and holding the broom made of peacock feathers, are also shown in this YouTube video. This collective ceremony in Hindi took place on 21 August 2004 in the so-called Dayoday Tirth, Delwara Ghat, in the town of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on the bank of the river Narmada. Watch the dīkṣā ceremony continue at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfMGtC7zfI&NR=1
As part of their group ceremony of renunciation – dīkṣā – novice monks have the last tufts of hair plucked out by their teacher Vidyāsāgar. Then they remove their clothes amid the rejoicing of the large crowd of lay Jains. As a sign of detachment from worldly affairs, public nudity is associated with advanced spirituality and is the mark of a fully-fledged monk in Digambara Jainism. Then Vidyāsāgar traces the auspicious symbols of svastikas and four dots on their heads in sandalwood paste. Found on YouTube, this collective ceremony in Hindi took place on 21 August 2004 in the so-called Dayoday Tirth, Delwara Ghat, in the town of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on the bank of the river Narmada. Watch the next part of the ceremony at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0WeUJici30&NR=1
Towards the end of their group ceremony of renunciation – dīkṣā – 25 new Digambara monks have their heads anointed with sandalwood paste. The monk Vidyāsāgar, who is initiating them, traces the auspicious symbols of swastikas and four dots on their heads and palms. Then he blesses the new monks and newly initated novices – kṣullaka – who are dressed in white. He also consecrates their water pots – kamaṇḍalu. Both groups of mendicants hold their characteristic peacock-feather brooms – piñchī. Found on YouTube, this collective ceremony in Hindi took place on 21 August 2004 in the so-called Dayoday Tirth, Delwara Ghat, in the town of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on the bank of the river Narmada. Watch the final part at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCfjoyWbLk
At the end of their group ceremony of renunciation – dīkṣā – 25 new Digambara monks are blessed by their teacher Vidyāsāgar. He also consecrates their water pots –kamaṇḍalu – and blesses some newly initated novices – kṣullaka – who are dressed in white. Both groups of mendicants hold their characteristic peacock-feather brooms – piñchī. The new monks have ritually taken off their clothes, which is a sign of advanced spirituality in Digambara Jainism. Then Vidyāsāgar preaches to the assembly of lay Jains. White-clad nuns – āryikā – are at the front of the crowd. Found on YouTube, this collective ceremony in Hindi took place on 21 August 2004 in the so-called Dayoday Tirth, Delwara Ghat, in the town of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on the bank of the river Narmada. Watch the first part of the ceremony at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txYBw9ke-aU
This YouTube video shows Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin monks and nuns walking down a street in New Delhi in July 2009. Clad in white and wearing the mouth cloth – muṃhpatti – they walk barefoot, carrying their monastic equipment in bags and bundles. They are accompanied by lay Jains, many of the women dressed in orange, which is a holy colour in India. Among the monks is Ācārya Mahāprajña, the tenth ācārya or leader of the sect, who died in May 2010.
This YouTube video dating from 2009 shows two Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin samaṇīs tallking about their religious background and beliefs. They hold folded cloths in front of their mouths while they speak. Normally Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin monks and nuns wear a mouthcloth – muṃhpatti – permanently over their mouths, hanging from strings over the ears. Samaṇīs have important roles in teaching the Jain diaspora.
Preceptor, teacher. A title given to a Jain religious teacher, usually one who is a head monk.
Someone who withdraws from ordinary life to meditate and practise physical hardships in order to advance spiritually. Jain ascetics or mendicants beg for food from devout lay followers and wander the land.
Also used as an adjective to describe the practice of rigorous, even extreme, physical hardships in the belief that it leads to a higher spiritual condition.
The practice of rigorous, even extreme, physical hardships in the belief that it leads to a higher spiritual condition. Asceticism involves self-denial – for example refusing tasty food or warm clothes – and sometimes self-mortification, such as wearing hair-shirts or whipping oneself.
Found at the end of a Jain manuscript, a colophon is similar to the publication information at the beginning of modern books. It usually contains the title and sometimes details of the author, scribe and sponsor. The colophons of Jain manuscripts may also include the names of owners, readers and libraries where they have been stored. They frequently have decorative elements and very commonly contain a wish for good fortune for any readers. Written mainly by the scribes who copy texts, Jain colophons are often written in Sanskrit.
Acknowledgement or declaration of the truth of a statement. In religious terms, it usually refers to admitting sin or wrongdoing to at least one other person in a ritual. It is normally a necessary step before absolution, which is formal release from guilt or consequences of wrongdoing.
An active follower of a religion, especially one who passes on teachings to others.
A term used for a man who is one of those listed in early sources as the direct successors of Mahāvīra, the 24th Jina.
Formal or ceremonial admission into an organisation or group.
Follower of the 24 Jinas or an adjective describing Jain teachings or practices. The term 'Jaina' is also used although 'Jain' is more common.
A 'victor' in Sanskrit, a Jina is an enlightened human being who has triumphed over karma and teaches the way to achieve liberation. A synonym for Tīrthaṃkara, which means 'ford-maker' or one who has founded a community after reaching omniscience through asceticism. The most famous 24 – Ṛṣabha to Mahāvīra – were born in the Bharata-kṣetra of the middle world, but more are found in other continents. There have been Jinas in the past and there will be some in the future.
The 24th Jina of the present age. His symbolic colour is yellow and his emblem the lion. Mahāvīra or 'the great hero' is his title. His birth name was Vardhamāna, meaning 'ever increasing'. His existence is historically documented but the two main sects of Digambara and Śvetāmbara Jains have slight differences in their accounts of his life.
A man who has taken a public vow to withdraw from ordinary life to formally enter religious life and advance spiritually. Frequently, monks perform physical austerities or undergo physical hardships in order to progress spiritually.
Sage. A common term for a Jain monk.
Jains who venerate and worship images of Jinas in temples.
Sanskrit for 'homage formula', the Namaskāra-mantra is the fundamental religious formula of the Jains. A daily prayer always recited in the original Prākrit, it pays homage to the supreme beings or five types of holy being:
Note that chanting the mantra is not praying for something, material or otherwise. Also known as the Pañca-namaskāra-mantra or 'Fivefold Homage mantra', it is also called the Navakāra-mantra or Navkār-mantra in modern Indian languages.
A woman who has taken a public vow to withdraw from ordinary life to enter religious life and advance spiritually. Frequently, nuns perform physical austerities or undergo physical hardships in order to progress spiritually.
A voluntary action undertaken to make up for a sin or breach of a religious principle, frequently an act of self-punishment or physical hardship.
The annual four-month rainy period in India, lasting roughly from June / July to October / November. Heavy rain, strong storms and gale-force winds are very common during this period. Mendicants cannot travel around and must stay in one place to avoid breaking their vow of non-violence and because the monsoon makes travelling on foot difficult and dangerous. It is known as cāturmāsa in Sanskrit, comāsa in Hindi and comāsu in Gujarati.
A sequence of actions that must be followed to perform a religious ceremony. The set of actions is largely symbolic, for example offering food to statues symbolises sacrificing to a deity. The ritual actions are often accompanied by set phrases.
First Jina of the present age. His symbolic colour is gold and his emblem the ox or bull. There is little historical evidence of his existence. Jains believe that he established many social institutions, such as marriage and the caste system, and introduce crafts and agriculture to the people.
Set of sacred texts that believers accept as authoritative within a religion. Synonymous with canon.
An organised group of believers in a religion, often distinguished from other groups within the same religious faith who have differences of doctrine or practice.
'Hearer’ of the teaching. This commonly refers to the Jain lay woman, who follows the teachings of the 24 Jinas and is not a member of the clergy or a religious order. The masculine form is śrāvakā.
The Sanskrit phrase meaning ‘hall-dwellers’ is used for a Śvetāmbara movement that opposes the worship of images and the building of temples. The term Sthānaka-vāsī, whose origin remains unclear, came into widespread use in the early 20th century. The movement's roots can be traced to the 15th-century reform movement initiated by Loṅkā Śāh, from which the founders of the Sthānaka-vāsī traditions separated in the 17th century. Sthānaka-vāsīns practise mental worship through meditation. The lay members venerate living ascetics, who are recognisable from the mouth-cloth – muhpattī – they wear constantly.
A title for the leader of a religious order among the Śvetāmbaras. It is a higher position than ācārya.
'White-clad’ in Sanskrit, the title of one of the two main divisions of Jainism, in which both male and female mendicants wear white robes. There are some differences of doctrine or belief between these two sects and to some extent their followers consider themselves as belonging to distinct branches. Divisions can be fierce in practical matters, for example, over the ownership of pilgrimage places, but all sects see themselves as Jains.
A Sanskrit term that describes the wandering lifestyle of Jain mendicants. Jain monks and nuns are expected to travel around, not stay in one place as householders do. They wander constantly on foot, never staying more than a few days in one place. They may walk around 30 kilometres a day in small groups. However, every year, during the monsoon, monks and nuns stay in one location to avoid travelling.
British Library. Or. 13362. Unknown author. Perhaps 15th century
British Library. Or. 13959. Unknown author. 1639