predecessors, and was probably not strong enough to hold the balance between two contending parties; at any rate the Digambara now hived off. Differing dates are given for the separation: the Śvetāmbara believe it to have taken place in A.D. 142, the Sthānakavāsī in A.D. 83, whilst Dr. Hoernle places the date about A.D. 79 or 82.
The Śvetāmbara declare that the opposition sect was really founded (like many another sect since!) in a fit of temper, and give the following account of how it occurred. A certain Śivabhūti, who had been in the service of the king of Rathavīrapura, decided to become a Jaina ascetic. On the day of his initiation the king gave him a most costly and beautiful blanket as a farewell present. Seeing how over-fond he was of it, his guru advised him to return the gift, but he refused; whereupon, to save him from the snare, the guru during his absence tore the blanket into small pieces. Śivabhūti was so angry when he found what had happened that he declared that if he might not keep his blanket he would keep no covering at all, but would wander naked through the world like the Lord Mahāvīra himself. His first two disciples were Kauṇḍinya and Kattavīra. His sister Uttarā also wanted to follow him, but, seeing that it was impossible for a woman to go about nude, Śivabhūti refused to allow her to join him and declared that no woman could attain mokṣa without rebirth as a man.
The probability is that there had always been two parties in the community: the older and weaker section, who wore clothes and dated from Pārśvanātha’s time, and who were called the Sthavira kalpa (the spiritual ancestors of the Śvetāmbara); and the Jina kalpa, or Puritans, who kept the extreme letter of the law as Mahāvīra had done, and who are the forerunners of the Digambara.
The five main tenets of the Digambara in which they oppose the Śvetāmbara views[1] are: that the Tīrthaṇkara
- ↑ They also differ on many points of ritual and custom.
