both sexes; and at his death it contained more than 14,000 monks.
Under Mahāvīra’s influence members of two differing opinions had joined the order, those who held with the great leader that the complete abandonment of possessions involved the giving up of all clothing, and also members of another and earlier order, that of Pārśvanātha, who felt that some covering was a necessity and stopped short of this extreme of Renunciation. For long after the founder’s death the sections cohered together, and the genius of Mahāvīra in adapting his order to the need of the times was shown in the numbers of harassed men and women who crowded into it, finding in the renunciation of all things—property, affections and emotions—the surest refuge from the trials and changes of this mortal life.
The Jaina sometimes speak of Mahāvīra’s order as a protest against caste exclusiveness as such, but some European scholars hold that it was rather a protest of Kṣatriya against Brāhman; and the present practices of the Jaina community would seem to uphold this view, for the modern Jaina is as fast bound as his Hindu brother in the iron fetters of caste.
But, whatever its origin may have been, the order after the death of Mahāvīra continued to flourish under the rule of the great ascetic’s disciple, Sudharma, and his successors, as we shall learn from our study of Jaina legends and history.
Unlike Buddhism, Jainism has never spread beyond the borders of India. A religion which, by its very nature, is one of intense individualism, feels little responsibility for another’s soul and spends its energy on saving itself, is not likely to spread rapidly or far; yet, as we shall see, Jainism did gradually extend over the whole of India.
In particular it is plain that it found its way into Mysore and the Tamil country at a very early date. We shall study later the literary and artistic results of the predominance of this religion in the south during the early centuries
