Digambara
Digambara is one of the two major schools of Jainism, the other being Śvetāmbara. The Sanskrit word Digambara means "sky-clad", referring to their traditional monastic practice of neither possessing nor wearing any clothes. Nakedness was the ideal practice of lord Mahavira and his immediate followers. Mahavira emphasised the importance of nakedness for monks. It symbolizes complete detachment and is an ideal form of conduct. Mahavira believed that renouncing clothes made the body immune to external influences like heat and cold, increasing resilience. Without clothes, a monk would avoid the distractions of acquiring, maintaining, and washing garments, allowing him to focus on spiritual growth and self-discipline.
Digambara and Śvetāmbara traditions have had historical differences ranging from their dress code, their temples and iconography, attitude towards female monastics, their legends, and the texts they consider as important. Digambaras maintain that women cannot attain nirvana. However, Śvetāmbaras differ and maintain that women as well as eunuchs can attain nirvana, having more inclusivity.
Digambara monks believe in the virtue of non-attachment and non-possession of any material goods. Monks carry a community-owned picchi, which is a broom made of fallen peacock feathers for removing and thus saving the life of insects in their path or before they sit.
The Digambara literature can be traced only to the first millennium, with its oldest surviving sacred text being the mid-second century Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama of Dharasena. One of the most important scholar-monks of the Digambara tradition was Kundakunda.
Digambara Jain communities are currently found in most parts of India like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Nomenclature
According to Heinrich Zimmer, the word Digambara is a combination of two Sanskrit words: dik and ambara , referring to those whose garments are of the element that fills the four quarters of space.Core philosophy
''Aparigraha'' – non-attachment
One of the main principle in Jainism is aparigraha which means non-attachment to worldly possessions. For monks and nuns, Jainism requires a vow of complete non-possession of any property, relations and emotions. The ascetic is a wandering mendicant in the Digambara tradition, or a resident mendicant in the Śvētāmbara tradition. For Jain laypersons, it recommends limited possession of property that has been honestly earned, and giving excess property to charity. According to Natubhai Shah, aparigraha applies to both the material and the psychic. Material possessions refer to various forms of property. Psychic possessions refer to emotions, likes and dislikes, and attachments of any form. Unchecked attachment to possessions is said to result in direct harm to one's personality.''Ahimsa'' – non-violence
The principle of ahimsa is a fundamental tenet of Jainism. It holds that one must abandon all violent activity and that without such a commitment to non-violence all religious behavior is worthless. In Jain theology, it does not matter how correct or defensible the violence may be, one must not kill or harm any being, and non-violence is the highest religious duty. Jain texts such as Ācārāṅga Sūtra and Tattvarthasūtra state that one must renounce all killing of living beings, whether tiny or large, movable or immovable. Its theology teaches that one must neither kill another living being, nor cause another to kill, nor consent to any killing directly or indirectly.Furthermore, Jainism emphasizes non-violence against all beings not only in action but also in speech and in thought. It states that instead of hate or violence against anyone, "all living creatures must help each other".
Jains believe that violence negatively affects and destroys one's soul, particularly when the violence is done with intent, hate or carelessness, or when one indirectly causes or consents to the killing of a human or non-human living being.
The doctrine exists in Hinduism and Buddhism, but is most highly developed in Jainism. The theological basis of non-violence as the highest religious duty has been interpreted by some Jain scholars not to "be driven by merit from giving or compassion to other creatures, nor a duty to rescue all creatures", but resulting from "continual self-discipline", a cleansing of the soul that leads to one's own spiritual development which ultimately affects one's salvation and release from rebirths. Jains believe that causing injury to any being in any form creates bad karma which affects one's rebirth, future well-being and causes suffering.
Late medieval Jain scholars re-examined the Ahiṃsā doctrine when faced with external threat or violence. For example, they justified violence by monks to protect nuns. According to Dundas, the Jain scholar Jinadattasuri wrote during a time of destruction of temples and persecution that "anybody engaged in a religious activity who was forced to fight and kill somebody would not lose any spiritual merit but instead attain deliverance".
However, examples in Jain texts that condone fighting and killing under certain circumstances are relatively rare.
''Anekāntavāda'' – many-sided reality
The second main principle of Jainism is anekāntavāda, from anekānta and vada. The doctrine states that truth and reality are complex and always have multiple aspects. It further states that reality can be experienced, but cannot be fully expressed with language. It suggests that human attempts to communicate are Naya, "partial expression of the truth". According to it, one can experience the taste of truth, but cannot fully express that taste through language. It holds that attempts to express experience are syāt, or valid "in some respect", but remain "perhaps, just one perspective, incomplete". It concludes that in the same way, spiritual truths can be experienced but not fully expressed. It suggests that the great error is belief in ekānta, where some relative truth is treated as absolute. The doctrine is ancient, found in Buddhist texts such as the Samaññaphala Sutta. The Jain Agamas suggest that Mahāvīra's approach to answering all metaphysical philosophical questions was a "qualified yes". These texts identify anekāntavāda as a key difference from the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, rejecting extremes of the answer "it is" or "it is not" to metaphysical questions. The Mahāvīra, in contrast, taught his followers to accept both "it is", and "it is not", qualified with "perhaps", to understand Absolute Reality. The permanent being is conceptualized as jiva and ajiva within a dualistic anekāntavāda framework.According to Paul Dundas, in contemporary times the anekāntavāda doctrine has been interpreted by some Jains as intending to "promote a universal religious tolerance", and a teaching of "plurality" and "benign attitude to other positions". Dundas states this is a misreading of historical texts and Mahāvīra's teachings. According to him, the "many pointedness, multiple perspective" teachings of the Mahāvīra is about the nature of absolute reality and human existence. He claims that it is not about condoning activities such as killing animals for food, nor violence against disbelievers or any other living being as "perhaps right". The five vows for Jain monks and nuns, for example, are strict requirements and there is no "perhaps" about them. Similarly, since ancient times, Jainism co-existed with Buddhism and Hinduism according to Dundas, but Jainism disagreed, in specific areas, with the knowledge systems and beliefs of these traditions, and vice versa.
History and Influence
The history of the Digambara tradition includes its divergence from the early Jain sangha, a period of significant royal patronage in Southern India, and the subsequent formation of various sub-sects.Origins and Schism
The Digambaras and Śvetāmbara disagree on how the Digambara subtradition started in Jainism. According to Digambaras, they are the original followers of Mahavira and Śvetāmbara branched off later in the time of Bhadrabahu when their forecast twelve-year famine triggered their migration from central India. One group of Jain monks headed west and north towards Rajasthan], while the second group headed south towards Karnataka. The former became Śvetāmbara and retained their "heretic" beliefs and practices such as wearing "white clothes" they adopted there, say the Digambaras.In contrast, according to Śvetāmbara, they are the original followers, and Digambaras arose 609 years after the death of Mahavira because of an arrogant man named Sivabhuti who became a Jain monk in a fit of pique after a fight at home. However, according to Jinabhadra Gaṇi Kshamashramana, in his work Viśeṣāvaśyaka Bhāṣya, from which this account of the sect's creation is derived, he explicitly states that Sivabhuti was the eighth heretic who is regarded as the founder 'Bodiya ditthi' or Botika sect, also known as the Digambara sect. He is accused of starting the Digambara tradition with what Śvetāmbara call as "eight concealments", of rejecting Jain texts preserved by the Śvetāmbara tradition, and misunderstanding the Jain ideology including those related to nuns and clothes.
The earliest version of this Digambara story appears in the 10th century CE, while the earliest version of the Śvetāmbara story appears in the 5th century CE.
Oldest archeological evidence of Digambara Jains dates to the Mangalam Jain inscriptions which mention that workers of Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ I, a Pandyan king of Sangam period, made stone beds for Digambara Jain monks. It further details the name of the workers who made the stone beds. For example, an inscription shows that Kaṭalaṉ Vaḻuti, a worker of Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ, made a stone bed for the Jain monk Nanta-siri Kuvaṉ.
In 1943, Heinrich Zimmer proposed that the Greek records of 4th-century BCE mention gymnosophists which may have links to the tradition of "naked ascetics" or Digambara. In 2011, Patrick Olivelle stated that the context in which the Greek records mention gymnosophists include ritual suicide by cremation traceable to ancient Brahmanism, rather than the traditional Jain ritual of embracing death by starvation and taking samadhi by voluntarily sacrificing everything including food and water. Tirthankara statues found in Mathura and dated to 2nd-century CE or after are naked. The oldest Tirthankara statue wearing a cloth is dated to the 5th century CE. Digamabara statues of Tirthankara belonging to Gupta period feature half-closed eyes.
Early Jain images from Mathura depict Digambara iconography until late fifth century CE where Śvetāmbara iconography starts appearing.
According to Digambara texts, after liberation of Mahavira, three Anubaddha Kevalīs attained Kevalajñāna sequentially – Gautama Gaņadhara, Acharya Sudharma Swami, and Jambusvami in next 62 years. During the next hundred years, five Āchāryas had complete knowledge of the scriptures, as such, called Śruta Kevalīs, the last of them being Āchārya Bhadrabahu. Spiritual lineage of heads of monastic orders is known as Pattavali. Digambara tradition consider Dharasena to be the 33rd teacher in succession of Gautama, 683 years after the nirvana of Mahavira.