III.

Differences in Doctrine

These principles are common to all, but differences occur in the religious obligations of the monastic orders (whose members are called yatis) and the laity (sravakas). The yatis must observe five great vows (panca-mahavrata): refusal to inflict injury (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), refusal to steal (asteya), sexual restraint (brahmacarya), and refusal to accept unnecessary gifts (aparigraha). In keeping with the doctrine of nonviolence, they carry the Jainist reverence for animal life to its most extreme lengths; the yati of the Svetambara sect, for example, wears a cloth over his mouth to prevent insects from flying into it and carries a brush to sweep the place on which he is about to sit, to remove any living creature from danger. The observation of the nonviolent practices of the yatis was a major influence on the philosophy of the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi. The secular sravaka, in addition to his observance of religious and moral duties, must engage in the adoration of the saints and of his more pious brethren, the yatis.

The two main sects of Jainism, the Digambara (space-clad, or naked) and the Svetambara (white-clad, wearers of white cloth), have produced a vast body of secular and religious literature in the Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. The art of the Jains, consisting primarily of cave temples elaborately decorated in carved stones and of illustrated manuscripts, usually follows Buddhist models but has a richness and fertility that mark it as one of the peaks of Indian art. Some sects, particularly the Dhundia and the Lunka, which reject the worship of images, were responsible for the destruction of many works of art in the 12th century, and Muslim raids were responsible for the looting of many temples in northern India. In the 18th century another important sect of Jainism was founded; it exhibited Islamic inspiration in its iconoclasm and rejection of temple worship. Complex rituals were abandoned in favor of austere places of worship called sthanakas, from which the sect is called Sthanakavasi.