Tradition holds that a twelve-year famine divided the community: those who followed Bhadrabahu south kept the ancient discipline entire, monks naked and the canon lost; those who stayed, clothed in white, preserved the texts the councils fixed. The two readings of that division still define the two branches.
The parties
- The line of Bhadrabahu, which migrated south in the famine
- The line of Sthulabhadra, which remained in the north and convened the councils
What was disputed
The clothing of monks, the survival of the canon, and whether a woman may be liberated in a woman's body.
Causes: doctrinal cultural
Key documents
- The Tattvartha Sutra, read by both branches
- The council records of Pataliputra and Valabhi
What it produced
Branch
Digambara
The sky-clad branch, whose monks renounce clothing itself and which holds that the canon of the Shvetambaras is lost and that women must be reborn…
Branch
Shvetambara
The white-clad branch, which keeps the canon the councils preserved, clothes its monks in white, and holds that women may be liberated in a woman's…
Resolution attempts
- The shared authorship of the Tattvartha Sutra, the one text both branches receive
How each side understands it
Each branch's account of the famine and the councils vindicates its own custody of the tradition; the scholars' accounts treat the division as a slow separation rather than a single event. All three readings stand.
Sources
Primary
- Umasvati, the Tattvartha Sutra.
Secondary
- Paul Dundas, The Jains (2002).