ABSTRACT
Målvan˝iyå worship being succeeded, as his familiarity with the scriptures increased, by a refusal to accept the relevance of other aspects of Jain religious practice for a doctrine whose exclusive concern ought to have been with non-violence. Lon≥kå himself never took ascetic initiation, but there can be no doubt that he gave up the householder’s life and became some kind of mendicant. His disciples did not initially define themselves as a group with reference to any monastic lineage, instead styling themselves ‘the followers of the path of Mahåv⁄ra’.
