Gujarat, Lonka Shaha, who in 1451 C.E. decided
to form a new community based on a return to
traditional values. He is said to have gained access
to the basic texts of the Shvetambaras, which tra-
ditionally only the monks could read. In reading
the texts he was stunned at the laxity shown by
the monks of his day. He was convinced that the
rituals performed by monks in the Jain temples
had nothing to do with the Jain ideals; he felt that
even the act of digging in the ground to establish
temples and images involved such injury to Earth
beings that it was in and of itself a violation of the
Jain sacred principle of ahimsa or noninjury.
Shaha started a movement assisted by influential
Jains to reexamine Jain life in view of the scriptures.
His community, which still exists today, adopted the
practice of meeting only in halls (sthanaka) and not
in temples, hence the name Sthanakavasi (inhabit-
ers of halls). Lonka Shaha’s fanatical opposition to
the worship of icons may have been influenced by
the iconoclastic Islam of his era. As a distinguishing
feature, Stanakavasi monks wear a mouth covering
to prevent injury to invisible beings that might be
breathed in and killed.Further reading: John E. Cort, Jains in the World: Reli-
gious Values and Ideology in India (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001); Paul Dundas, The Jains (Lon-
don: Routledge, 1992); A. K. Roy, History of the Jainas
(Colombia, Mo.: South Asia Books, 1984).stotra
Stotras (from stu, to praise) are shorter or longer
chants in praise of various divinities, gurus, and
personages. They have been a timeless feature in
all native Indian traditions, including Hinduism,
Buddhism, JAINISM, and SIKHISM. There are stotras
of 1,000 verses, such as Vishnu Sahasranama (in
praise of Vishnu) and Lalita Sahasranama (in
praise of Sri Lalita), that consist of 1,000 verses;
many others consist of 108 verses, but verses of
almost any length can be found.
From very early times Hindus believed that
chanting stotras could induce the gods to grant
benefits in this world and, if done with sufficient
devotion and frequency, lead to liberation from
birth and death. By contrast, in JAINISM and early
Buddhism stotras could not gain benefit from spiri-
tual teachers such as MAHAVIRA or BUDDHA, because
such yogis (unlike gods) did not confer grace; sto-
tras were merely capable of calming the mind.Further reading: Jan Gonda, Medieval Religious Litera-
ture in Sanskrit. Vol. 2, Fascicle 1, History of Indian Liter-
ature (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1977); Nancy Ann
Nayar, Poetry as Theology: The Srivaisnava Stotra in the
Age of Ramanuja (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992);
Nancy Ann Nayar, trans., Praise-Poems to Visnu and Sri:Sthanakavasi, a Jain monk with mouth covering to
practice ahimsa, in Gujarat (Constance A. Jones)stotra 423 J