With reference to the religious practices in India, the “Sthanakvasi” sect belongs to(2018)
a) Buddhism
b) Jainism
c) Vaishnavism
d) Shaivism
Answer: B
Sthānakavāsī is a sect of Śvētāmbara Jainism founded by a merchant named Lavaji in 1653 AD. It believes that idol worship is not essential in the path of soul purification and attainment of Nirvana/Moksha.
The sect is essentially a reformation of the one founded on teachings of Lonka, a fifteenth-century Jain reformer. Sthānakavāsins accept thirty-two of the Jain Agamas, the Śvētāmbara canon. Śvētāmbarins who are not Sthānakavāsins are mostly part the Murtipujaka sect
