The religious merit that accrues from hearing and reading Jain texts encouraged the careful and loving preservation of manuscripts. The Jains have traditionally maintained important libraries throughout India, among the most significant of which are those for the Shvetambaras at Chambay (or Khambhat), Patan (both in Gujarat state), and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) and those for the Digambaras at Karanja (Maharashtra) and Mudbidri (Karnataka). The miniatures on palm-leaf and paper manuscripts and on wooden book covers preserved in the Jain monastic libraries provide a continuous history of the art of painting in western India from the 11th century to the present. Philosophical and other literature
In addition to their canons and commentaries, the Shvetambara and Digambara traditions have produced a voluminous body of literature, written in several languages, in the areas of philosophy, poetry, drama, grammar, music, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, astrology, and architecture. In Tamil the epics Chilappatikaram and Jivikachintamani, which are written from a Jain perspective, are important works of early postclassical Tamil literature. Jain authors were also an important formative influence on Kannada literature. The Jain lay poet Pampa’s Adipurana (another text dealing with the lives of Rishabha, Bahubali, and Bharata) is the earliest extant piece of mahakavya (“high poetic”) Kannada literature. Jains were similarly influential in the Prakrit languages, Apabhramsha, Old Gujarati, and, later, Sanskrit. A particular forte of Jain writers was narrative, through which they promoted the religion’s ideals. The most remarkable example of this is the huge Sanskrit novel The Story of Upamiti’s Series of Existences by the 10th-century Shvetambara monk Siddharshi.
Of particular importance, both as a systemization of the early Jain worldview and as an authoritative basis of later philosophical commentary, is the Tattvartha-sutra of Umasvati, whose work is claimed by both the Digambara and Umasvamin communities. Composed early in the Common Era, the Tattvartha-sutra was the first Jain philosophical work in Sanskrit to address logic, epistemology, ontology, ethics, cosmography, and cosmogony.
Digambaras also value the Prakrit works of Kundakunda (c. 2nd century, though perhaps later), including the Pravachanasara (on ethics), the Samayasara (on the essence of doctrine), the Niyamasara (on Jain monastic discipline), and the six Prabhritas (“Chapters”; on various religious topics). Kundakunda’s writings are distinguished by their deployment of a two-perspective (naya) model, according to which all outward aspects of Jain practice are subordinated to an inner, spiritual interpretation.
The details of Jain doctrine did not change much throughout history, and no major philosophical disagreements exercised Jain intellectuals. The main concerns of the medieval period were to ensure that scriptural statements were compatible with logic and to controvert the rival claims of the Hindus and the Buddhists. Jainism and other religions Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism
Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism share many key concepts derived from the Sanskrit language and dialects that have enabled them to hone their religious debates. For example, all three traditions share a notion of karma as the actions of individuals that determine their future births, yet each has attached unique connotations to the concept. This is also true with terms such as dharma (often translated “duty,” “righteousness,” or “religious path”), yoga (“ascetic discipline”), and yajna (“sacrifice,” or “worship”). This Sanskritic discourse has shaped the religious and philosophical speculations, as well as the polemics, of each of these traditions.
The same circumstance occurs in the ritual and literature of each religion. In the ritual sphere, for example, the abhiseka, or head-anointing ritual, has had great significance in all three religions. The best-known example of this ritual is the one performed every 12 to 14 years on the statue of Bahubali at the Jain pilgrimage site at Shravanabelagola. The structure of this ritual is similar in each religious context, but it has a unique meaning in each tradition. In the literary sphere, each tradition developed an extensive corpus of canonical and commentarial literature, and each has developed a body of narrative literature. For example, so great was the influence of the story of Rama in the classical Hindu Ramayana that the Buddhists and Jains felt obliged to retell the story in their own terms. Jain literature includes 16 different versions of this story in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Jainism and Islam
Muslim influence on Jainism can be seen in a number of areas. It has been suggested that the concept of ashatanas—activities that are unsuitable or indecent in a temple—reveals a notion of the sanctity of the temple that recalls Muslim barakah (“holiness”) more than any traditional Jain attitude. The most obvious Islamic influence is in the repudiation of image worship by the Shvetambara Lonkasaha sect.
Jain influence at the Mughal court of Akbar is a bright chapter in Jain history. Akbar honoured Hiravijaya Suri, then the leader of the Shvetambara Tapa Gaccha. His disciples and other monks gained the respect of the Mughal emperors Jahāngīr and Shah Jahān and even the Muslim chauvinist Aurangzeb. Moreover, Akbar prohibited animal slaughter near important Jain sites during the Paryushana festival. Jahāngīr also issued decrees for the protection of Shatrunjaya, and Aurangzeb recognized Jain proprietary rights over Mount Shatrunjaya. Mughal painting, influential in different schools of Indian painting, also influenced Jain miniature painting. In this way these ancient religions demonstrated respect for other traditions, which is one of the great strengths of Indian civilization. Umakant Premanand Shah G. Ralph Strohl Paul Dundas
Citation Information
Article Title: Jainism
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 18 July 2017
URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jainism
Access Date: August 20, 2019
Additional Reading General sources
Paul Dundas, The Jains (1992); and Padmanabh S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification (1979), provide complementary introductions to the subject (with extensive bibliographies), the former concentrating more on social history, the latter on teachings (with a slight Digambara bias). Among older studies, Helmuth Von Glasenapp, Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation (1999; originally published in German in 1925), remains a valuable overall treatment of the subject; while Walter Schubring (Walther Schubring), The Doctrine of the Jainas (1962, reprinted 1995; originally published in German, 1935), views Jainism from the standpoint of the ancient scriptural tradition.
For information on the last two Tirthankaras, see M.A. Dhaky (ed.), Arhat Pārśva and Dharanendra Nexus (1997); and Kailash Chand Jain, Lord Māhavīra and His Times, rev. ed. (1991). Still invaluable for its versions of key scriptures is Jaina Sutras (Gaina Sūtras), trans. from Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi, 2 vol. (1884–95, reissued 1994–95), although the introductions to each volume are dated. Umasvati, That Which Is: Tattvartha Sutra, trans. by Nathmal Tatia (1994), is a translation of and commentary on the single most authoritative Jain philosophical source.