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Rise and Fall of Jainism

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Svetambaras and Digambaras are main sects of Jains. The Svetambaras wear white robes where as the Digambaras use no clothes. The former are the followers of Parsava while the latter of Mahavira.

Jainism remained confined to India and never attempted distant conquest. Chief activity of Jainism was in Gujarat, Malwa and Rajputana where they are still an influential community.

Early literary development of the Kanarese and Tamil languages was due to a great measure to the labours of the Jain monks.

Their doctrine of ‘ahimsa’ had also greatly modified Hinduism.

Jainism was a popular religion and still exists in India with a large following. The Jain Tirthankaras were adored in temples with the passage of time and, by the Middle Ages their worship was very near to the Hindus with offerings of flowers, incense, lamps etc.

Jainism proved more accommodating to Hinduism and did not offer serious hostility.

According to Jainism all knowledge is probable and relative and thus possesses a tolerant spirit of accommodation with other religions. These factors helped in its progress and are responsible for its existence in present-day India.

However, various factors contributed to its decline in India.

• Absence of popular religious preachers after the death of Mahavira
• Division into two sects, absence of protection by the later rulers
• Revival of Hinduism under the Gupta, Chola, Chalukya and Rajput kings

Jainism has helped enriching Indian culture, in the fields of literature, architecture and sculpture. The language of its religious texts of Jainism had been Prakrit. It gave a literary shape to some spoken languages of India. Its contribution to art reached its zenith in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The temples and idols are still existing in cities such as Mathura, Gwalior, Junagarh, Chittor, Abu and other places of Rajasthan, Bundelkhand, Mysore and Orissa. These have been accepted as the best specimens of Indian architecture and sculpture. Out of these well known are particularly the temples of Abu, the Jain tower at Chittorgarh, the elephant caves of Orissa and the 70 feet high idol of Gomateshwara or Bahubali in Mysore.

The original texts of Jains were called Purvas and were 14 in number. In the third century B.C. a Jain council held at Patliputra arranged them in twelve parts known as Angas. the twelfth Anga was lost in the course of time. The remaining eleven Angas were again arranged by a Jain council held at Valabhi in the fifth century A.D. These books were written in the Prakrit language.

Digambaras, constituted their own texts because they did not recognize these angas.

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Tags: anga, buddhism, contribution, Decline, hinduism, jain, jainism, mahavira, Rajputana, religious text, rise, sects, spread, vaisali