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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Doctrines and Philosophy of Jainism

The Jain philosophy shows a close affinity to Hindu Samkhya philosophy. They ignore the idea of God, and accept that the world is full of sorrows and believe in the theory of karma (action or deed) and transmigration of souls.

Jain philosophy is dualism and believes that human personality is formed of two elements; jiva (soul) and ajiva (matter). While ajiva is destructible, jiva is indestructible and salvation is possible through progress of jiva.

Jain philosophy states that if one desires to attain Nirvana it is necessary for him to destroy karma. One can do so gradually by avoiding evil karmas. To equip himself the person should observe the five principles

• 1. Satya (truth)
• Ahimsa (non-violence)
• Aprigraha (no possession of property)
• Asteya (not to receive anything which is not freely given).
• Brahamacharya (celibacy).

Mahavira did not believe in a supreme creator or God. The highest state of a soul was regards as god by him. According to Jainism, man is the architect of his own destiny and he could attain salvation by pursuing a life of purity, virtue and renunciation.

It belives that the world has not been created, maintained or destroyed by a personal deity, but functions only according to universal law of decay and development. The universe is eternal but is subject to an infinite number of cycles of development and decline.

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An Introduction To Jainism

In contrast to the general belief among the people that the founder of Jainism is Mahavira Nataputa, the Jains say that Mahavira is their last prophet, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara. They hold that their religion is as old as Rigveda, and that their first Tirthankara Rishabha, was the father of Bharata, the first Vedic Chakravartin king of India.

Rishabha was followed by twenty-three, Tirthankaras.

Very little is known about these Tirthankaras except the last two the twenty-third and twenty-fourth.

The twenty-third “Thirthankara” was Parsava Nath. The knowledge about him is very scanty. He was a Kshatriya and the son of King Ashavasena of Banaras.

For thirty years he led the life of an ordinary householder, and then became an ascetic. He meditated for 84 days continuously and attained the highest knowledge. The next seventy years of his life were spent in spreading the highest knowledge to the people. Parsava asked his followers to take four vows:

• Not to injure life
• Not to tell a lie
• Not to steal anything
• Not to possess property

The real founder of Jainism was its 24th Tirthankara, Mahavira. His name was Vardhamana. He was born in Vaisali, called Kundagrama about 540 B.C. His father, Siddharatha, was a wealthy nobleman and his mother, Trishala, was the sister of Chetaka, an eminent Lichchhavi prince of Vaisali. He was married to Yasoda and had a daughter called Priyadrasana.

He left his family and became a monk after the death of his parents at the age of 30. he abandoned his clothing and became a naked monk.

For twelve years he roamed about as a naked fakir doing all types of penances. During this period he fully subdued his sense. He was attacked and ridiculed but never lost his patience nor indulged in feelings of hatred or revenge against his enemies. These twelve years of penance and meditation were not wasted.

In the thirteenth year on the 10th Vaisakh he acquired the highest knowledge at Jrimbikagrama. He now possessed the four infinitities-

• Infinite knowledge
• Infinite power
• Infinite perception
• Infinite joy.

Thus he became a Jina (conqueror ) or Mahavira (a great hero) at the age of forty-two.

He decided to devote the rest of his life to the teaching of his new doctrine to the people. He founded a new sect called “Jains”.

After 30 years of preaching Mahavira died at Pawa near Rajagriha.

The traditional date of Mahavira’s death is 546 B.C.

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