While often employing concepts shared with Hinduism and Buddhism, the result of a common cultural and linguistic background, the Jain tradition must be regarded as an independent phenomenon rather than as a Hindu sect or a Buddhist heresy, as some earlier Western scholars believed. The name Jainism derives from the Sanskrit verb ji, “to conquer.” It refers to the ascetic battle that, it is believed, Jain renunciants (monks and nuns) must fight against the passions and bodily senses to gain enlightenment, or omniscience and purity of soul. The most illustrious of those few individuals who have achieved enlightenment are called Jina (literally, “Conqueror”), and the tradition’s monastic and lay adherents are called Jain (“Follower of the Conquerors”), or Jaina. This term came to replace a more ancient designation, Nirgrantha (“Bondless”), originally applied to renunciants only. Jainism has been confined largely to India, although the recent migration of Indians to other, predominantly English- speaking countries has spread its practice to many Commonwealth nations and to the United States. Precise statistics are not available, but it is estimated that there are more than four million Jains, the vast majority of whom live in India. History. Early history (7th century bce–c.
Yes paneer is absolutely edible to jain diet. You can make it at home. Well for Cheese there r some controversies being jain or not, but i consider it to be jain. Jain vegetarian diet is practiced by the followers of Jain culture and philosophy. It is one of the most rigorous forms of spiritually motivated diet on the Indian. Jainism, Indian religion teaching a path to spiritual purity and enlightenment through disciplined nonviolence (ahimsa, literally “noninjury”) to all living. Scholars of religion generally hold that Jainism originated in the 7th–5th century bce in the Ganges basin of eastern India, the scene of intense religious speculation and activity at that time. Buddhism also appeared in this region, as did other belief systems that renounced the world and opposed the ritualistic Brahmanic schools whose prestige derived from their claim of purity and their ability to perform the traditional rituals and sacrifices and to interpret their meaning. ![]() ![]() ![]() These new religious perspectives promoted asceticism, the abandonment of ritual, domestic and social action, and the attainment of spiritual illumination in an attempt to win, through one’s own efforts, freedom from repeated rebirth (samsara). Jains believe that their tradition does not have a historical founder. The first Jain figure for whom there is reasonable historical evidence is Parshvanatha (or Parshva), a renunciant teacher who may have lived in the 7th century bce and founded a community based upon the abandonment of worldly concerns. Jain tradition regards him as the 2. Tirthankara (literally, “Ford Maker”; i. The 2. 4th and last Tirthankara of that age was Vardhamana, who is known by the epithet Mahavira (“Great Hero”) and is believed to have been the last teacher of “right” knowledge, faith, and practice. Although traditionally dated to 5. Mahavira must be regarded as a close contemporary of the Buddha (traditionally believed to have lived in 5. The legendary accounts of Mahavira’s life preserved by the Jain scriptures provide the basis for his biography and enable some conclusions to be formulated about the nature of the early community he founded. Mahavira, like the Buddha, was the son of a chieftain of the Kshatriya (warrior) class. At age 3. 0 he renounced his princely status to take up the ascetic life. Although he was accompanied for a time by the eventual founder of the Ajivika sect, Goshala Maskariputra, Mahavira spent the next 1. He then converted 1. Brahmans. Two of these disciples, Indrabhuti Gautama and Sudharman, both of whom survived Mahavira, are regarded as the founders of the historical Jain monastic community, and a third, Jambu, is believed to be the last person of the current age to gain enlightenment. Mahavira is believed to have died at Pavapuri, near modern Patna. The community appears to have grown quickly. According to Jain tradition, it numbered 1. Mahavira’s death. From the beginning the community was subject to schisms over technicalities of doctrine; however, these were easily resolved. The only schism to have a lasting effect concerned a dispute over proper monastic practice, with the Shvetambara (“White- Robed”) sect arguing that monks and nuns should wear white robes and the Digambara (“Sky- Clad”; i. This controversy gave rise to a further dispute as to whether or not a soul can attain liberation (moksha) from a female body (a possibility the Digambaras deny). Test Your Knowledge. Exploring Asia: Fact or Fiction? This sectarian division, still existent today, probably took time to assume formal shape. Its exact origins remain unclear, in part because the stories describing the origins of the schism were designed to justify each sect’s authority and denigrate the other. These accounts were written centuries after the fact and are valueless as genuine historical testimony. The consolidation of the Shvetambara- Digambara division was probably the result of a series of councils held to codify and preserve the Jain scriptures, which had existed as oral tradition long after Mahavira’s death. Of the councils recorded in Jain history, the last one, held at Valabhi in Saurashtra (in modern Gujarat) in either 4. Digambara participation, codified the Shvetambara canon that is still in use. The Digambara monastic community denounced the codification, and the schism between the two communities became irrevocable. During this period, Jainism spread westward to Ujjain, where it apparently enjoyed royal patronage. Later, in the 1st century bce, according to tradition, a monk named Kalakacharya apparently overthrew King Gardabhilla of Ujjain and orchestrated his replacement with the Shahi kings (who were probably of Scythian or Persian origin). During the reign of the Gupta dynasty (3. Hindu self- assertion, the bulk of the Jain community migrated to central and western India, becoming stronger there than it had been in its original home in the Ganges basin. Early medieval developments (5. Britannica Lists & Quizzes. There is archaeological evidence of the presence of Jain monks in southern India from before the Common Era, and the Digambara sect has had a significant presence in what is now the state of Karnataka for almost 2,0. The early medieval period was the time of Digambara Jainism’s greatest flowering. Enjoying success in modern- day Karnataka and in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state, the Digambaras gained the patronage of prominent monarchs of three major dynasties in the early medieval period—the Gangas in Karnataka (3rd–1. Rashtrakutas, whose kingdom was just north of the Ganga realm (8th–1. Hoysalas in Karnataka (1. Digambara monks are reputed to have engineered the succession of the Ganga and the Hoysala dynasties, thus stabilizing uncertain political situations and guaranteeing Jain political protection and support. The Digambaras’ involvement in politics allowed Jainism to prosper in Karnataka and the Deccan. Many political and aristocratic figures had Jain monks as spiritual teachers and advisers. Epigraphical evidence reveals an elaborate patronage system through which kings, queens, state ministers, and military generals endowed the Jain community with tax revenues and with direct grants for the construction and upkeep of temples. Most famously, in the 1. Ganga general Chamundaraya oversaw the creation of a colossal statue of Bahubali (locally called Gommateshvara; son of Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara) at Shravanabelagola. During this period Digambara writers produced numerous philosophical treatises, commentaries, and poems, which were written in Prakrit, Kannada, and Sanskrit. A number of kings provided patronage for this literary activity, and some wrote various works of literature themselves. The monk Jinasena, for example, wrote Sanskrit philosophical treatises and poetry with the support of the Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha I. An author in Kannada and Sanskrit, Amoghavarsha apparently renounced his throne and became a disciple of Jinasena in the early 9th century. The Shvetambaras in the north were less prominently embroiled in dynastic politics than their southern counterparts, though there is evidence of such activity in Gujarat and Rajasthan. They supported the accession of kings such as Vanaraja in the 8th century and Kumarapala, whose accession was masterminded by Hemachandra, the great Shvetambara scholar and minister of state, in the 1. The Shvetambaras were no less productive than their Digambara contemporaries in the amount and variety of literature they produced during this period. While Mahavira had rejected the claims of the caste system that privileged Brahman authority on the basis of innate purity, a formalized caste system nonetheless gradually appeared among the Digambara laity in the south. This hierarchy was depicted and sanctioned by Jinasena in his Adipurana, a legendary biography of the Tirthankara Rishabhanatha and his two sons Bahubali and Bharata. The hierarchy differed from the Hindu system in that the Kshatriyas were assigned a place of prominence over the Brahmans and in its connection of purity, at least theoretically, with a moral rather than a ritual source. In addition, Jinasena did not see the caste system as an inherent part of the universe, as did Hindu theologians and lawgivers. Late medieval–early modern developments (1. In the period of their greatest influence (6th–late 1. Jain monks of both sects, perhaps influenced by intense lay patronage, turned from living as wandering ascetics to permanent residence in temples or monasteries. A legacy of this transformation is the contemporary Digambara practice of the bhattaraka, through which a cleric takes monastic initiation but, rather than assuming a life of naked ascetic wandering, becomes an orange- robed administrator and guardian of holy places and temples. Some medieval Jain writers saw this compromise with ancient scriptural requirements as both a cause of and evidence for the religion’s inexorable decline. However, Jainism’s marginalization in India can best be ascribed to sociopolitical factors. The Shvetambara Jain community’s eclipse was greatly accelerated by the successful invasion of western and northern India by Muslim forces in the 1. The Jains totaled. Hindu community far out of proportion to their numbers; they. Indian. religions. II. It was founded by Vardhamana. Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira (5. BC), called Jina. Spiritual Conqueror), a contemporary of Buddha. These saints are liberated souls who were once in bondage. Mahavira is believed to have been the 2. Jains believe, moreover, that. The cause of the embodiment. The yatis must observe five great. The secular sravaka, in addition to his observance. The. two main sects of Jainism, the Digambara (space- clad, or naked) and the. Svetambara (white- clad, wearers of white cloth), have produced a vast body. Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. Some sects, particularly the Dhundia and the. Lunka, which reject the worship of images, were responsible for the. Muslim raids. were responsible for the looting of many temples in northern India. In the. 1. 8th century another important sect of Jainism was founded; it exhibited. Islamic inspiration in its iconoclasm and rejection of temple worship.
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