Jainism

Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 7 "India's Cultural Roots"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

Jainism is an Indian religion that teaches that the whole world is alive, even stones, rocks and water. It holds that a person can escape the cycle of birth and rebirth only through ahimsa (non-injury), asceticism (hard self-discipline) and giving up the world to live as a monk or nun.

It matters because Jainism is much older than Mahāvīra, who was its 24th teacher and not its founder. Its idea of ahimsa, in NCERT's words, "has left its mark on Indian thinking as a whole".

Explanation

Background: a tradition older than Mahāvīra

• Jaina ideas did not begin with Mahāvīra. Jaina tradition says 23 teachers came before him.
• These teachers are called tīrthankaras, meaning "those who guide men and women across the river of existence".
• Think of a ford-maker, a person who shows the safe place to cross a river.

• Here the "river" is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

• Each cosmic age has 24 tīrthankaras. Mahāvīra is the 24th and last of the present age [2].

• The 23rd tīrthankara was Parshvanātha, a teacher from Banaras. Britannica dates him to the 7th century BCE. Tradition says he lived about 250 years before Mahāvīra [2][3].

• He is the first tīrthankara for whom there is historical evidence, though that evidence is mixed with legend [2][3].

• Parshvanātha gave four vows, and Mahāvīra added a fifth.

• Parshvanātha's "fourfold restraint": do not take life, do not steal, do not lie, do not own property [3][4].
• Mahāvīra added celibacy, which made the five great vows [3][4].
• Mahāvīra also systematised (put into order) the older Jaina ideas about the universe, its myths and its structure [4].

Life of Vardhamāna Mahāvīra

• He was born Prince Vardhamāna into a royal family near Vaiśhālī (in modern Bihar) in the early 6th century BCE.
• The traditional dates used by Britannica are c. 599–527 BCE [4].
• He left home at 30 to become a wandering seeker.
• He practised ascetic discipline for 12 years, which meant fasting, hard bodily training and strict self-control.
• After those 12 years he gained "infinite knowledge" and became known as Mahāvīra, "the great hero".
• He was also called Jina, "conqueror". The word "Jain" comes from jina.

• What he conquered was ignorance and attachment (wanting and clinging to things), not land or enemies.

• Britannica describes him as a reformer of the Jaina monastic community who advocated ahimsa in all circumstances [4].

Main teachings

• The world is alive. This is the most important Jaina idea. Even stones, rocks and water have life.
• Since everything is alive, harming anything means harming a living being.
• This is the base on which ahimsa rests.

• Jainism also stresses that all creatures are connected and depend on each other.

• Ahimsa means not injuring any living being: humans, animals, plants or insects.

• Mahāvīra said: "All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence…"

• In both Jainism and Buddhism, ahimsa also covers violence in thought, not just violence done by hand.

• Karma, rebirth and renunciation:

• Karma (a person's actions) decides their next birth.
• Asceticism and penance (self-punishment that wipes out past karma) free a person from the cycle of rebirth.
• This is possible only by renouncing the world, which means leaving home, family and property.

• So monastic life is a necessary condition of salvation. A householder alone cannot reach liberation.

• The five vows (mahāvratas), taken by monks and nuns [3][4]:

• Do not kill.
• Do not steal.
• Do not lie.
• Observe celibacy.

• Do not own property.

• The three-part message (Class 6, Ch 7):

• Ahimsa: non-violence, in action and in thought.
• Anekāntavāda: truth has many sides, and no single statement can capture the whole truth. Another person's view may hold part of the truth.
• Aparigraha: non-possession, or freedom from attachment to material things.

Spread, split and legacy

• Jainism spread gradually across India.
• Jaina scholars wrote in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil. Their works were kept for centuries in libraries attached to temples.
• Some of the earliest religious stone sculptures in India were made by devotees of the tīrthankaras.
• Jainism later split into two sects [5][6]:
• Digambara ("sky-clad", meaning the monks go naked).

• Shvetāmbara ("white-robed").

• Digambara tradition explains the split this way [5][6]:

• In c. 310 BCE, after a 12-year famine, the monk Bhadrabāhu and Chandragupta Maurya (the first Mauryan king, who had become a Jaina monk) led a migration south to Shravanabelagola in Karnataka.

• Bhadrabāhu insisted on nudity, following Mahāvīra's own example. Sthūlabhadra, who led the monks who stayed in the north, allowed white garments [5].

• Britannica warns that both sects' accounts are partisan (each takes its own side) and were written long after the events. The earliest Digambara account dates from the 10th century CE, so the real origin of the split remains unclear [5][6].

• The story of Rohineya shows the message in action.
• Rohineya was a burglar who overheard one of Mahāvīra's sermons. He confessed his crimes and became a monk.
• The lesson is right action, right thinking and the value of a second chance.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Parshvanātha belongs to c. 7th century BCE [3]. Mahāvīra belongs to the early 6th century BCE (traditionally c. 599–527 BCE [4]). The sects grew apart later. Digambara tradition links the split to events of c. 310 BCE [5][6].
• Places:
• Vaiśhālī (Bihar): Mahāvīra's birthplace region.
• Banaras: Parshvanātha's centre [3].

• Shravanabelagola (Karnataka): the destination of the southern migration, according to Digambara tradition [5][6].

• Key people: Parshvanātha, Mahāvīra, Bhadrabāhu, Sthūlabhadra and Chandragupta Maurya.

• Evidence:
• The Jaina canon (Agamas) preserves the scriptures of the tradition [7].
• The Prakrit Uttarādhyayana Sutta, in which queen Kamalāvatī urges her husband to renounce the world.
• Jaina writings in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil, kept in temple libraries.
• Early religious stone sculptures of the tīrthankaras.
• Sect histories written much later. The earliest Digambara account is from the 10th century CE, so these must be used with care [5][6].

Don't confuse with

• Mahāvīra vs Parshvanātha: Mahāvīra is the 24th tīrthankara and added celibacy as the fifth vow. Parshvanātha is the 23rd, from Banaras, and gave only four vows [3][4].
• Jainism vs Buddhism: Both are heterodox, meaning they rejected Vedic authority and animal sacrifice, and both extend ahimsa to thought. The difference is that Jainism makes renunciation compulsory for salvation, while Buddhism's middle path was easier for householders to follow.
• Digambara vs Shvetāmbara: Digambara means "sky-clad": nudity for monks, linked with Bhadrabāhu and the move south. Shvetāmbara means "white-robed": white garments allowed, linked with Sthūlabhadra in the north [5].
• Anekāntavāda vs Aparigraha: Anekāntavāda is about knowledge (truth has many sides). Aparigraha is about conduct (not possessing things).

Prelims Hooks

• Tīrthankara means "one who guides across the river of existence". There are 24 in each cosmic age, and Mahāvīra is the 24th [2].
• Parshvanātha was the 23rd tīrthankara, from Banaras, of the 7th century BCE. He is the first tīrthankara with historical evidence [2][3].
• Five mahāvratas: Parshvanātha's four vows plus celibacy, which Mahāvīra added [3][4].
• "Jain" comes from jina, meaning "conqueror" (of ignorance and attachment). Mahāvīra was born Prince Vardhamāna near Vaiśhālī (Bihar), left home at 30, and gained infinite knowledge after 12 years.
• Trap: Mahāvīra was not the founder of Jainism. He was a reformer of an older tradition.
• Digambara tradition: Bhadrabāhu and Chandragupta Maurya moved to Shravanabelagola, Karnataka, c. 310 BCE, after a 12-year famine [5][6].

Mains Points

• Reform, not invention. Mahāvīra built on 23 earlier tīrthankaras. He added celibacy to Parshvanātha's four vows and put older Jaina ideas into order [3][4]. This is useful in answers that show continuity in Indian religious thought.
• Why Jainism stayed smaller, yet left a deep legacy:
• It made renunciation compulsory and demanded very strict ahimsa, so fewer householders could follow it than could follow Buddhism.
• Still, its ahimsa "has left its mark on Indian thinking as a whole". This thread links it to Ashokan dhamma, vegetarian practice and modern non-violent politics.

• Its sculptures and its writings in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil, kept in temple libraries, are major sources for Indian art and regional language history.

• Limits of sources written by religious traditions. The Digambara–Shvetāmbara split is known mainly from partisan accounts written centuries later, the earliest Digambara one from the 10th century CE [5][6]. This is a good example for discussing how historians must test such sources.

Related concepts

• Tirthankara
• Rishabhanatha
• Parshvanatha
• Mahavira
• Kevala jnana
• Ahimsa
• Karma
• Five vows of Jainism
• Aparigraha
• Triratna of Jainism

Read more

• Mahāvīra and the message of the Jainas