Jainism the Oldest Living Religion

SR No.: 001195
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jyoti Prasad Jain, Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi
Publication Year: 1988
Total Pages: 66
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, History, Religion, E000, & E999
File Size: 3 MB

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The Oldest Living Religion
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be slaughtered in connection with the marriage feast, left the marriage procession at once, renounced the world, climbed the top of mount Raivata (Giranara or Urjayanta) there practised severe austerities, attaining Kevala jñāna, preached the nonviolent creed of the foregoing Tirthankara, to the world, and finally attained salvation.1
Thus, there is no question about his being a real historical person, but there is some difficulty in fixing his date, because opinions still differ as to the exact date of the Mahabharata war, which with different scholars varies from 950 F.C. to 2000 B.C. But the latest consensus of opinion fixes it in the middle of the 15th century B.C., and this is now generally regarded as the starting point of the regular history of India. The period prior to that, about which our knowledge is mainly based on religious traditions, the Jaina and Hindu Purāṇas, is called proto-history, chiefly because the history of that period could not yet be reconstructed on any sound basis.
But the name of Rama or the story of Rāmāyaṇa is as much an every-day homeward in India as the name of Kṛṣṇa or the story of Mahābhārata. And although many a scholar still persist in believing the Rama story to be a legendary one, the majority of scholars, especially Indian ones along with the general masses and intelligentia of the country firmly believe most of the events and persons connected with the story, to be quite real and historical, even though they might be beyond the pale of scientific history and their date unknown.
Here again, "The story of Rāmāyaṇa as stated in the Jaina Purāņas,is substantially similar to the account of Valmiki.
1 H. S. Bhattacharya-Lord Aristanemi, The Jaina Harivamsa, Ariṭṭhanemi Chariu, Nemi Purāņa etc.
2 Pargitor-950 B.C.; R.C. Majumdar-1000 B.C.; Tod1120 P. C.; Dr. H. C. Roy Choudhry-1376 B.C.; Prof. J. C. Vidyalankara-1424 B.C. Dr. K. P. Jayasawal and others1450 P. C.; Certain Purāņas give it as 1414 P. C. while astronomers and later traditions as 3102 or 2449 B.C.