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JAINISM IN ECONOMIC
PERSPECTIVE
S. L. Mandawat
The role of institutions in the process of economic growth and the overall prosperity of the masses is very substantial. These institutional arrangements often stand in the way of a more rational use of available resources and they may well offer the main explanation for the slow rate of economic development of the under-developed economics. Such discouragingly slow progress often supports Veblen's position that institutionalized traditions may contiminate' socioeconomic reforms and prevent them from attaining full fruition. Professor Rostow has suggested that 'actions which result in economic advance need not be motivated by economic goals'. Religion is of immense importance among all other social institutions which can restrict or promote the economic interest of a nation in general and a community in particular.
Though Jainism, is indigenous to the soil, and it has a rich, vast and multifarious literature and yet it is virtually neglected in any assembly of scholars in Economics. Viewed in historical perspective, it had the privilege of being the religion of kings like Chandragupta and Bimbisāra. Most of its founders (Tirthankaras) were also from highly prosperous and royal families. In such a spectacular historical background on the one hand and the asceticism or austerity preached by Jainism on the other, economic prosperity has blossomed, substantially contributing to the stream of economic development of the country. At first sight, it appears
like a paradox. But the fact, however is different which lies at the Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
