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JAINISM: ITS DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND THEIR IMPACT ON OUR
COMPOSITE CULTURE
Pof. Kr. De. Karnataki, M.A.
The researches of many devoted savants, both Western and Eastern, have established beyond any doubt that Jainism is a very, very old tradition. It is now generally recognised that Mahavira is not the original founder, but only a great reformer who induced fresh blood into the already existing body of Jainism by his work of organising and renovating the Jaina institutions. Prior to him, there was the great Parashva; even he was not the founder of Jainism. Rishabha of the hoary past was the first promulgator and founder of the Jaina tradition. He is unanimously held by both the Jaina and the Brahmana traditions to have existed in very early times. Thus the roots of Jainism go very deep into our history and Jainism undoubtedly is an indigenous system which was prevalent in our country—at least in entire north India-even before the advent of the Vedic Aryans to the Punjab or Brahmavarta.
: . It is one of the most fascinating and inspiring tasks for a thinker to follow the majestic course of Vedic Aryanism coming into contact with the indigenous currents flowing in our country even before its rise here and mingling with them, being influenced by them and emerging, after ages of dynamic assimilation, as the wonderful composite culture, Bharatiya samskriti, which is even now a very much live and
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