Jaina Community a Social Survey

SR No.: 007019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Vilas Sangve
Publisher: Popular Book Depot Bombay
Publication Year: 1980
Total Pages: 484
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

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Jaina Community-A Social Survey
distinguished place in Rajput society; and the privileges they still enjoy, prove that they are not overlooked.66
Thus the Jainas continued to flourish in different parts of India during the ancient and medieval times. But afterwards the Jaitas began to decline. Before finding out the causes responsible for the downfall of Jainas, let us try to see the achievements of the Jainas in various fields of activities during the many centuries of their existence.
. 2. ACHIEVEMENTS OF JAINAS Perhaps the most creditable achievement of Jainas is in the field of literature. It has been already noticed that right from the Vedic period two different currents of thought and ways of life known as Biāhmaṇa culture and Śramana culture are prevalent in India.67 The Sramana culture is mainly represented by Jainas and Buddhists and of them Jainas were the first to propagate that culture. That is why from ancient times we have the Sramana literature besides the Brahmanic literature. The characteristic features of the Sramaņa literature are given as follows : st disregards the system of castes and Aśramas; its heroes are, as a rule, not gods and Rsbis, but kings or merchants or even Śūdras. The subjects of poetry taken up by it are not Brahmanic myths and legends, but popular tales, fairy stories, fables and parables. It likes to insist on the misery and sufferings of Sainsāra and it teaches a morality of compassion and Ahimsā, quite distinct from the ethics of Brahmanism with its ideals of the great sacrificer and generous supporter of the priests, and its strict adherence to the caste system. The authors of this sramana literature have contributed their full share to the religious, ethical, poetical, and scientific literature of ancient India. A close examination of the vast religious literature of the Jainas has been made by M. Winternitz in his “A History of Indian Literature.” 69 The Jainas were foremost in composing various kinds of narrative literature like Purānas, Charitras, Kathās, Prabandhas, etc. Besides a very extensive body of poetical narrative, the non-canonical literature of the Jainas consists partly of an immense number of commentaries and partly of independent works on dogma, ethics, and monastic discipline. They also compiled legends of saints and composed works on ecclesiastical history.70 Always fond of story-telling,