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JAINISM : A PROMINENT LIVING INDIGENOUS CULTURE
DR. RAJJAN KUMAR*
Jainism, the great humanistic religion with scientific philosophy represents the śramanic tradition of India. There are many misunderstandings carried by the people regarding Jainism viz. Antiquity, religion, philosophy, literature, culture etc. that Jainism represents. Each is a vast subject or rather consists of a number of subquerries. The basic misunderstanding
There are numerous misunderstandings regarding Jainism, but the fundamental misunderstandings has had been charged on it is that-whether this is an independent culture with some requisite antiquity or be an offshoot of some other culture. In this purview many consider that it is a branch of vedic religion, some others take it to be an offshoot of Buddhism; whereas many others are of the opinion that Jainism arises as a reaction against the thought and practices of Vedicism.
The extent of its misunderstanding about its philosophical stand-point can be indicated by the view that has been advanced by many who claim to be known veterans of philosophy that its epistemological position relativism' or 'syādvād' represents a kind of 'sansayavāda' (scepticism). The misunderstanding about the nature of its literature can be judged by the opinion put forth by renowned literary critic as that Jain literatures are nothing but writtings without any objectives. As for concern about the culture of Jainism the misunderstanding has been prevailed and the opinions put down are not rather different as expressed for other aspects of Jainism.
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