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Need of the Day-Comparative
study of Indic-religions
- Prof. Sagarmal Jain Orientation -
General Knowledge of different Prakrits with their peculiarities and their literature, along with Jain concepts of non-violence, non-possession and non-absolutisms is essential for Indic studies Indian culture consist of two traditions Sramanic and Vedic. At present Sramanic tradition has mainly two traditionsJainism and Buddhism though there were some other minor Sramanic traditions also, such as Ajivakas and others, which were vanished in due course of time or merged in the greater Hindu tradition of Indian culture.
Early Jaina canonical literature has been written in prakrit languages, so to know Jainism in its original form knowledge of prakrit languages, with their grammar and with their different shades and their literature is necessary. Buddhist literature has been written Pali language. In earlier times Pali also had been called as Magadhi, which was one of the shades of Prakrits. pali and ardha-magadhi language of Jain canonical literature are very near to each other. Various Prakrit
Prakrit language has various shades such as Magadhi, Addhmagadhi, Saurseni, Maharastri and Paisachi etc. Jain canonical literature of Swetamber sect had been written in Addhamagadhi and of Digambar sect in Saurseni prakrit. These two sades of Prakrit language are very near to Pali and not very far from the Vedic Sanskrit and the language of Avaistha of Parasi tradition. For the studies of Indian culture as a whole the knowledge of these Prakrist-languages is very essential. Purpose of Prakrits and Jain Studies -
The purpose of this Indic-study to teach the basic human
