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132 :: Aspects of Jaina Religion
chambers which were their favourite form of architecture. Nothing in the world can surpass for richness and delicacy of detail the marble columns and ceilings of the Mount Abu temples and it would be easy to fill to large volume with illustrations of more or less similar exquisite work in many localities."
(4) Painting
Along with architecture and sculpture, the Jainas have contributed in a large measure to the development of art of painting in India. The tradition of Jaina painting is as old as Buddhist painting and innumerable Jaina paintings of exquisite quality could be found on walls, palm-leaves, paper, cloth, wood, etc. It is significant to note that the Jainas possess a very extensive treasure of manuscript paintings drawn in the early Western Indian Style, sometimes called the 'Gujarat Style' or specifically the “Jaina Style'.
3. Philosophy
As Jainism is an original system, quite distinct and independent from all others, the Jainas have developed a separate philosophy which is regarded as a valuable contribution to Indian philosophy.
In philosophy the Jainas occupy a distinct position between the Brāhmaṇic and Buddhist philosophical systems. This has been shown very clearly by Dr. Hermann Jacobi in his paper on "The Metaphysics and Ethics of the Jainas'. Regarding the problem of Being the three hold different opinions. The Vadāntins consider that underlying and upholding from within all things there is one absolute permanent 'Being without change and with none other like it. On the contrary the Buddhists hold that all things are transitory. The Jainas, however, contend that 'Being' is joined to production, continuation and destruction and that they call their theory of multiple view points (i.e., Anekāntavāda) in contradistinction to the theory of permanency (i.e., Nityavāda) of the
