Compendium of Jainism

Author(s): T K Tukol, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Prasaranga Karnatak University Dharwar

Page 16

COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
the peak of perfection. That is the song of life heard from the Holy Ones who are twenty-four in number and who flourished and attained Godhood in the present Cycle of Time. The first Tirthankara, according to the Jaina tradition, is ķşabha Deva while the last one is Mahāvira. “According to Jaina tradition of 24 Tirthankaras, the first Rşabha revealed the ahimsadharma. The last of these was Mahāvira who was an elder contemporary of the Buddha. It is now accepted that Jainism is older than Buddhism and that Mahāvīra who lived from 599 B. C. to 527 B. C. was not the founder of Jainism and that his predecessor Pārsva who lived 250 years earlier was also a historical person. The Ahimsa doctrine preached by Rşabha is possibly prior in time to the advent of Aryans in India and the prevalent culture of the period”. 1,
Inspite of the modern advances in researches made in the fields of ancient Indian history and philosophy, there are still sone scholars who assert that Jainism is an offshoot of Vedic Brahmanism and that the Jainas, like the Buddhists, are dissenters of Hinduism. Even an eminent historian like Arnold Toynbee asserts that Mahāvira is the “founder of Jainism” and mentions Jainas as “amongst the fossilized relics of similar societies now extinct."2 He proceeds to observe : “Similarly, the Ja India and the Hinayanian Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma and Siam can be seen to be fossils of Indian society in the State in wbich this society was when it was developing under the Mauryan Empire.?'3 These views are obviously based on insufficient, if cot erroneous material. The pages that follow will disclose that Jainism is neither an outgrowth of son crther religion nor an antiquated out-of-date religion as is sought to be conveyed by the words fossilized relics." It is true that today the Jainas are a numerical minority but their contribution to the enrichment of Indian philosophy, literature, art, architecture and culture has been remarkably enduring. The interest of Jainsim to the student of religion consists in the fact that it goes back to a very early period.4A We know that the sacred books of the Jainas are old, avowedly older than the Sanskrit literature which we are