Concept of Divinity in Jainism

Author(s): P Ajay Kothari
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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The source of Hinduism, the highest authority in religious and ceremonial matters, are the Vedas. These are believed to be, not the work of man, and are therefore considered as eternal. The word Veda comes from the Sanskrit “vid”. It is allied to the Latin root "vid”., and the English “to wit”. It therefore signifies "knowledge”, and the Hindu would add “knowledge divinely communicated”. Veda also means realisation or experience. In other words, it means the realisation or experience of the divinity.
The religion of Rig Veda is mainly concerned with the worship of gods, personification of the powers of the nature. The gods are invoked by the recitation of the Vedic hymns along with the oblation of soma juice. According to Macdonell, the Vedic gods are classified as the deities of heaven, air and earth. The gods of heaven are Dyaus, Varuna, Mitra, Surya, Savitri, Pushan and Ashvins and the goddesses of heaven are Ushas and Ratri. The gods of air are Maruts, Vayu, Parjanya and the goddesses are Apas and Vidyut. The terrestrial gods are Agni and Soma and the goddesses are Prthivi and rivers. Besides, there are abstract deities as Shraddha, Aramati, Anumati. The number of these gods, old and new, is indefinite. Sometimes they are reckoned at thirty three crores and classified into three groups of eleven each according to their abode, Viz., i) gods of the sky, like Mitra and Varuna; ii) gods of mid-air like Indra and Maruts; and iii) gods of the terrestrial like Agni and Soma. A classification which, by the way, indicates a desire to discover the interrelations of the gods and arrange them systematically.“
They are all of co-ordinate power and no supreme God as such is recognised, although some of them are more imposing than others - particularly, Indra and Varuna, the gods respectively of the warrior and of the pious devotee.? The philosophy, it seems, has originated under the pressure of a practical need arising from the presence of moral and physical evil in life. Divinity, thus, is very much part and parcel of Indian philosophy and culture.
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HE CONCEPT OF DIVINITY IN JAINISM