History of Jaina Monachism

Author(s): S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute

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S. B. DEO Survey of Jaina Research :
Round3 about the beginning of the nineteenth century, European scholars were attracted towards Jaina studies. It was in 1809 that Col. MACKENZIE wrote an "Account of the Jains".4 FRANKLINS and DELAMAINE followed him. The former wrote about his "Researches on the Tenets and Doctrines of the Jeynes and Boodhists" in 1827, and the latter gave a modest account of "The Śravacs or Jains”.5
A very systematic and a compact account of the Jainas was given by BÜHLER in his "Indische Sekte der Jainas" in 1887.6 A few years later JACOBI contributed a fine article on Jainism in the Encyclopaedia of Religions and Ethics. An exhaustive account of Jaina religion and life-which, however, resulted in finding out 'an empty heart of Jainism'-was published by Mrs. Sinclair STEVENSONS in 1915. A couple of years later, NAHAR and GHOSH came out with a bulky volume under the title "An Epitome of Jainism”.9
In the next fifteen years scholars like GANDHI,10 GLASENAPP,11 GUERINOT, 12 WARREN13 and SCHUBRING14 made contributions to several aspects of Jainism.
Work regarding Jaina texts :
This research regarding Jainism in general, attracted the attention of scholars, both Indian and European, to the need of editing Jaina texts. As early as 1847, BÖTHLINGKE rendered into German the Abhidhānacintāmani. The next year saw the publication of the translation of Kalpasūtra by STEVENSON. These initial attempts, however, were not perfect, and ten years later WEBER published in 1866), his masterly "Fragments of the Bhagavati". This was followed by his survey of the sacred literature of the Jainas.15
3. The following account is mainly taken from SCHUBRING's Die Lehre der Jainas, Chapt. 1, pp. 1-17; WINTERNITZ's Hist. of Ind. Lit., pt. II; GLASENAPP's Der Jainismus, Guj. tran. pp. 1-10.
4. Asiatic Researches, Band IX, 1809, pp. 244 ff. 5. Trans. of R.A.S. 1827. 6. Engl. transl. by BURGESS in 1903. 7. ERE, Vol. 7, pp. 465-74. 8. The Heart of Jainism. 9. Published: 1917. 10. Jaina Philosophy, 1924. 11. Der Jainismus, 1925. 12. La Religion Djaina, 1926. 13. Jainism in Western Garb...etc., 1930. 14. Die Lehre der Jainas, 1935. 15. Engl. transl. in I.A. Vols.: XVII-XXI.