ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

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1.1
Historical Background of Jainism Dr. Shugan Chand Jain
1.0 Preamble
There are many beliefs about the origin of species and the world itself. Some believe in its being created by God, others talk of Big Bang doctrine and still some say that it is an eternal entity with changes taking place in it continuously. S trakṛt ga, the 2nd canonical text of Jains which has sermons of Mah vra, in its 1st chapter section three, talk of different views / philosophies (seven) about the creation of the universe. It refutes all of them and says that the universe is eternal; it was, is and will be there forever. Only its contents and components keep on changing. This is based on the Jain doctrine of reality, which says that reality is existent and with origin-decay-permanence. Even modern scientists and logicians support this claim and say that the universe is eternal with changes taking place continuously. Some events, when change is drastic, are considered as either creation or catastrophic (pralaya). Another interesting concept of Jains i.e. of time (called K la) is extremely important to appreciate the history of mankind and culture. This doctrine is shown in Annexe III.
Dr Jyoti Prasada Jain, a noted expert on Indian history in his book 'Bharatiya etihāsa eka drşti or Indian History, a view' has very clearly analyzed the history of India since almost 20000 years with special reference to Jainism. This book has been used extensively for this lesson.
VERSAC
Jainism is perhaps one of the oldest religions of India. Unfortunately even the ancient history of India itself is not well documented to establish the antiquity of Jainism. To establish antiquity of India and Jainism, we have two alternate methods namely:
Conclusions as established by modern research and archeological methods and Tradition and old texts.
We shall use the recent studies and archeological surveys conducted to understand the origin and history of Jainism by reviewing the growth as well as development of various traditions (rama a, Vedic etc) in India and elsewhere.
Geographically India extended from the present Afghanistan in the north to Indonesia / Malaysia in the east. (Annexe I) Over the period of time, due to various reasons, a number of its parts kept on separating themselves from it to leave India as it is known today (Annexe II). Concerning development of civilization, it is said that perhaps the oldest civilization of the world existed in India. To understand this, India is divided in three parts namely:
The mountainous ranges in the north extending from Tibet in east and Afghanistan in the west.
The south surrounded by the three oceans.
In between the plains separated by Vindhy hills, the upper part called Madhya De a and the lower part below Vindhy s in the south.
1.1 Development of Indian Civilization
1.1.1 Anthropological and Archeological Studies
From anthropological studies, it becomes clear that the earliest human civilization in ancient times, especially in India, saw the clear formation of three distinct cultures as well follows.
A. Neo-Stone age 15000-8000BC:
The third r as per Jains is called Bhogabhumi
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⚫ The area i.e. the upper plains of Ganges and Yamuna extending from V r nasi to Magadha was lush with vegetation, favourable climate supporting vegetarian diet, non-violent nature and indulgence in intellectual and spiritual pursuits. The people in this area worshipped idols,
STUDY NOTES version 4.0