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BOOK REVIEW
JAINA ETHICS: Dayanand Bhargava : Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi : 1968 : Pages xvi+296: Price Rs. 20.00.
Ethics like society is a changing concept, changing with time, the more so since under the socialistic impact, the traditional society, both oriental and occidental, is fast breaking away from the age-old moorings, not only giving rise to new value-systems but also to novel justifications thereof. In the midst of so much change, however, spiritual ethics which provides a code of conduct to one who is desirous of liberation from earthly bondage has retained a fixity which gives justification to the occasional appearance of a title like the present one, which originally a dissertation in partial fulfilment of the degree of doctor of philosophy is now presented in a more comprehensive as well as useful form. It is indeed heartening that Jainism, although a very systematic original line of thought with copious literature of its own, which has long been confused and misrepresented either as a heretical belief or as a subsidiary either of Buddhism or Brahmanism, has already secured recognition about its originality, independence and uniqueness and is attracting more and more scholars and researchers to bring its message of toleration and equanimity home to a wider public in this country and abroad.
The title of the book gives only a limited view of its contents which go very much beyond ethics or conduct and strive to forge a link with metaphysics. Rightly speaking ethics begins from chapter V which deals with the conduct of a householder followed by another dealing with the conduct of a monk and a third with penances. The rest, three chapters
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