Jain Journal 1974 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 51

40
JAIN JOURNAL
2.
The concepts of Dharma and Adharma as non-psychical principles of motion and rest are peculiar to Jaina philosophy.
Jainas do not believe in Absolute Truth. Jaina philosophy is commonly known as Syādvāda. Syāt means "may be". The real sense of the compound word Syādvāda can, therefore, be said to be objective realism-viewing things under their diverse aspects by a multiple or many-sided vision. The septuple formulation of Syādvāda is called Saptabhangi.
In the six-fold classification of souls according to their sense organs, the Jainas developed the theory of evolution several thousand years before Darwin wrote his Origin of Species.
5.
By attributing to them a consciousness of their own purposive activity, the Jaina theory rejects the notorious Cartesian doctrine that the sub-human animals are unconscious automata.
It is a different matter that the judgment of Banerjee. J. was reversed by Supreme Court, vide 1972 83 ITR 720. Their Lordships of the Supreme Court were not so much concerned with whether the Jainas are Hindus, but they were deciding the broader issue whether the taxable entity of Hindu Undivided Family mentioned in the Wealth Tax Act would include a Jaina family. No doubt the concept of joint family is prevalent amongst the Jainas but that does not make Jainas Hindus.
Taking the cue from the Discovery of India', I find the Census Officers take it for granted that Jainas are Hindus and in the column of “Religion" they automatically fill in the word “Hindu" against a Jaina. It is for the Jainas to assert their separate identity and to see to it that their religion is properly recorded in Electoral Rolls, Census, Civil Lists, Statistics and other Government records.