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JAINISM
B. B. KUNDU
Its Antiquity
durgatiprapa'prāņidhāraņā'dharma ucyate
That which holds the self (i.e. ātmā) from distress is called dharma.
The aim of Jainism is to lead every man and woman irrespective of caste and creed towards moksa and with this end in view, it prescribes a course of righteous practices which are vigorous excercises of discipline in character.
The Jainas believe that their religion originated from Rsabhanatha or Adinatha, known as the first Tirthankara (ford-finder), who flourished at a very very remote past. After Rsabha, they feel, as many as 23 Tirthankaras appeared in succession. Of them, the penultimate and the last Tirthankaras were Parsvanatha and Mahavira respectively. Modern scholarship regards these two Tirthankaras as real figures and the rest as imaginary. It fixes the date of death of Mahavira at about 467 B.C. and the date of Parsvanatha to be about 800 B.C. and regards Parsvanatha as the originator of Jainism.
But, I humbly feel, that the claim of the Jainas that their religion dates back from a very remote past is not altogether baseless in as much as the 24 Tirthankaras of the Jainas have been mentioned in the Rgveda, one of the oldest books of the world, 1 in the Rk, aum trailokyapratisthātānām caturvimšati tirthakarāņām. Moreover, in the Rk, aum pavitra lagnam sudhiram digvasanam brahmagarvasanātanam upemi viram puruşamarhat mādityavarņam tamasah parastā'svāhā reverence has been shown
* About 2500 to 2000 B.C. See on this point, Winternitz, M., A History of Indian
Literature, New Delhi, 1977, Munshiram Monoharlal, p. 290-310. This is a reprint of the 1927 edition published by the Calcutta University.
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