Jain Journal 2004 01

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

Page 36

UNDERSTANDING JAIN RELIGION IN A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE *
Satya Ranjan Banerjee I normally study any kind of religion from a historical point of view, because, I believe, if you understand the history of any religion, you would be able to get a better appreciation of any religion whatsoever. So is the case with Jainism. Jainism is a very old religion. There were 24 Tirthankars in Jainism. The first was known as Adinātha or Rsabhadeva and the 24th Tīrthankara was Bhagavān Mahāvīra. The period of Mahāvīra is established as the 6th century B.C (599-527B.C). Mahāvīra lived for 72 years. During these 72 years Mahāvīra had brought about some revolutionary changes in the then society of India. This is a very important period in history as it was during this period that Zoroastrianism also developed in Iran. Their original language was called Avestan. This language was not known to a lot of people before the 18th century when the Avestan literature was deciphered and we came to know the contents of the text. Again it was the period of Pythagorus (6th/5th century B.C.) in Greece who started his philosophy of life in Greece around the same period. In China too it was the period when Lao-tse (6th century B.C.) developed Taoism, and Confucius (551-478 B.C.) preached his doctrines of morality known as Confucianism. In India the period saw the activities of Lord Mahāvīra and also of Lord Buddha. In a sense the 6th century B.C. was the turning point in the philosophical ideas of human beings in most parts of the world. If Lord Mahāvīra is attributed to the 6th century B.C, surely Rsabhadeva, the 1st Tīrthankara, must have belonged to a much earlier period. It is to be noted that the name Rşabha is found in the Rgveda, which dates back to 1500 B.C. It is, however, much later, around the gth-10"h centuries A.D. that the lives of Tirthankars were all compiled.
The reason why I give emphasis to dates and history is to make it easy to understand religion by relating the circumstances under
A revised, rearranged and augmented version of the lecture delivered on the 12th December 2002 at the instance of Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun, under the scheme of Understanding Religions.