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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol. XLII
No. 3 January
2008
CONTRIBUTION OF THE JAINS IN DEVELOPING MORAL
FIBRES OF THE INDIANS
Professor Satya Ranjan Banerjee
I Preamble :
Indian culture is represented by three languages and their literatures. These three languages are Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. The Sanskrit language has given us a vast amount of literature and the thoughts and ideas contained in it. So also the Pali language whose literature contains the speeches and doctrines of Lord Buddha which later on codified by his followers. The third language is Prakrit in which Lord Mahāvīra preached his doctrines and philosophy and later on his speeches were compiled and codified by his discipiles and followers. The literature in Sanskrit ultimately gave birth to Hinduism, and the Pali literature to Buddhism and the Prakrit literature to Jainism. Although, at a later stage, Sanskrit was used by both the Buddhists and the Jainas, the major and the basic contributions of both the sects were in Pali and Prakrit. So to study the Indian history and culture, we will have to remember the contributions of these three languages in Art and Archaelogy, in language and literature, in sociology and Anthropology, in Ethics and Psychology, in religion and philosophy, in cosmology and cosmography, and in what not. We will have to remember at the same time that apart from Hinduism, both Buddhism and Jainism have contributed quite a lot to frame the Indian history and culture, particularly in developing the moral fibres of the Indians. As the Jains have stayed in India all through its life, its contribution is very great and many Jainistic thoughts and ideas are integrated and have become a part and parcel of Indian life in general. It is, of course, very difficult now to separate them from Indian life, but they are
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