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PREFACE
My aim in preparing the present treatise has been to make an humble and honest contribution to one of the most significant systems of Indian Philosophy, viz., Jainism. The system is, of course, too vast to be adequately treated in a single treatise, and consequently, I have tried to restrict myself to the broad features thereof. I have made an attempt to present the outlines of Jaina Philosophy on the basis of original Prakrit and Sanskrit texts in such a manner as to make the presentation interesting, intelligible and easy.
The treatise is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter gives a brief history of Jainism. The second chapter deals with the religious and philosophical literature of the Jainas. The third chapter has been devoted to a brief survey of the concept of reality from the stand-point of Idealism, Realism and Jainism. The general features of the six fundamental substances recognized by Jaina Philosophy have been elaborated in a simple and comprehensive manner bearing in mind the non-absolutistic implication of thought. The nature of soul has thoroughly and critically been examined in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter has been devoted to the concept of matter. What are the different forms of matter according to Jainism; what is the nature of atom and molecule; what is the relation between matter and soul; how many kinds of bodies are there; what is the nature of sound, union, fineness, grossness, figure, divisibility, darkness, shade, heat, light etc.? All these questions have been answered in this chapter. In the sixth chapter I have dealt with the theory of knowledge. The canonical as well as logical concept of knowledge has been discussed in it. The seventh chapter is on the relativity of judgment. The nature of seven-fold judgment and the theory of naya have been precisely presented in this chapter. The eighth chapter deals with the doctrine of karma which is of
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