Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Introduction 7
which a man's prosperity and distress depend on the activities of his past life, they think it unnecessary to contribute to the humanitarian causes. But this idea is absolutely wrong. The heart of Jainism is not really 'empty.' Such misconceptions are largely due to the fact that the Jain charitable institutions are not sufficiently modernised.1
The history of Jainism is a history of long struggle. It made its way into the religious life of India having overcome the tremendous pressure of its rival creed Buddhism. The Brahmaņas showed bitter hostility to the Jains, even by destroying idols and cult-objects and converting their temples into Brahmanic ones. In South India they were persecuted by the Vīraśaivas and in the North by the Muslims. Despite all these, the Jains have managed to maintain their existence as a distinct and influential community. Of the many reasons, attributed to the survival of the Jain community, the following may be taken into account. The royal patronage which Jainism received, even from some non-Jain rulers, during the ancient and medieval periods, in different parts of the country, especially in Karṇāṭaka, Gujarat and Rajasthan, has undoubtedly helped the Jain community for its survival. Secondly, since the Jains mostly belong to the commercial class, their economic influence upon society could not be ignored, even by rulers hostile to their creed. Thirdly, after the Muslim conquest, the Jains earned the goodwill of the Hindus, and the latter of the former, and this evidently added new strength to the community. And lastly, thanks to the rigid conservatism of the Jains, their important religious doctrines have remained unaltered up to this day, and the excellent organisation of the community, the strict disciplinary measures like ex-communication for breach of the rules of conduct etc. have become the strongest safeguard of the Jains. "It is evident that the lay part of the community were not regarded as outsiders, or only as friends and patrons of the order, as seems to have been the case in early Buddhism; their position was, from the beginning well defined by religious duties and privileges; the bond which united them to the order of monks was an effective one......it cannot be doubted that this close union between laymen and monks brought about by the similarity of their religious duties, differing not in kind but in degree, had enabled Jainism to avoid fundamental changes within, and to resist dangers from without for more than two thousand years, while Buddhism, being less exacting as regards the laymen,
1BG, IV, pp. 114-15; JBBRAS, X, p. 237; Jhavery, HFJ, pp. 17-18.