Jaina System of Education

Author(s): Debendra Chandra Das Gupta
Publisher: Bharti Mahavidyalaya

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and other fine arts The Indian States from time immemorial were great patrons of learned Brahmins, religious reformers and education 1sts The following quotation will support our contention regarding thepa ronge of learning on the part of the State When they arrived the king caused proper honours to be paid to each of them separately in the morning after leaving his bed he said to (Wha makes you here Are you troubled by bad men? But there are no such people in this land) In my kingdom there is no thief no miser no drunkard no irreligious nor illiterate person no adulterer much less in adulteress "1
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JAINA SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
During the Jaina period the rulers of the different states vied with one another in honouring the Tirthankaras and warmly support ed the Creed and did much for its spread and cultures The Jaina reli gion made a phenomenal progress in the whole of northern southern and western India as a result of unmitigated efforts and incessant propaganda tours of the Tirthankaras and the royal patronage Princes of the royal families willingly joined the Jaina Order and received their special traming for the propagation of the new religion The Jaina monks lost no opportunity of gaining control over the education of the ruling princes hitherto a monopoly in the hands of the learned Brahmins. The rulers willingly co-operated with the monasteries in the education of their royal infants We have already discussed the cosmopolitan nature of monastic education of the Jainas which provided an encyclopedic courses of studies-religions secular Arts and physical training to meet the growing needs of different ranks of students 12 During the Jaina period Jainism was not made a state religion and it was not brought under the Ecclesiastical Department of the State as was the case with the Buddhists during the reign of Aśoka who even supervised the Buddhist monasteries and the religious and educational activities of the monks through the minister of religion > specially appointed for the purpose But the Jaina rulers of south and west India made no such attempt to bring the Jaina monasteries
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The Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana, tr by Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu P 91
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Rayasekhara Suri Prabandhakosa Vol. I edited by Jina Vijaya, p 28 18 Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum edited by Hultzsch Vol. I pp 57 186