Jainism

Author(s): Vallabh Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabh Smarak Nidhi

Page 23

18
merely an offshoot of Buddhism." The Jains believe their system to be eternal truth, revealed for the benefit of mankind in every era by innumerable Tirthankarass or jinas ( Victors ). These are omniscient expounders of the nature of things, preachers of truth and organizers of the Sangha or Holy Order of ascetics, and teachers of the laity, both men and women.
Owing to insufficient historical data scholars may hesitate to accept the claim of Jainism to be a most ancient system of thought. But there is irrefutable literary evidence that Jainism was flourishing in India definitely in the eighth century BC, and even during the Vedic age. According to Dr. S. Radhakrishan,
"Jainism prevailed even before Vardhamana [Mabavira, or Parshvanatha. The yajurveda men
2 See Hermann Jacobi's Introduction to the Jaina Sutras, Part I, in the sacred books of the East. Vol. XXII.
3 A Tirthankara is defined as he “who shows the broad fording-place of virtue, the best of all, reaching which men overcome pains and sorrows."-SAMANTABHADRA; BrihatSvayambhu, Stotra. 9.
4 Indian philosophy, Vol. I. P. 287.