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The Value and Heritage of Jain Religion southward to Maharashtra and Karnataka, where Jainism rapidly grew in popularity.
The Jain canons contain some sixty texts and is divided into three main groups, the Purva (old texts : 14 books), the Angas (limbs : 12 books) and the Angabahya (subsidiary canons). Not all are extant. In addition to the threefold canons itself, there are extensive commentaries written in Prakrit and Sanskrit by the monk scholars. The Tattvartha Sutra, written in the second century A.D., belongs to this group. Its author Acharya Umasvati is held in high esteem by both Shvetambar and Digambar tradition. It, for the first time, presents in Sanskrit the entire canonical material on various subjects in aphoristic style and in classified form succinctly and systematically.
In Jainism, the essence of religion lies in an intuitive apprehension of the purity of consciousness. According to Jainism, the love of truth is inherent in each self, but it requires spiritual exercise for its manifestation. Once this love of truth is manifested, it will lead the self to liberation sooner or later.
The conduct of a person, in the Jain view, cannot be isolated from his way of life. For the true Jain, Truth and Values are inseperable. This is where right knowledge comes in. As Acharya Samantabhadra in his Yuktyanushasanam (Verse 15) says:
“Without knowing the real nature of things, all moral distinctions between bondage and liberation, merit and demerit, pleasure and pain will be absurd."
The values of Jain religion are based on five vows viz.non-violence, devotion to truth, non-stealing, celibacy and nonpossession. The entire life style of the Jain Shravak and the Jain
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