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A NOTE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR
(First Edition )
JAINISM is one of the most ancient religions of India It has played a great part in the cultural development of the Indian people. "Ahimsā paramo dharmaḥ” or 'Non-violence is duty par excellence' is the sine-qua-non of this faith which has always stood for universal peace and brotherhood. It has sought to accommodate the different view-points in the domain of thought as well as of action by its philosophy of Anekānta. It has attempted to afford equal opportunities of material and spiritual advancement to all irrespective of the incident of birth and it has tried to avoid clashes of worldly interests by placing spiritual well-being above material gain.
It may appear from this that a faith so pre-eminently spiritual would be unsuited for the development of art and science. But the contributions of Jainism to these departments are also by no means small. Building temples and setting up images for worship forms an important item of the faith amongst the Jain laity and this brought about the introduction of some special features in the architecture and sculpture both in Northern and Southern India where their numerous temples and statues still excite the devotion and admiration of the worshippers and the scholars alike. Books have also been produced on these as well as on the other fine arts such as painting and music. With still greater attention and success have the Jains cultivated the highest of the fine arts-poetry, which is fully represented in their literature in all its branches. Hand in hand with poetry they have produced numerous important works on such technical subjects as grammar, lexicography, poetics, law and polity as well as on sciences such as astronomy, mathematics and medicine, and treatises are not wanting in their literature even on subjects like war-carriages, bows and arrows elephants and horses, erotics, astrology and magic.
Thus important as the Jain literature is for the study of Indian philosophy and religion, art and science, it is of a still greater importance for the study of the development of Indian languages. It may even be said that the importance of Jain literature is, in this respect, unique. The sacred language of the Brahmins was Sanskrit and they did not, at first, take any important part in the development of the languages of the people the Prakrits. Lord Buddha gave his preachings in the language of the people but the Buddhist literature confined itself to one language only-Pali, and at a later date it adopted Sanskrit. But Lord Mahāvīra gave a permanent impetus to the development of the popular languages and his followers adopted these both for preaching and writing in their religious propaganda. They gave literary shape to many languages even for the first time and took a prominent part in the early development of even the Dravidian vernaculars of South India. The ancient Prakrits, Māgadhi. Ardha-Māgadhī, Sauraseni and Māhārāştrī are extensively preserved in the Jain books whose study is very essential for their adequate knowledge.
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