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Jinamañjari, Volume 24, No.2 October 2007
BOOK REVIEW
Review by Siri P. Kumar, Hons. Graduate in Mass Communications
from York University, Toronto
Scripture and Community: Collected Essays on the Jains. Kendall W. Folkert, ed. by John E. Cort. Scholars Press, Atlanta, GA, USA, 1993. Distributors: Motilal Banarsidass, Bungalow Road, Delhi - 110007, India. PP. Introd. xiii - xxiv + 408. ISBN: 1-55540858-3
The monograph interests the readers, who, in the view of Professor John E. Cort, the editor of the book, "will learn much about the Jains (as well as] much about Western scholarship, and the culture in which that scholarship has been embedded."
The book has three Parts, of which the first and the last would entice both the readers and the scholars alike. The Jains in particular will learn much about themselves - the file and facts that have ever been presented to tickle them so intelligently. The general readers will learn, as it has been said, much about the Jains. Though this is promised, it must be said at the very outset, readers will not get at times an up to date account of the history. A case in point is (Part 1.ch.1 Jain history) Vardhamāna Mahāvira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara or Jina preceded by Pārsva who lived and rejuvenated Jain religion some 200 year earlier, has not been borne out. However, basic teachings of Jainism and the characteristic Jain practices are well presented. Jain studies (ch.2), except for the silence about the contributions of Barrister Champat Rai Jain who has written a voluminous work -- The Key of Knowledge, a comparative presentation of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Jainism as regards to god, redemption, holy trinity, yoga, resurrection, etc., and Virchand R. Gandhi, who spent a quite a bit time in the United States in mid 1800 and authored monographs on Jain doctrines, make a good presentation. Methodological insight into scriptural classification as well as Bühler's format (ch. 3-6) are provocatively reflective. With the discussion of Kankali Tilā, Mathura (ch.7), Prof. Folkert urges for material “re-examination, almost literally piece by piece (and if not] both Jain history and the life of Mathurā in general will remain to a significant degree eclipsed where much clearer light could prevail.” Considering “Faith" and “System": darśana in the Jain tradition (ch.8), Prof. Folkert
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