Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

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Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
unfavorable moments in history. The stories of violence associated with ācārya Haribhadra serve only to demonstrate the religious rivalry that prevailed at a given period in Indian history. Juxtaposing stories of violence attributed to Haribhadra, the great author and philosopher, with the actual passages drawn from Haribhadra's writings, Chapple contends that there is no evidence supporting the validity of such stories. The evidence that we do have in the form of Haribhadra's own writings strongly attests to his exemplary tolerance and respect for the views of others and his uncompromising commitment to ahimsā and anekāntavāda. Nonetheless, Chapple suggests that the story of violence attributed to Haribhadra, though without evidence, and the philosophy of tolerance that in fact characterizes the corpus of his writings, offer two different models to solve the problem of violence in our world today. The first offers violence as a solution to violence, and the second, more in tune with the overall orientation of the Jain philosophy, offers compassion, tolerance and forgiveness as a solution to violence.
The last two papers deal with the representation of ahimsā and anekānta, of Mahavira and his teachings in art and in history textbooks respectively. Using art historical and epigraphical evidence, Sonya Quintanilla demonstrates that the ardhaphālaka Jain monks of early Mathura practiced ahimsā and anekanta in an exemplary manner. Their adherence to ahimsă and anekanta helped them create a tolerant, open and inclusive environment in early Mathura. Such an environment facilitated the rise of Mathura as a cosmopolitan cultural center where members of diverse religions peacefully co-existed. The ardhaphalaka Jain monks and their followers were, thus, instrumental to the rise of key religious movements and iconographic developments in Mathura affecting the course of Indian history, the future of Jainism and Jain art in significant ways.
My paper examines the problems underlying the portrayal of Mahāvīra's teachings in Indian history textbooks. A critical review of half a dozen textbooks of Indian history used for undergraduate courses in the U.S. suggests that the coverage of
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