Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

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Lessons of Ahimsă and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
titles have been reprinted more than once. The books, in order of their original publication dates, are:
• Romila Thapar, A History of India (New York:Penguin,
1966, 1991) • Stanley Wolpert, A New History of India (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1977, 1983, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2000) Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of
India (London: Routledge 1986, 1990, 1998) • Burton Stein, History of India (Oxford: Basil Blackwell,
1998, 1999, 2000) • John Keay, India (New York: Grove, 2000)
Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, A Concise History of India (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2001). Based on my analysis, it appears that for the most part, the authors' understanding of Jainism in the context of Indian History is dictated by the assumption that religion is a matter of antiquity and, therefore, does not deserve any discussion in their historical narrative of subsequent time periods. Within the context of the ancient period, coverage of Jainism is often superficial, impertinent and, at times, not grounded in facts but based on assumptions. That is, in their discussion, the authors are more occupied with the description of physical appearances rather than principles; more concerned with the seemingly exotic and strange customs without regard to the understanding of key concepts and values they embody. There is also a tendency to present religions as uniform systems disregarding the diversity that characterizes each of the Indic religions. In what is said about Jainism and Mahāvīra in these textbooks, and also how it is said there, I see a variety of problems that can broadly be categorized as follows: i) inadequate coverage, ii) misconception, iii) flawed comparisons, iv) misrepresentation, and v) neoorientalism.
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