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 Anekanta for Contemporary Life
that Jainism has been a localized or regional religion and raise questions in the minds of the textbook reader: Are there any Jains in other parts of India today? Did Jainism ever spread outside of India?
According to the 1991 Census of India, there were 3.4 million Jains spread all over in India, with major concentration in Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Delhi-the largest concentration being in Rajasthan. Today, the Jains in India are estimated to be just under 6 million. Similarly, Jainism in the modern times, especially in the twentieth century has spread to different parts of the world via Jain diasporas.
Mahāvīra and the Jains
While students recognize that the term "Buddhist" comes from Buddha, they usually do not know the origin of the word, "Jain." In one of the books, Vardhamana Mahāvīra's name appears to be listed as "Mahavira Jain," and therefore, Jains are followers of Mahāvīra [Metcalf and Metcalf, pp. xix, xx].
The word "Jain" has never been used as a family name for Mahāvīra. It derives from the Sanskrit word Jina, which refers to "spiritual victor," and not to "spiritual conflict" as assumed by Burton Stein [p. 69]. Within the tradition, this word has been used to describe those human teachers, who after overcoming all the passions of anger and attachment, become omniscient, and preach the path to mokṣa (liberation from the cycle of re-birth). The Jina are also referred to as Tirthankaras (builders of the ford to lead across the ocean of suffering). Jains are followers of the Jina. Mahāvīra was the last Tirthankara in the current cycle.'
6 1991 Census of India. Table C-9, Part VB (ii) - Religion.
7 Jina is the preacher and propagator of truth not "founder." It is believed that 24 of them appear in a every half-cycle which repeats itself at regular intervals in beginning less time. However, only Parśvanatha and Mahavira -- 23rd and 24th Tirthankaras in the current cycle - are considered historical as no sources can historically corroborate the presence of Jainism beyond the 9th century BCE. For more details, see Padmanabh S. Jaini, The Jaina Path to Purification, op. cit., pp. 1-3. The footnotes are specially illuminating.
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