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T. 6. TUROL
non.Jain philosophers and scholars. It is misunderstood and misrepresented by those who have written or spoken about it. Writers like Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson stigmatised its principle of "ahimsä as grotesque exaggeration* and its philosophy as possessing an "empty heart." It needs a big volume to meet such misrepresentations. The present article has no such ambition but is imbued with a modest saotive of giving a brief exposition to changes that Jainism has brought about in Indian culture.
3. What is culture i It is difficult to define the word " culture and its exact connotations, it is hard to understand. Culture may be defined as an essence of human experience of a group of people in any country or nation. It is a spontaneous and free assimilation of what is best in human thought, tradition and action. The Earth, the Universe and the Life have created "an accumulated tradition of human feeling for thousands of years and culture represents the power to realise this tradition and nourish it with a peculiar vision. It necessarily varies with climes and, countries, though the substratum of all cultures may be based on the same ultimate spiritual sensibility. The characteristics of each culture can best be understood from the literature, the folklore, tales, proverbs, dress and many other numerous modes of conduct and thought " "The whole purpose of cuiture," as John Cowper Powys said in his book. The Meaning of Culture ', " is to enable us to enjoy life with a consciousness that has been winnowed, purged, directed made airy and porous, by certain mental habits " I remember having read some writer saying that culture consists in unlearning what you have learnt in schools and colleges. The humorous sally only points out that the academic paraphernalia of book-learning 18 not to be given undue emphasis in judging the standard of any particular culture. And so far as religion is concerned, culture aims at a free spirit in the deepest sense and 13 free from the fanatiCisms of any dogma or creed.
4. Viewed in this light, Jainism contributed immensely towards the enrichment'of the general life in India, not only amongst its followers but also amongst the laity whose thought and conduct had been circumscribed by the ritualistic teachings of the Vedas and Upanishads. It is idle to speculate about the antiquity of Jainism There were days when Professors like Wilson, Lassen and Weber spoke of it as an off-shoot of Buddhism. It is now historically established that Pārshvanath, the 23rd Tirthankara who attained 'murväna' 250 years prior to Lord Mahāvira was a historical personality and it would be wrong to argue that a faith propagated by Him could be an off-shoot of what was preached by Buddha 300 years later. In the Adı Parva and the Ashwa-Medha Parva of the Mahabharata there are refercaces to "sapta-bhanginayajñāna " which admittedly apply to the Jains. Much of the confusion sprang from the apparent similarity in the popular doctrines of the two religions and as Buddhism went on gaining more power and strength after the Christian era certain kinds of prejudices also appear to
