Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi

Page 12

Is Jainism an Offshoot of Buddhism ?
IT is well-known that of the three major religions of India, viz.,
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism only the first two have attracted the attention of scholars, Indian as well as Western, and that Jainism, as a subject of study, has been neglected even by Indian scholars. It is indeed amazing how, Jainism, though it is still a living religion in India, has been virtually overlooked even in the country of its origin, whereas Buddhism, which has more or less disappeared from the Indian soil, has been seriously studied in India and more widely understood than its sister-faith Jainism. One reason for this predicament may be that Buddhism was so influential at one time that it was considered the religion of Asia. Surendranath Dasgupta adduces two reasons for the exaggerated importance accorded to Buddhism : (1) some resemblances between the two religions which seem to be striking (though not really decisive) and (2) inability of scholars - both foreign and Indian - to have direct access to the Jain a source-books. He writes : “Notwithstanding the radical differences in their philosophical notions Jainism and Buddhism which were originally both orders of monks outside the pale of Brahmanism, present some resemblances in outward appearance,and some European scholars who became acquainted with Jainism through inadequate samples of Jaina literature easily persuaded themselves that it was an offshoot of Buddhism, and even Indians unacquainted with Jaina literature are often found to commit the same mistake.”'1
1 A History of Indian Philosophy (Cambridge : University Press, 1963), Vol. I, p. 169