Padmanabh Jaini at Symposium 2013

Author(s): Padmanabh S Jaini
Publisher: Padmanabh S Jaini

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Dundas
Forond
essays that are more comparative in nature of that focus on Buddhism or brahmanical traditions. The following represents a brief description of the contents of the two parts, with the authors represented in alphabetical order.
Part 1. Babb delineates the manner in which narratives involving sacrifice and the transformation of its values have shaped the sense of self-image and origin of some Jain castes in western India. Balbir describes the history and teachings of the Svetämbara image worshipping subsect, the Ancala Gaccha. Banks gives an account of aspects of the reconfiguration of Jainism in the modern world. Bronkhorst discusses the Jain scriptural tradition about the teachings of the heretic Jamali. Caillat analyzes the relationship between standard Jain prescriptions and mystical experience in the Apabhramsa poems of Yoginda. Cort investigates the evidence for Svetambara Jainism accepting the possibility of transferring the fruits of karma to others in order to alter their karmic destiny. Dundas analyses the medieval story of the conversion of the Jain monk Siddharsi to Buddhism and the descriptions of Mahāyāna Buddhist and Ajivika teachings given in Haribhadra's Lalitanistand. Flügel describes the institution of meritorious service and compulsory religious production among the ascetic community of the Terapanthi Jains. Fujinaga assesses the historical development of the three jewcls" of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct as representing the Jain path to liberation
Jaini analyses the accounts of the karmic career of Queen Marudevi, according to the Svetämbaras the first individual of this movement of time to achieve liberation. Johnson offers a novel interpretation of the nature of the experience involved in Jain image worship. Kelting investigates a range of Jain narratives involving women and the way in which they provide idealised exemplary models for female devotees. Leoshko examines ways in which interpretations of Jain art could be broadened by an inside view of what such works mean and whether this approach can be accommodated in current art historical practice. Sato deals with the role of awareness anagraba) in epistemology as discussed by the seventeenthcentury Svetămbara Jain Yasovijaya. Skoog offers an ethical perspective on sellele bana, fasting to death, as climaxing the religious life in Jainism, and the manner in which it can be differentiated from egoistical suicide. Tarnow applies the insights of Jungian psychology to the accounts of the various rebirths of two characters given in the Jain Haribhadra's Prakerit romance the Samaritaakaba. Vēlappillai gives an overview of Jainism as depicted in Tamil inscriptions from earliest times to the late medieval period. Finally, Wiley analyses the working of ays karma, "life karma", with specific reference to Digambara and Svetambara Jain stories about King Sreņika who after killing himself and experiencing a period in hell will be reborn as the first tirhankans of the next movement of time.
Part II. Asher describes the configuration of Jain temple architecture in contemporary north India and its relationship with its Hindu counterpart. Assavaviralhakarn discusses the role of chanting in Thai Buddhism in providing a
source of protection and worldly prosperity. Brekke draws parallels between Jain and Buddhist attitudes towards holy places at the end of the nineteenth century. Chapple draws parallels between the yogic perspectives of the Jain teacher Haribhadra and the Hindu Patañjali, author of the Yogasutras. Gombrich provides an explanation of an early Buddhist, sectarian theory of the materiality of karma very similar to that of Jainisin. Granoff discusses Hindu and Jain narratives about the appropriateness of worshipping divinity in physical form. Hara delicates the various ways in which plants and trees are depicted in early Indian literature. Koller compares the Jain willingness to engage with certain metaphysical questions and the Buddhist tendency to set them aside.
Lienhard draws attention to a version of a famous Buddhist narrative in the sixth alga in the Jain scriptural canon. Norman discusses a section of the Pali Stanipata and the extent to which it can be regarded as repesenting the earliest form of Buddhism. Parpola investigates the background to the Jain tem Tirtharikans by reference to Old Tamil sources. Qvarnström provides text, translation and annotation of the ninth chapter of Siddhasena Divakaca's Dātrilika, the earliest systematic treatment of Vedänta by a Jain author. Schalk draws atten tion to the earliest references to Tamils in the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka Shinohara explores the Buddhist attitude towards image making in some seventhcentury Chinese sources. Von Simson uncovers structural connections between che narratives of the Buddha and his cousin Devadatta and the Mahabharata heroes Bhisma and Karna. Skilling provides a textual analysis on a set of verses dealing with " gladdening" (ammodana) which occurs in a variety of Buddhist traditions. Smith discusses the story of Kusa and Lava as found in the earliest Jain version of the Ramayana, the Pasmacariya of Vimalasuri, concluding that it does not derive from Valmiki's version of the narrative. Soni introduces and edits the passage refuting Mahayana Buddhist epistemology in the Satyalása aparilpa of the Digambara Vidyānandin.
It is very much to be hoped that Professor Jaini, thankfully still highly productive, will relish his colleagues' efforts in those scholarly areas in which he has himself so frequently provided the guiding light and welcome these volumes as a token of the admiration and affection in which he is held.
Paul Dundas
SEN