Scientific Foundations Of Jainism

Author(s): K V Mardia
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd

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In The Scientific Foundations of Jainism Professor Mardia attempts to elucidate the point that Jainism is a science with religion. It brings together his attempts in a unified way. Four axioms are constructed which highlight the foundation of Jainism. For example, axiom 1 states that "The soul exists with karmic matter and it longs to be purified." These four axioms focus on the essence rather than on detail. After a very brief introduction to Jainism, the author introduces the Axioms and discusses their theoretical and applied aspects and their plausibility in a modern context. It gives Jaina logic together with present trends in scientific thinking and indicates how Jainism and modern science are related. The book includes a bibliography, glossary and an index. Wherever possible, a sharper scientific pictorial representation has been given, and very few original terms are used in the text so that the flow of the arguments is not hampered.
Paul Marett in the Foreword says "Prof. Mardia's book divides naturally into three parts. First he explains the basic ideas of the soul, karma, living beings and non-living matter, and brings these together in the Jain explanation of life and death and the universe. Next he moves from the general to the particular, to the practice of selfconquest and the path of the individual soul towards purification. Thirdly, in two chapters which demand, and reward, close reading, he places Jain logic in its rightful position as a valid and acceptable system, and draws together the most fundamental and up-to-date aspects of modern physics with the scientific theories of the Jain writers."
ISBN: 81-208-0658-1
ISBN: 81-208-0659-x
(Cloth) Rs. 140
(Paper) Rs. 85