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Misunderstanding vis-a-vis Understanding with reference to Jainism
Dr. Rajjan Kumar*
Jaina, one of the alive representatives of Śramanic tradition, is an integral part of the composite culture of India, the other significant one is Vedic tradition. Irrespective of this there are numerous misunderstandings raised against Jainistic culture such as its antiquity and religion, metaphysics and epistemology, ethics and conduct, literature and language etc., each is a vast subject or rather consists of a number of sub-misunderstandings.
The most serious and basic charges laid against Jainism are that whether it is an independent religion with some requisite antiquity or an offshoot of some other culture. In this purview many consider that it is a branch of Vedic religion, some others take it to be an offshoot of Buddhism; whereas many others are of the opinion that Jainism arises as a reaction against the thoughts and practices of Vedic sacredotalism. The extent of its misunderstandings about its metaphysical and epinstemological standpoint can be indicated by the view that has been advanced by many that its metaphysical and epistemological position represents a kind of extension of ideas explained earlier.
The misunderstanding about the nature of Jaina literatures and languages can be judged by the opinion expressed by renowned literary critics and linguistists that Jaina literatures and languages are nothing but writings without any objectives. As for concern about ethics and conduct of Jainas, the misunderstanding has been prevailed and the opinions laid down are not rather different as expressed for other aspects of Jainism. * Reader : Dept. of Applied Philosophy, MJP Rohilkhand
University, Bareilly, U.P.
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