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94 : Śramaņa, Vol 65, No. 3 & 4, July-December 2014 ... and taste; that the aggregate of atoms (skandha) in various modes and combinations changes the quality and taxonomy of objects, comes closer to the scientific view.
The Jaina theory of five kinds of knowledge namely, mati (ordinary cognition), śruta (testimony), avadhi (inner perception), manaḥparyaya (capability to read the mind of others) and kevala or pratyakṣa jñāna (perfect or direct knowledge), adds a new dimension to Epistemology
The seven modes of predication (saptabhangi), called also seven nayas (standpoints) - syād asti (is), syād nāsti (is not), syād astināsti (is and is not), syād avaktavya (inexpressible), syād asti avaktavya (is and is inexpressible), syād nasti avaktavya (is not and is inexpressible), syād asti-nāsti avaktavya (is, is not and is inexpressible), have contributed to the study of Logic. The Jaina view of nonviolence as the highest ideal of life is a great contribution to Ethics. Its concept of mokṣa as a state of freedom which renders infinite joy, infinite freedom, and infinite bliss adds to the theology of salvation. The rejection of dogma in Jainism and the acceptance of different points of view are the salient features of Jaina ethos.
Jaina art as seen through its iconography, sculptures, paintings, stupas - hemispherical structures - decorated manuscripts, mystic diagrams, and temples is aesthetic, meaningful, majestic and magnificent. Jainas have produced vast literature on philosophy, logic, history, comparative religion, grammar, prosody, mathematics, lexicography, astronomy, art and other subjects in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Prakrit.
Critique of Christianity and Missionary Activities Although many Christians attended the Chicago Parliament in a spirit of love and fellowship showing utmost courtesy and goodwill to delegates from the East, some of them spoke in derogatory terms about oriental religions. Christianity was presented as the only true
