________________
THE JAINA THEORY OF SYMBOL
D. D. Malvania
As far as the life of Mahāvira described in the earliest canon is concerned we can say that he was always engrossed in self-realization, meditating upon his inner soul in order to remove all types of passions from it. He did not worship any symbol or an image throughout his life. But when we read later literature, canonical or non-canonical, gradually the symbols are found more and more, the reason being the organisation or the systematisation of his preachings as a separate religious system. When a religion takes a form of an order, it receives in its fold the followers of varied temperaments and capacities. In order to give some of the conceptions which are beyond an ordinary understanding the various types of symbols are evolved. Through symbols some vague ideas of those conceptions are conveyed. Here I am not to discuss the various symbols accepted by tho Jainas as they are discussed in detail by Dr. U. P. Shah in his Studies in Jaina Art.
Here I intend 10 explain the theory of the symbols as accepted by the Jainas.
Symbol, according to the Jaina authors, is nothing but Sthāpanā (thā vana) which is one of the four Niksepas (Nikkheva) : näma, sthā panā, dravya and bhāva.
Prsented in the Seminar on “ Jaina Logic and Philosophy" (Poona University, 1975).
