Book Title: Studies in Jainism
Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
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JAINISM ITS HISTORY, PRINCIPLES
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twelfth centuries. The huge statues of Bahubalin, known as Gomatesvara, at Shravanabelgola and Karkala in Mysore State are among the wonders of the world. The former was erected by Camuṇḍarāya, the minister of the Ganga king Rācamalla, during the tenth century. The colossal reliefs carved on the rock-face near Gwalior belong to the fifteenth century. The Jains also built cave-temples cut in rocks, the earliest examples of which, belonging to the second century B.C. and later, exist in Orissa, known as Hāthigumphā caves. Other examples of varying periods exist at Junagadh, Junnar, Osmanabad, and other places. The numerous Jaina places of pilgrimage, such as the Parashnath (Pārsvanatha) Hills, Pavapuri, and Rajgir in Bihar, and Girnar and Palitana in Kathiawar, posses temples and other architectural monuments of different ages. The Jaina marble temples at Mount Abu in Rajasthan, belonging to the eleventh century and later, 'carry to its highest perfection the Indian genius for the invention of graceful patterns and their application to the decoration of masonry'.
PHILOSOPHY
The Jaina philosophy might be summed up in one sentence. The living and the non-living, by coming into contact with each other, forge certain energies which bring about birth, death, and various experiences of life; this process could be stopped, and the energies already forged destroyed, by a course of discipline leading to salvation. A close analysis of this brief statement shows that it involves seven propositions: first, that there is something called the living; secondly, that there is something called the non-living; thirdly, that the two come into contact with each other; fourthly, that the contact leads to the production of some energies; fifthly, that the process of contact could be stopped; sixthly, that the existing energies could also be exhausted; and lastly, that salvation could be achieved. These seven propositions are called the seven tattvas or realities by the Jains. The first two great truths are that there is a jiva or soul and that there is an ajiva or non-soul. These two exhaust between them all that exists in the universe.
