Study in the Origins and Development of Jainism

Author(s): S N Shrivastava
Publisher: Rekha Publication Gorakhpur

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of the Buddha. But a few European scholars, among whom H. Jacobi outstands, genuinely delved into the problem of the early history of Jainism. H. Jacobi rendered invaluable service to Jainology by writing a number of research articles published in the reputed journals of the time as well as Introductions of the Jain Texts published in the two volumes of the S.B.E. series.
He strenuously collected data from the Buddhist and Jain sources and after subjecting them to careful and critical scrutiny convincingly asserted that Parsva Natha, the 23rd Tirthankara of the Jain tradition, was a historical person. He did a sterling job by pointing out the antiquarian significance of some of the basic concepts of Jain philosophy and, thus, paved the way for further researches. It is sad to note that the scholars to follow did not take up the task left by him. They remained busy with traversing the beaten track.
Undoubtedly, the task was in no way very easy. The existing Jain literature does not take us beyond sixth century B.C., leaving the scholars only to speculate about the history of Jainism in pre-Mahāvīra times. At times, some references from the Vedic literature were picked up by scholars and were utilised in support of their conjectures. Instead, attempt ought to have been made in the direction of tracing out the ideological development and stream-lining the interactions between different currents of thoughts during pre-Mahavīra times and their bearing upon the early history of Jainism.
In past few years efforts have been made in this direction by some scholars which have yielded good results. For instance, G.C. Pande has strenuously tried to establish that the Śramana tradition is non-Aryan in origin and its antiquity may be traced back to pre-Rigvedic times and that it has exercised profound influence on the ideological development taking place during later Vedic period. While his contention about the origin of Buddhism is convincing to a great extent, his opinion that the