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Jain and Bön Maps as Historical Sources for the Medieval Period
185 A visual reproduction of the Jain and Bön cosmologies would illustrate this point better and hence we have reproduced some pictures below. Jain cosmology (Pl. 23.1 & 23.2) Conclusion
In conclusion we may dwell upon the following points beginning from the fact that there was a considerable fluid interaction between the different religious traditions and that the so called minor tradition have enriched the world religions. Buddhism in India is in many ways indebted to Jainism and Jaina studies have flowered in a modern period largely under the shadow of Buddhism. Similarly, the Bön religion too fertilized Tibetan Buddhism to considerable extends that is only now being acknowledged. While the philosophical aspects of this fertilization are being the focused of studies there is very less work on the sacred geographies. Maps pertaining to sacred geographies are a medieval phenomenon and with respect to Jaina maps, we have a very large number of them being produced in medieval India. Since, these maps are based on the literary and oral representation of space in the Jaina tradition; they can easily give us a clue to early Buddhist and the early Indian cosmology. Further, these maps can also give us an understanding of the flow of concepts from Jainism to the other religious tradition. Since Bönpo maps are far and few, a study of Bön inputs and contribution to Tibetan Buddhism has not been essayed in detailed. Using the methodology of medieval India map and the conceptual basis behind these maps in their technological context would give us some methodological tools to locate travel of ideas between different religious traditions. Thus, a study of Jaina maps and Jaina cosmology can help in the understanding of Bönpo contribution to Tibetan Buddhism and by extension Tibetan culture itself.
FOOT-NOTES 1. Dr. Bhagchandra Jain, "Contribution Of Jainism To The Development Of Buddhism" in Dr. R. C. Dwivedi ed. Contribution of Jainism to Indian Culture, Motilal Banarsidass, Varanasi, 1975, pp. 172-178. 2. Romila Thapar, 'Ancient Indian Social History Some Interpretations', Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1987, p. 133. 3. Many books have chapters on diverse religion both living and extinct including wide range from Africa and Meso-America but even classic works failed to mentioned the Bön religion. For example Standard books like Geoffrey Parrinder Illustrated History of the world's religion has only four lines about Bön. Geoffrey Parrinder, Illustrated History Of The World's Religion, Newness, London, 1983, p. 301. 4. Geoffrey Samuel, Tantric Revisionings: New Understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and Indian Religion, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 2005, p. 120. 5. For details of the comparative spread see Graham Coleman ed. 'A Handbook of Tibetan Culture: A Guide to Tibetan Centres and Resources Throughout the World', Orient Foundation, Rider, London, 1993.
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