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13. JAINISM AND OTHER FAITHS
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propaganda to hold up the tenets of other faiths to ridicule and dilate on the excellence of Jainism. Somadeva, for instance, indulges in unbridled criticism of contemporary non-Jaina faiths and lays emphasis on the essential purity of the Jaina religion. He says among other things that the Omniscient and trustworthy Guide postulated by the Jainas is free from all blemishes such as the passions, and Jainism condemns even the use of words signifying wine and similar objects : how can the wise ever decry a religion like this?1 Further, it may be noted that Jaina writers often indulge in what is called ilharmapariksa or the examination of the relative merits of different jeligions with a view to demonstrating the superiority of Jainism to the others. Somadeva, for instance, examines in his romance various religions and systems, and enumerates the different theories of salvation held by the nonJaina schools of thought by way of contrasting them with the Jaina view of Mokşa, which by implication is claimed to be superior to the rest. Amitagati, who is somewhat later than Somadeva, wrote in 1014 A. D. a treatise called Dharmaparikşā to establish the superiority of Jainism to the Brahmanical religion by pointing out the fallacies and weak points of the Purāņic mythology. It is noteworthy that Dharmapariksās were composed also in Prākrit, Apabhramba and Kanarese. Vịttavilāsa (c. 1160 A. D.) produced a Kanarese version of Amitagati's Sanskrit work : "it tells how two Ksatriya princes went to Benares, and in successive meetings with the Brāhmans there, exposed the vices of the gods as related in the sacred books." Harişeņa wrote a Dharmaparikşā in Apabhraíba in 988 A. D., and this again is based on a Dharmaparikşă composed by Jayarāma in Prākrit. Lesser in scope but earlier than these is the episode of Dharmapariksa in Uddyotana's Prākrit romance Kuvalayamālā Book IV. Here we find that the tutelary goddess Sri presents king Drdhavarman with a mysterious document, inscribed on a gold plate in Brāhmi characters, and containing what turns out to be the fundamental tenets of the Jaina religion. The next day the king summons an assembly of learned men of different communities and asks them to expound their religious tenets to see whether they correspond to those recorded in the inscription. The Jaina Sādhus alone declare that the doctrines set forth in the document constitute the true faith. Jainism is
1 For the verse in question see Chap. XII. 2 Rice: Kanarese Literature, p. 37. Brahma Siva (c. 1125) is another Kanarese
writer, who in his controversial work Samaya-parikse "points out the defects of
rival creeds, and justifies the Jaina position.” 3 See Dr. Upadhye's article in The Jaina Antiquary, Vol. IX, p. 21. 4 See Ratnaprabha's Sanskrit version, p. 202: TTFU T #qara qare giocaat PARITHTH etc.
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