Jainism is essentially an Indian religion and it is still a living faith in some parts of the country. With a history of more than 5000 years, its contribution to the Indian heritage is more significant than might be expected for its numerical strength. As an institutionalised religion, it has held its ground all along. It has sometimes enjoyed royal patronage, and it has produced worthy monks and laymen of whom any society could be proud. The Jain contributions to Indian art and architecture, to the preservation and enrichment of Indian literature, and to the cultivation of languages, both Aryan and Dravidian, are praiseworthy. Even, the religious instincts inculcated by Jainism have left an abiding impression on many aspects of Indian life.

The origins of Jainism go back to prehistoric times. They are to be sought in the fertile valley of the Ganga River where there throve in the past, even before the advent of the Aryans. According to Jainism there have flourished in this age twenty-four Tirthankaras, or leaders of their religion. The first of them was Rishabha, the twenty-second Nemi or Neminatha, the twenty-third Parsva, and the last, Lord Mahavira. Rishabha figures as a great saint of antiquity, and, in later Hindu literature, he is noted for his queer practices and credited with propagating heretic doctrines which are common to Jainism. He is said to have laid the foundations for orderly human society. Neminatha is associated in Jainism with Krishna of the Yadava clan, whom the Hindus adopted as an avatara of Lord Vishnu. These and other Tirthankaras are prehistoric in character. It is now accepted on all hands that Parsvanatha, who according to Jain tradition flourished two centuries before Mahavira, was a historical person. The age Mahavira lived in was marked by great philosophical speculation, in which a number of eminent teachers participated, both Brahmanas and Sramanas.

Unlike Buddhism, which soon spread far and wide, with numerous monasteries in India and elsewhere, the Jain Church has shown quite a modest yet steady progress. The influence of Jainism gradually spread to the western parts of India. Under the leadership of Bhadrabahu a number of monks also went to the south owing to adverse conditions caused by famine in the north. Possibly it was the subsequent differences in ascetic practices which led to a split in the Church, dividing it into its two main sections, the Digambara Sect and the Swetambara. This division affected both the monks and laity. The basic religious principles remained the same for both, but they differed among themselves on minor dogmas, mythological details, and ascetic practices. However, the fundamental philosophical doctrines of Jainism have remained the same.

The ruling classes and the mercantile communities were often attracted by the rigorous asceticism and religious life of the Jain monks and adopted the Jain way of life. In the south, during the early medieval period, royal dynasties such as the Gangas, Kadambas, Chalukyas, and Rashtrakutas patronised Jainism. Some of the Rashtrakuta kings were zealous Jains, and they heralded an Augustan age in the south, in literature, art, and architecture, to which the Jain contributions have been of classical significance. Jainism has all along instilled a religious zeal among its votaries, the concrete expression of which is seen all over the country in works of art and architecture: statues, free-standing pillars (manastambha), caves, and temples. Moreover, Jain contributions to the literature in Prakrit including Apabhramsa, Old Hindi, Old Gujarati, etc. are quite striking. Jain authors were among the pioneers in cultivating Tamil and Kannada and in enriching the early literature in these languages. Jain literature is not only religious but also embraces many secular branches of learning including mathematics and astronomy.

Jainism starts with two principles, the living (jiva) and the non-living (ajiva). The living is already in contact with the non-living from beginning. This contact subjects the living being, on account of thoughts, words, and acts, to the influx (asrava) of fresh energies known as karmas, which are conceived as subtle matter. This influx can be counteracted (samvara) by religious discipline; and the existing stock (bandha) of karmas can be exhausted (nirjara) through severe austerities. Then salvation (moksha) is attained; and therein the living being reaches its pristine purity, divested of all that is alien to its nature. This, in general terms, is the crux of Jain principles (tattvas).

The living and the non-living (jiva and ajiva) constitute reality, which, according to Jainism, is uncreated and eternal. It is characterized by origination or appearance, destruction or disappearance and permanence. It is possessed of infinite characteristics, with respect both to what it is and to what it is not. It has its modifications and qualities through which persists the essential substratum, substance, at all times. This basic substance with its qualities is something that is permanent, while modes or accidental characteristics appear and disappear. Thus both change and permanence are facts of experience. The soul with its consciousness is permanent even when it is changing through various bodies in different births.

As far as the Tirthankaras are concerned, they have contributed their utmost in propagating this religious belief. For instance, Parsvanatha was a prince but renounced the world and after 83 days deep meditation he attained the highest knowledge called ‘kaivalya’. He prescribed four prohibitions for his followers. These prohibitions were described as not to injure life, not to steal and not to possess any property. To these four prohibitions Mahavira added the fifth one and that was the vow of chastity. Parsvanatha is said to have instituted the practice of confession. It was he who required his monks to dispense with clothing.

Mahavira held that all inanimate objects have consciousness because they are endowed with soul. They can feel hurt by bad treatment. For this reason non-injury or ahimsa was carried to an extreme degree by him. According to the Uttaradhyayana sutra the essence of the wisdom of a wise man lies in this that he hurts no creatures and regarded them, as one’s own-self is ahimsa or non-violence.

The object of knowledge is highly complex as it consists of substances, qualities, and modifications. It is extended over three times (past, present, and future) and infinite space and it is simultaneously subjected to origination, permanence and destruction. It can be fully known only in omniscience (kevala-jnana), which is not possessed by ordinary human beings who perceive through their organs of sense. What they know is only partial; they are like blind men who touch some part or other of an elephant and variously describe it as a fan, a pillar, a snake, etc. Thus, the apprehension of an ordinary human being is partial, and therefore valid only from a particular point of view. This is what is called ‘nayavada’ in Jainism. For example, in describing different ornaments, if one has in view only the modifications of gold, that is the modal point of view (paryayarthikanaya). In other contexts, they are also known as the common-sense or practical (vyavahara) point of view and the realistic (nischaya) point of view. There are seven points of view or ‘nayas’. Some refer to the substance and others to modification; while some arise out of the nature of the subject and some out of the verbal statement.

A thing or an object of knowledge is of infinite characteristics (anekantat-maka) which require analysing and apprehending individually, and this function is fulfilled by the nayas. This doctrine of Jainism serves as a unique instrument of analysis. The soul has been in association with karmic matter from time immemorial, and the object of the Jain religion is to free the soul from karma. The activities of mind, speech, and body lead to the constant influx of karmas which form the ‘karmana-sarira’, or karmic body, for the soul, whereby it moves in Samsara. Everyone is responsible for his own karmas, and there is no escape from them unless one experiences their fruits, good or bad. Jainism admits no God to bestow favour or frown: the law of karma works automatically in shaping one’s lot. There are eight basic types of karmas named according to their effect on the nature of the soul, which is inherently endowed with the infinite quaternary of knowledge, insight, energy, and happiness. The first two karmas obstruct knowledge and insight, the third infatuates the soul, the fourth gives rise to pleasure and pain, the fifth determines the period of life, the sixth shapes the body, etc., the seventh fixes family, etc., and the last brings about hindrances of various kinds. The type, duration, intensity, and quantum of each karma is determined when the bondage thereof takes place. These eight types are further subdivided into 148 sub-types which explain man’s various experiences in life.

As the influx and destruction of karmas entirely depend on man’s activities, Jainism lays special stress on the ethical code. This takes two forms, one intended for the householder and the other for the monk. Both are complementary; and if they differ, it is only in the degree of the rigour of practice. The basic vows are five: (1) abstention from injury to living beings (ahimsa), (2) speaking the truth (satya); (3) not stealing (asteya) (4) chastity (brahma-charya); and (5) limiting one’s possessions (aparigraha). The principle of ahimsa is the logical outcome of the Jain metaphysical theory that all souls are potentially equal.

According to them good or bad deeds of an individual have their effects on his rebirth and ultimate salvation. Detachment from the sensual world, rather than denial of it is the Jain’s goal. When the forces of passions and desires in the soul are eliminated, the soul regains its natural perfection. The soul attains infinite knowledge or ‘jnana’, infinite perception or ‘darsana’, power or ‘virya’ and happiness or ‘sukha’. This is the state of liberation or ‘moksa’. Such a man becomes a perfect being or ‘sidhha paramesti’. Jainism teaches that the world is eternal, self-existent and is composed of five constituent real substances and these are dharma or the medium of motion, ‘adharma’ or the medium of rest, space or ‘akasa’, time or ‘kala’ and particles of matter or ‘pudgala’. According to Jainism there are nine substances, namely the soul or ‘jiva’, non-soul or ‘ajiva’, influx or ‘asrava’, the coming together of soul and karma or bandha, freedom from karma or ‘samvara’, the process of freeing the soul from the passions or ‘nirjara’, release or ‘moksa’, actions which cover the natural enlightened form of the soul or papa and actions which lead the soul towards salvation or ‘punya’.

There are seven additional vows which help one to develop qualities such as self-restraint, self-denial, and renunciation. In fact, a layman gradually prepares himself for the life of an ascetic. Practices such as these have maintained a close tie between the layman and the monk; both are actuated by the same motive and moved by the same religious ideals, with the result that this close association between them has contributed remarkably to the religious solidarity of the Jain community.

According to Jainism, dying is as much an art as living. A layman is expected not only to live a disciplined life but also to die bravely a detached death. There are elaborate rules about voluntary death (sallekhana), which has been practised not only by Jain monks but also by pious laymen. This voluntary death is to be distinguished from suicide, which Jainism looks upon as a cowardly sin. When faced by calamity, famine, old age, and disease, against which there is no remedy, a pious Jain peacefully relinquishes his body, being inspired by a higher religious ideal. The five anuvratas (lesser vows) of a layman, not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, to abstain from sex, and to renounce property, are called mahavratas (great vows) in the case of a monk, who has to observe them with maximum rigour and thoroughness. These sins lead to the influx of karmas; therefore the monk must abstain from them in thought, word, and deed, and neither commit, commission, nor consent to them. The entire spiritual career of the soul is divided into fourteen stages called gunasthanas. The soul marches from bondage and gross ignorance to final liberation and omniscience, gradually overpowering at different stages wrong belief, unrighteousness, negligence, passions, and channels of activities.

Another important contribution of Jain philosophy is the theory of Anekanatavada, which recognizes the objectivity of the material universe. It implies that the universe is independent to the mind or consciousness. The mental or the subjective world consists of infinity of independent minds in their conditioned or free existence. There is not only diversity but each real is equally diversified. Nayavada or the theory of standpoints is principally an analytical method of investigating a factual situation according to the purpose and level of equipment of the knower or jnatr. The particular standpoint investigated is one among a multitude of deferent viewpoints, which in their totality reflect the full situation.

‘Syadvada’ or ‘saptabhangi’ is essentially a synthetically method designed to harmonize the different view points arrived at by ‘nayavada’. Such an analysis results in a wealth of partial truths, which can be harmonized into a coherent scheme of knowledge by the employment of the synthetical method of ‘syadvada’.

The Svetambara canon was revised and written down by a Council at Vaabhi in Gujarat in the middle of the fifth century A.D. The Digambara canon is said to have been codified in the second century A.D. but seems to be posterior to that of the Svetambaras. The northern group of Jains first spread to Orissa and then to West Bengal. Later they reached Uttar Pradesh where the extraordinary rich finds at Mathura are evidence that the Jains flourished there at a very ancient date. Northern Gujarat became the principal centre of Jainism in Gujarat.

In the tenth century A.D. many sects arose among the northern Jains i.e. Svetambaras. These are called gacchas. Their number is said to be 84. The Digambaras have only four ‘ganas’ or sects. The practice of austerities is carried to great length. Physical asceticism is practiced by keeping the body in unnatural positions and especially by fasting, which may last as long as 522 days. Mental asceticism consists of progressive exercise in concentration, by which the higher state of consciousness that of ‘kevalin’ may be attained. An extreme form of asceticism takes the form of committing suicide by abstaining from food. This is called ‘samlekhana’.

It is clear from Jain metaphysics that there is no place in Jainism for God as a creator and distributor of prizes and punishments. By God Jainism understands a liberated soul as well as the Tirthankaras, who provide the highest spiritual ideals to which every soul can aspire. In this sense God is an example to inspire and to guide. Thus the Jain conception of God is very different from that in Hinduism. Though God is not a creator, the Jain religion lacks neither devotional fervour nor ceremonial rituals. Jains offer prayers to him, worship him both in concept and in concrete form as an image, and meditate on him.

Numerous traces of Jain influence on Indian life can be detected. The worship of idols in a refined form, the building of temples, the founding of charitable lodges for men and animals, the preservation of rich libraries of manuscripts, and the distribution of food and other necessities to the poor. These are some of the outstanding features of Jain society, and to a large extent they have been imitated by other Indian religious groups. Jainism and Buddhism have been foremost in upholding the doctrine of ahimsa, and Jainism has held firm to its original ideology. Jain literature includes myths, fairy tales, proverbs, popular stories, model behaviour patterns, and moral exhortations, all of which unanimously denounce cruelty to living beings.

Jainism lays great stress on equality. Among the twelve Angas of Jain scripture Samaiiya occupies the first place. Whenever a layman or an ascetic takes the vow of religious conduct, he utters the oath. ‘I undertake to observe, O, Lord, the attitude of equality’. The attitude of equality has found expression in non-violence both in the domain of religious conduct and in that of philosophical though. All the Jain religious rites were formulated around non-violence. In the domain of philosophy, the attitude of non-absolutism or anekantavada is an expression of the principle of non-violence. This is why the Jains in ancient times advocated the occupation. They were against caste system on the basis of birth but later they accepted it on account of their close contact with the Hindus.

The great message of Jainism is that an individual must become a man before he can think of heaven. Men’s heritage as man is far superior to any other riches in the world. Be a man first and last for the kingdom of God belongs to the son of Man. It is the same truth that is proclaimed in the unmistakable terms by the Upanishadic text, ‘Tat tvam asi’.