UPSC History Notes: Jainism



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- 24th Tirthankara after Parshvnath (Varanasi born), born in Vaishali to Siddhartha and Trishala. Had family connections with Bimbisara
- At age 30 became ascetic. At 42 he attained Kaivalya and beame Jina (conqueror)
- Spread his words in Koshala, Magadha, Mithila and Champa.
- Death in Rajgir. Disputed chronology
- No violence, no stealing, no lie, no accumulation of wealth, practice continence (brahmacharya, added by Mahavira)
- Parshvanath asked to wear white clothes, Mahavira asked to shun clothes altogether. Later divided into Shvetambaras and Digambaras respectively
- Killing of any being was prohibited, even agriculture so mostly they became traders
- Caste system was recognized as result of virtues or sins acquired in previous birth
- By pure and meritorious life one could attain liberation irrespective of caste
- Gods were not discarded but considered lower to jina
- Right Knowledge, Right Faith and Right Action were Ratnatraya of Jainism
- Not as much royal patronage as Buddhism but Chandragupta Maurya in later life accepted Jainism and moved to south India
- Use of Prakrit language made it popular among masses and people irrespective of caste barrier
- Later spread to Gujarat and Rajasthan as the brahmanical dominance was less there
- King Kharavela patronized it in Orissa in 1st Century AD who defeated Magadha and Andhra
- Monasteries called basadis developed in Karnataka. Also spread down south to Tamil Nadu
- Promoted spread of Prakrit language. Jain literatures had dramas, plays, poems, epics and Puranas.
- Ardhamagadhi language used by Jaina texts gave rise to Marathi language
- Apabhragnsha grammer was constituted
- Jaina literature in Kannada promoted the language
- By accepting all castes, Jainism promoted egalitarianism in society and brought back the idea of simple living
- Valabhi in Gujarat, final Jain texts compiled in 6th century AD. Some sanskrit Jain literature also there
- Later when Jainas adopted idol wrship, mahavira idols were constructed contrubuting to stone sculpture art