Jainism: History, Ideology, and Religious Practices

The religion of Jainism is one of the nine recognized religions in India. Jainism appeared 2,500 years ago in northern India, and was founded by the twenty-third and twenty-fourth Tirthankaras, which means saviors or spiritual leaders (Chappel 244). It is currently practiced by millions of people around the world, and has two main branches which are Shvetambara, and Digambara.The name of this religion is most commonly known to be based on the word ji, which stands for conquering, or triumphing in the Sanskrit language, and it is also commonly known to be based on the word jina, which stands for victor, or conqueror in Sanskrit, and it is one of India’s non-Vedic religions (“Salem press encyclopedia”). Jainism was founded by Parshvanatha eight and a half centuries B.C.E, and Mahavira250 years later, who lived their lives without the use of violence, and taught other people how to adopt that way of living (Chappel244). Even though this religion is not based on the Vedas, it was still founded in India, and since religions are always inevitably part of culture, and the dominant religion in India has been Hinduism for thousands of years, it will inevitably have an impact on any religion that appears in that area, which was the case for Jainism in a few details. This paper will discuss the history, beliefs and practices of Jainism.

The twenty-third Tirthankarawho first founded Jainism is called Parshva, orParshvanatha (“Britannica Academic").As mentioned in Encyclopedia Britannica, “Parshvanatha established the “fourfold restraint,” the four vows taken by his followers (not to take life, steal, lie, or own property) that, with Mahavira’s addition of the vow of celibacy, became the five “great vows” (mahavratas) of Jain ascetics.” (“Britannica Academic”). According to the two branches of Jainism, “He was called Parshva because his mother saw in a dream a black cobra passing by her side (pars've) during her confinement period.” (Shah 303). When Parshvanatha got older, he saw a sage person performing a ritual in which he was surrounded by four fires; he proceeded to throw two snakes into one of those fire. As soon as he had tried to burn them alive, Parshvanatha intervened and tried to save them; even though he tried to recite the sacred formula called Navakara, and they still died soon after that(Shah 303). According to Shah, “The pair was reborn as Dharanendra and his chief queen amongst the Naga-Kumara class of gods ofJaina mythology. The sage was no other than the soul ofKamatha who, dishonored and enraged, cherished hatred towards Parshvaand after death was reborn as a god, Meghamalin (according to Shvetambara sect of theJainas) or Samvara (according to the Digambaras).” (Shah 303). Afterwards, Parshvanatha renounced the world and decided to live as a monk. One day while he was meditating, he was stopped by Samvara, who tried to make Parshvanatha physically suffer by “creating hindrances, inflicting various suffering, throwing stones, raining water incessantly which flooded the area, and even brought forth lions, scorpions, terrific genii like Vetalas, and others who issued fire from their mouths, as an attempt to scare him”(Shah 303). Furthermore, all of these attempts to disrupt Parshva’s meditation did not affect him, and did not stop him from continuing to meditate and getting closer to his enlightenment thanks to Dharana (the Indraof the Naga-kumaras) who proctected him, because of the fact that he had tried to save those two snakes in the past (Shah 303). After this event, he was able to reach enlightenment, and this is similar to the story of the Buddha and the Mara, who also tried to stop him from sharing the enlightenment that he had reached with other people. These two similar events were both the beginning and the start of two different religious movements (Jainism and Buddhism).Therefore, we can consider the enlightenment of Parshvanatha as the birth of Jainism.

The twenty-fourth Tirthankara,whofollowed Parshvanatha two hundred and fifty years later, is called Mahavira. He was born in 599 B.C.E, and deceased in 527 B.C.E. His place of birth was a village which was called Kundagramaduring that period of time, it was the capital of a state called Vaisali which was one of India’s most important regions in the north; it is now called Basukund, and it is located in northern India (Babb, 7). It was mentioned in the kalpasutra, a Jain text that contained information about the Tirthankaras, that Mahavira’s father was a king, therefore Mahavira was in the higher classes of his society (Babb 7). The first thirty years of Mahavira’s life, and how he had lived have not been known for certain to this date, but according to theDigambaras, he lived as a prince (Babb 4). After he reached the age of thirty, he left his home, and started living his life as a monk by renouncing the world(Babb 7).Mahavira spent the next twelve years of his life as a homeless man, and spent all that time on the streets, travelling from town to town, and going through tough situations until he felt completely detached from the world and reached a tranquility state (Babb 4). According to Babb, the next year after these twelve years of hardship, “Mahavira.., while meditating under a tree.., attained omniscience and all-seeingness, thus becoming a Jina (i.e., a Tîrthankara), a spiritual conqueror. As an omniscient being, he knew everything about all beings – gods, humans, and the denizens of hell – their thoughts, their feelings, their conditions of life, their pasts and futures. Nothing was concealed from him” (Babb 4). This was the point when Mahavira reached enlightenment and imposed the five vows of Jainism, which included three out of the four vows that Parshvanatha had imposed two hundred and fifty years before which were: Not taking life, stealing, or lying (Williams 3). In addition to them, Mahavira added celibacy as the fifth vow of Jainism, andchanged the fourth vow that Parshvanatha had imposed which was “to abstain from external giving” and replaced it with “the abandonment of all possessions and by absolute chastity”(Williams 3).

After these two Tirthankaras were enlightened, Jainism started to spread in India. Before India was ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, the king who was ruling at the time (king Samprati) converted to Jainism, and then proceeded to spread this religion to different other places which were Andhra, Chola and Karna (Reddy 64). Simultaneously, there were two other religions that were spreading around India, which were Brahminism, and Buddhism (Reddy 64). This created a problem regarding the spread of Jainism, meaning that less people were converting to it when they chose one of the other religions, and the most common religion that was chosen was the Brahmanism. “Several Jain centres plunged into oblivion. One such greatcentre was on the hill at Konakondala near Guntakal in Anantapur District during the 1stcentury A.D. Padmanandin, the first and greatest Digambara teacher in South India, established this great centre. … Now the people of Konakondala know nothing about Jainism” (Reddy 64).Padmanandin was most commonly known by the name of Kundakundacharya, and he had written over eighty books on Jainism on which he focused on the philosophy of the religion instead of its practices (Reddy 64). Kundakundacharyais a very important figure in Jainism not only because he taught a lot of people about Jainism as he travelled around India, but also due to the fact that he “Rejuvenated Jainism in India and especially in Andhra and contributed greatly to the development of Jain thought. He influenced the culture of his contemporary society through his preaching of Jain ideals” (Reddy 65). His faith in Jainism, his belief that it would be helpful for people all around India to find spiritual balance, and his hope to end all the violence that he had known was happening in the country drove him to try to convert people into Jainism in order to rejuvenate it (Reddy 66).

Many people might think that Jainism is only about renouncing the world and nothing more, but Jains have several beliefs which includethe fact that therenunciation of the world is the way towards attaining liberation, and that the five “great vows” are the way to be rid of bad karma. In addition to those beliefs, Jains believe in how reaching liberation is not something that can be achieved directly, or easily, and that it is a quite distant goal to be reached (Babb 41). Jains also believe that the soul is immortal, a body is only a temporary home for the soul until its next life (samsara), and that with the death of the body, does not come the death of the soul (Babb 41). Both religions of Jainism and Hinduism believe in samsara, although they disagree on some aspects of it, both religions believe that death will always be part of life, and that it is not necessarily a good thing. Unlike Hindus, Jains believe that there is no such thing as a god or a creator, and that the world was not created at one point; instead, they believe that time has always been, and that it never had a beginning, and never will have an end (Babb 42). Also, in Jainism, the universe has been believed to be shaped like a woman’s body, and that the earth contains three continents and two oceans (Singh 56). Underneath the earth, are seven hells, as they have believed, and only wicked beings resided there (Singh 56).

Moreover, they argue that “The journey with its aggregate of sufferings will continue forever unless brought to a stop. That stop is liberation.” (Babb, 42).Jainism supports the idea of karma, but a bit differently that Hindus perceive it; for they believe that each soul has its pure energy which is attached to the karma that a person had generated. (Urubshurow 276).The way to achieve liberation is by getting rid of our bad karma, and in order for that to happen, the soul needs to inhabit a human body, because animals and plants are considered to have less mental capacities than humans do, and their bodies are not fit for the physical practices that should be done in order to reachkevalajnana, or omniscience (Singh 57). By using the mental strength of the human mind, and the abilities of the human body, one can meditate, which is one step closer to attain moksha, for the fact that meditation is known to eliminate bad karmas. Also, they do not believe that the only condition to stop the endless suffering of life is only through attaining liberation, but they rather consider that one should find a balance between moksha (liberation) and wellbeing during their lifetime (Flugel 92). In addition to that, if a person performs any sort of act of violence, it can only bring bad karma to be attached to their soul. Karma is also known in this religion for it to either be an action of the mind, the body, or the speech (Urubshurow 276).

The first vow from the five vows of Jainism is non-violence (ahimsa). In Jains beliefs, their definition of an animal is not the same as we may know it scientifically; Jains believe that anything that has senses or consciousness is an animal (Chappel 244). Even some living beings such as plants, and inanimate objects such as rocks are categorized as animals in Jainism because they are believed to have a consciousness, and they give a huge importance to these beings for the fact that, to Jains belief, we have all been in one of these forms in a past life, therefore, treating them badly would generate bad karma, and treating them well would generate good karma (Chappel 244).They also put these animals into categories depending on the number of senses they have, and each one of these categories of animals have their own set of characteristics (Chappel 244).

Ever since the birth of Jainism, Jains have had negative opinions about how animals were treated in India, for example when they were used in sacrificial rituals performed by Hindus because of the bad karma these acts could generate to one’s soul (Chappel 244). “One way to improve one’s ethical and future ontological status is to treat animals with benevolence. Acts of kindness toward animals can help release the binding karmas that otherwise would cause an inauspicious rebirth.” which is why they believed that animals should not be murdered or harmed altogether (Chappel 244).This is the reason why all Jains are vegetarians, and in addition to that, Jains have been known for building shelters for animals where they provided care for each one of them by giving them food and water (Chappel 244). Mahavira himself did not wear any clothing because “he avoided causing harm to the cotton or other plant material that would have been injured in the production of the cloth. He also became free from the worry that insects might become trapped and crushed in the folds of his robe or loin cloth.”(Chappel 516). And this has also been the case forDigambara monks to this day (Chappel 516). This was not the case for animals only, it was also applied to the four elements, which are water, fire, air, and earth, and according to Jainism, they should not be harmed either (Chappel 516).The second vow is truth, or satyam. It stands for being honest and compassionate at the same time in all situations (Chappel 516). The third vow is not stealing, or asteya, and it means that one should not take into his/her possession something that is not theirs (Chappel 516). The fourth vow is sexual restraint, or brahmacarya, and it is because it is believed that it is necessary to do so in order for one to avoid getting physically and emotionally harmed, which happens more often if someone vows to not get married (Chappel 517). And the fifth vow is non-possession, or aparigraha, and it is because it “frees one from the burden of owning things” (Chappel 517).

Jainism also glorifies three concepts which are right knowledge, faith and action; and they are often called the three jewels of Jainism (Triratna), and are believed to be important for each person’s life (Somasundaram et al 472). “Giving education, shelter, food, and curing illnesses are considered important and these qualities are reflected in the Jain tradition ofencouraging education, medical, and protective dwellings for the common humanity.”(Somasundaramet al 472).

The reason why there are two branches in Jainism is because they split because of a disagreement over the clothing that Jains wore (Babb 22). The Digambaras believed that anyone who converts to Jainism should be completely nude, for the fact that Mahavira himself did not put a single piece of clothing on as soon as he reached omniscience; but the Shvetambaras argued that Mahavira did not stop wearing clothing long after him reaching omniscience, and the reason why he was not wearing clothing is because he had lost it accidentally, therefore, they argued that it is not necessary for them to live their lives without wearing clothing (Babb 22). There are still some differences between the two branches. For example, the Digambara branch did not give women the chance to reach enlightenment (moksha) for the fact that they cannot renounce their clothing, therefore they would have to be reborn into a male body in order for them to practice nudity, and by doing that they can be liberated (Williams 5). Oppositely, the Shvetambara branch argued that men and women have equal rights concerning religion, for the fact that they both have the right to reach liberation, and that women should never be considered to be inferior to men (Williams 5). “Two of the greatest Svetambara doctors, Haribhadra and Hemacandra have preserved a quotation from the Ydpaniya-tantra which boldly asserts that women are not inferior to men, and “are not cruel of heart, infirm of will or impure in body or in conduct” ” (Williams 5).

Just like any other religion, Jainism has its own practices which include prayers, ways of worshipping, and festivals. Several people might think that Jains do not pray because they do not worship a god or a deity, and they believe that they can reach enlightenment through the non-usage of violence, which is a shallow, and wrong idea. Jains see prayer in a way unlike people might see it in other religions, for they do not pray in the purpose of getting some sort of reward, but instead, the pray as a way of showing respect and appreciating past souls who reached enlightenment and liberated themselves from the world in the past, and they also pray because they seek to reach the state that these souls had reached before them ("Prayer (Prarthana)"). Moreover, another reason why Jains pray is for the fact that is a way to thank the Tirthankaras for their teachings, and for showing all Jains the way to reach enlightenment ("Prayer (Prarthana)").

An example of this form of prayer performed by Jains is called “Navakara Mantra”, and the purpose of is to “offer sincere veneration to those souls, which are already liberated or are on the path of liberation.” ("Prayer (Prarthana)”). In order to perform it, they bow down to all “Arihantas, SiddhasandAcharyas”which are “Souls who have successfully shed off all the major karmas, who have achieved the final liberation and have attained a body-less state of pure bliss, and merciful souls who teach us about the path to salvation” respectively, and they pray to “Upadhyayas, Sadhus,and Sadhvis”, which are “those saints who are themselves on the path to salvation and are striving for the liberation” ("Prayer (Prarthana)"). These prayers are performed in Jain temples, in front of statues of the Tirthankaras that are found inside ("Prayer (Prarthana)").

There is another kind of prayer performed in Jainism, and its main purpose is to remind each person performing that prayer to stay on the right track (as defined by the Tirthankaras), to fulfill the purpose of this religion and to be forgiven for their sins, and to be one step closer towards reaching universal peace ("Prayer (Prarthana)").

Regarding worship in Jainism, it depends on the sects of Jainism. In some sects, it is most commonly done as a way to start the day, and the location where Jains worship is in one of their temples. They begin by placing a lamp in front of the “Jina idols”, and then they bow to them three times while saying “NamoJinanam”, which translates to “I bow to the Jina” (“Worship”, 2018).In some other sects, they prefer not to perform this kind of worship, for they would rather perform mediation or silent prayers (“Worship”).There are also some symbolic ways of worshipping, such as when Jains bathe the image “Snatra Puja”, and this is symbolic to “the bathing of the newborn Tirthankara by the gods”; and one of the simplest symbolic acts that can be done it to use the liquid in which the image was bathed to tap the forehead with(“Worship”). There are many other different ways of worshipping in Jainism that revolve around the same concept.

Rituals are considered as one of Jainism’s biggest weaknesses because it has not created many rituals on its own; most of the rituals that are performed in Jainism are based on Brahman rituals (Flugel 95). However, this fact does not mean that the rituals performed in Jainism do not have meaning, or that they do not support their beliefs, they still definitely show how devoted Jains are to their religion, and how much faith they have in their Tirthankaras and everything they believe in religiously. A few examples of these rituals are by feeding birds in the morning, meditating at any time of the day but for a specific amount of time (48 minutes) which involves the repetition of certain prayers, and in addition to these, the way of worshipping involving the image, and the bowing in front of the “JinaIdols” are also considered to be rituals ("Rituals and Festivals"). As mentioned above, acts of charity are very important in Jainism, therefore they are also considered as an important ritual that helps Jains decrease their bad karma ("Rituals and Festivals").

Additionally to these two religious practices (worshipping and rituals), Jains also celebrate festivals at specific times of the year. For instance, MahaviraJayanti, is one of the biggest celebrations for Jains. It can be described as the birthday of Mahavira; the celebration is described in these few lines: “Jains gather together to hear Mahavira’s message expounded, so that they can follow his teachings and example. The dreams of his mother before his birth may be dramatically presented and the circumstances of his birth, as narrated in the scriptures, explained to the assembled people” ("Rituals and Festivals", 2018). It is also said to bea festival mosty celebrated by the Shvetambara Jains through theworship of the “kalpasutra” which is a holy book in Jainism(Flugel 98).

The second most important festival for Jains is called Diwali. Hence, it is the most important festival in the country of India. The reason why it is important for Jains and their religion is because it is known for it to be the day when Mahavira reached moksha. It is celebrated either in October or November depending on the year, and it does not start on the exact date when Mahavira reached moksha, it starts one day before that, because his soul started coming closer to moksha one day before it reached it ("Rituals and Festivals", 2018). There is a symbolic meaning to this festival, due to the fact that it is celebrated by lighting lamps, which represent Mahavira’s knowledge, and how it would always be keep igniting the world("Rituals and Festivals”).

The most important festival in the religion of Jainism is called The ParyusanaParva, for the fact that it is known for them to be an opportunity for them to get rid of bad karma that they already possess, and to help them get less bad karma in the future, because it helps Jains to control their desire.This festival falls on August or September depending on the year, and it lasts for eight days; for that period of time, many Jains choose to fast, and todo some religious activities("Rituals and Festivals"). There are others which are only performed by monks, such as once it starts raining (the start of the raining season), Jain monks stabilize in a single location so that they would not risk harming any creatures, and after the rainy season ends, they can go back to living their regular lifestyle("Rituals and Festivals").

To conclude, Jainism is a nontheistic religion which appeared 2,500 years ago in north India thanks to Parshvanatha and Mahavira, the two Tinthankaras who founded this religion. Although the two founders lived two hundred and fifty years apart, they both contributed immensely to making Jainism the religion it is today. They both reached omniscience, which allowed them to gain a great deal of knowledge; they believed that they knew the way for each soul in the universe to reach moksha, which is the state when the soul escapes the cycle of samsara and no longer needs to inhabit another body. According to Jain beliefs, the way to reach moksha is by freeing the soul from all the accumulated bad karma that one might have collected, and the way to achieve that is by following the five great vows which are: Non-violence, not lying, not stealing, the abandonment of all possessions, and celibacy. The most important vow of the five great vows is non-violence because this religion gives a lot of importance to the soul of each and every living being including plants and the four elements of the earth, and this aspect shows why Jainism can be considered as a religion of peace. It is also important to keep a balance between enlightenment and well-being. Jainism split into two branches which are the Shvetambaras who believed in the religious equality between men and women, and the Digambaras who believed oppositely and only allowed men to practice the religion.The Digambaras are known for not wearing clothing. Jains have their own unique way of praying, and it shows in the purpose of their prayers, which is either to show respect or give thanks to their Tinthankarasinstead of praying in order to get a favor. The Jain festivals that occur every year such as The ParyusanaParva, Diwali, and the MahaviraJayanti festivals are very interesting. All of the information provided above show that some of the beliefs in Jainism are similar to the ones found in Hinduism and Buddhism such as karma, moksha, and samsara etc. And there are also some Jain stories that resemble Buddhist ones. Still, these three religions remain very different from each other on many levels.