Doctrines, Spread and Contribution of Jainism

At a Glance

• Vows Five
• Three jewels Right knowledge, faith, action
• Sects Shvetambara and digambara
• Language Prakrit (Ardhamagadhi)
• Patron Kharavela of Kalinga
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Religious Movements, Mahajanapadas and Foreign Invasions

Where Does It Fit?

This is the third topic of the category on religious movements. The previous topic covered Mahavira’s life, and this one covers his teachings and legacy. The next topic covers Gautama Buddha. Previous topic: Vardhamana Mahavira and Jainism.

What Are the Doctrines of Jainism?

In short: five vows, three jewels and an ascetic path to liberation without ritual.

Jainism taught five doctrines: do not commit violence, do not tell a lie, do not steal, do not hoard, and observe continence (brahmacharya). Only the fifth was added by Mahavira; the other four were taken over from previous teachers. Jainism attached the utmost importance to ahimsa, non-injury to living beings, and it sometimes led to absurd results, as some Jaina kings ordered the execution of persons guilty of killing animals. Parshva had asked his followers to cover the upper and lower portions of their bodies, but Mahavira asked them to discard clothing altogether, implying a more austere life. Because of this, in later times Jainism split into two sects: shvetambaras, who wear white garments, and digambaras, who remained naked.

Jainism recognised the existence of the gods but placed them lower than the jina, and unlike Buddhism did not condemn the varna system. According to Mahavira, a person is born in a high or lower varna as a consequence of sins or virtues in the previous birth, though by pure and meritorious life members of the lower castes can attain liberation. Jainism aims at freedom from worldly bonds, and no ritual is necessary. It can be obtained through right knowledge, right faith and right action, the three jewels or triratna. Jainism prohibited war and even agriculture for its followers because both involve killing, and eventually Jainas principally confined themselves to trade and commerce.

How Did Jainism Spread?

Mahavira organised an order of followers that admitted both men and women, and he preached in Prakrit, the language of the common people. His followers numbered 14,000, which is not a large figure. As Jainism did not clearly differentiate itself from the brahmanical religion, it failed to attract the masses, but it gradually spread to south and west India, where the brahmanical religion was weak. A late tradition attributes its spread in Karnataka to Chandragupta Maurya, who became a Jaina, gave up his throne and spent his last years there as an ascetic, but no other source corroborates it. The second tradition says that a twelve-year famine in Magadha, two hundred years after Mahavira, led many Jainas under Bhadrabahu to migrate south, while the rest remained under Sthalabahu. On the return, differences arose and a council convened at Pataliputra was boycotted by the returnees. Those who returned from the south came to be called digambaras and the Magadhans shvetambaras. The drought tradition relates to a later period and is considered doubtful, although the division into two sects is beyond doubt, and epigraphic evidence for Jainism in Karnataka is not earlier than the third century AD. After the fifth century numerous monastic establishments, called basadis, sprang up in Karnataka with royal land grants.

Jainism did not win as much state patronage as Buddhism and did not spread rapidly in early times, but it retains its hold where it spread, while Buddhism virtually disappeared from the subcontinent.

What Did Jainism Contribute?

Jainism made the first serious attempt to mitigate the evils of the varna order and of ritualistic Vedic religion. Early Jainas discarded Sanskrit, patronised by the brahmanas, and used Prakrit. Their religious literature was written in Ardhamagadhi and the texts were eventually compiled in the sixth century AD at Valabhi in Gujarat, a great centre of learning. The adoption of Prakrit helped the growth of the language and of regional languages, including Shauraseni, from which Marathi developed. Jainas composed the earliest important works in Apabhramsha and compiled its first grammar; their literature includes epics, Puranas, novels and drama; much remains in manuscript in Jaina shrines of Gujarat and Rajasthan. In early medieval times they also wrote in Sanskrit and contributed greatly to Kannada.

Initially, like Buddhists, they were not image worshippers, but later they worshipped Mahavira and the twenty-three tirthankaras, and beautiful and sometimes massive stone images were sculpted, especially in Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Jaina art in ancient times is less rich than Buddhist, but Jainism contributed substantially to art and architecture in medieval times.

As an analytical point, Jainism’s strict ahimsa, which barred farming and warfare, explains its link to the merchant class and its survival in trading regions, while its tolerance of varna and gods made it less distinct from Brahmanism than Buddhism and so less able to become a mass religion. A contrast appears in Doctrines and Features of Buddhism and Causes of its Spread, and the heterodox schools are in Charvaka…">Ajivikas, Charvakas and Other Heterodox Sects.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Doctrines Standard Prelims questions
• Sects Shvetambara and digambara
• Contribution Language and art

What Came Next?

The next topic describes Gautama Buddha and the rise of Buddhism. Next topic: Gautama Buddha and the Rise of Buddhism.

Key People and Terms

• Ahimsa Non-injury
• Triratna Three jewels
• Shvetambara White-clad sect
• Digambara Sky-clad sect
• Basadi Jaina monastery
• Ardhamagadhi Language of Jaina canon

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for doctrines and contributions. These points add depth.

• Doctrine Ahimsa and asceticism
• Spread South and west, trading groups
• Contribution Language, literature, art