Foreword
It is obvious that a substantial section of humanity has been living through the ages, grappling with the death, and that all serious philosophical speculations have been revolving as much around life as around death. The Jains of India are among those who paid serious thought to this subject; indeed, their preoccupation with it is so much that without understanding their attitude towards death, it is almost impossible to understand their central philosophy of life. We may even venture to say that none of the major religious systems of the world advocated in as many terms as did the Jains the negative character of life and the positive complusions for ending existence. Whether one would agree or not with such extremist advocates to hasten towards death, none can deny that death has been haunting all those who are making meaningful efforts to live. While commending death, the Jains, however, cautioned against throwing away life in a cavalier manner. They emphatically opposed suicide a death-process involving emotion](rāga) and violence (himsa) and condemned such an act as spiritual crime, a cowardly course of escapade by the immature and the ignorant (bala). Their sharp logic identified as many as forty eight types of deaths, grouped under three categories: 1. bala-marana (childish or foolish death); 2. pandita-marana (wise death); and 3. pandita-pandita-marana (the wisest of wise deaths). The first series, including suicide, is rejected in unequivocal terms; the second, which testifies partial attainment and wisdom, is conditionally accepted and advocated; the third is enthusiastically recommended. The first begets no fruits; the second secures partial rewards; the third releases the aspirant from all bondage, including the cycle of rebirth. Death was not merely a subject of intellectual exercise for the Jains, it permeated through their social, religious and philosophical sinews and regulated as much the life of monks and nuns in the order as of lay-followers in society. They took utmost care to build up an infra-structure to keep alive this ideal by codifying the procedure of death and also perfecting the process of commemorating those who heroically terminated life. The art of mortiifyng the body, without troubling the soul or torturing the mind, was identified by several terms, each term accentuating a specified ritual content.
Hindu (942)
Agriculture (138)
Ancient (1128)
Archaeology (826)
Architecture (579)
Art & Culture (947)
Biography (737)
Buddhist (548)
Cookery (168)
Emperor & Queen (589)
Islam (314)
Jainism (345)
Literary (889)
Mahatma Gandhi (396)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Visual Search
Manage Wishlist