Significant Contributions of Jainism (Volume 1)

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Jainism, also known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient and Jain Way of Life: Symphony in Ecology and Environment independent religion that originated in India. It is one of the oldest living religions, not only in India but also worldwide. Few religions have formulated ethical values as rigorously as Jainism. Even today, its core principles absolute nonviolence (Ahimsa), renunciation of possessions, and universal tolerance remain its guiding pillars.

Jainism is not an offshoot or branch of any other Indic religion, such as Hinduism or Buddhism. It has its own rich history, philosophy, and traditions. It is a complete system, encompassing various branches such as ontology, metaphysics, philosophy, epistemology, ethics, and rituals. Jainism has its scriptures, temples (some of the most architecturally beautiful temples in India are Jain), deities, places of worship and pilgrimage, as well as its own. festivals and fairs. Central to Jainism is the idea of spiritual independence; "Jain" means victory over the self, and the equality of all life, with a particular emphasis on non-harming or Ahimsa. Self-control, compassion, and non-possessiveness are essential for spiritual progress, ultimately leading to the realization of the soul's true nature and liberation.

For over three millennia, Jainism has significantly influenced the religious, ethical, political, and economic spheres of India. Over the centuries, the Jain community has produced scholars, authors, saints, philosophers, educationists, engineers, doctors, scientists, teachers, lawyers, accountants, bureaucrats, publishers, filmmakers, and social activists in numbers disproportionate to their population in India. The Jain tradition, with its emphasis on ecological harmony and non-violence, flourished alongside other schools of thought in ancient India, contributing significantly to its philosophical, artistic, and political heritage. At various points in Indian history, Jains were not only scholars but also part of the ruling elites and significant portions of the population.

Jainism is an integral part of India's cultural fabric, and a comprehensive understanding of India would be incomplete without an appreciation of Jainism and its significant contributions to the country's cultural heritage. Throughout its rich history, Jainism has imparted invaluable wisdom and made remarkable contributions across diverse fields. Its profound influence continues to shape Indian society today.

Although the Jain population worldwide is comparable in size to the Jewish population, the significant contributions made by Jains, in some cases unique, to global knowledge remain largely unrecognized and underexplored. This information is scattered across various scriptures and writings by Jain thinkers, as well as numerous works by both Indian and Western scholars. However, there is no single comprehensive resource that consolidates these contributions in a detailed manner. There is an urgent need to fill this gap.

In 1975, a book titled Contribution of Jainism to Indian Culture, a compilation of papers from a related seminar edited by R.C. Dwivedi, was published by Motilal Banarsidass. While the book contained valuable historical articles, its scope was limited. Around 20 years ago, French scholar Pierre-Paul Amiel sent Sulekh Jain a paper entitled "Some of the Contributions of the Jains," in which he wrote:

The Jains in India and abroad may be proud of their contributions in many different areas, including religion, history, philosophy, literature, arts, science, technology, etc. A full examination of these contributions would require an encyclopedia; in this essay, I will examine only some of these contributions.

While Amiel's essay touched upon a few contributions, it did so only briefly. Similarly, additional information can be found in sources such as Wikipedia and ChatGPT; however, there remains no single, comprehensive work that delves deeply into the numerous significant contributions of Jainism. Recognizing this need, we decided to compile a series of books that explore these unique contributions in much greater detail. These books aim not only to explore Jainism and its teachings but also to highlight the extraordinary, distinctive, and impactful contributions of Jainism to the world!

In mid-2024, an editorial board of eight scholars (all Jains), led by Dr. Dhruti Ghiya Rathi as the chief editor, was formed. The board issued a call for papers and essays to scholars, both Jain and non-Jain, worldwide. The call stated: "We seek essays that emphasize contributions that stand apart, those that are unique, significant, and substantiated with solid references."

The stated aim of Significant Contributions of Jainism: Volume I is "not only to explore Jainism and its teachings but also to highlight the extraordinary, distinctive, and impactful contributions of Jainism to the world!" Significant Contributions portrays itself as the first of a planned multiple-volume anthology of mostly new articles on different subjects pertaining to the Jaina world in history and society. The intended purpose of the envisaged series is propaedeutic, leading "perhaps someday" to "a standalone encyclopedia" (Sulekh Jain, SCJ, p. xxvii). This Foreword is mainly addressing the wider vision of the editors for this volume to be a stepping stone to the future creation of a comprehensive Encyclopaedia of Jainism, comprising knowledge of practical use for improvement of life in this world.

Instant access to all available empirical knowledge is a long-standing dream of humanity. Short of omniscience, lists, anthologies, compendia, dictionaries, and encyclopaedias are the closest approximations we have, and now the www, serving the universities and general public alike.

In ancient India, China, and Europe literature for the acquisition of "rounded knowledge" was mainly produced in the form of anthologies for the benefit of local elites. Encyclopaedias intent on providing information on all branches of knowledge, both arts, crafts, and science, began in European antiquity. Vernacular encyclopaedias became a "democratic" genre from the secular so-called "enlightenment" period onward, following E. Chamber's Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences of 1728 and D. Diderot's Encyclopadia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts of 1776.

"Encyclopaedias" of individual subjects, including religions, became popular in the 19th century. Numerous multi-volume Encyclopaedias of Christianity, Judaism and Islam are being been published in different languages ever since, mainly from denominational perspectives. Abbreviated editions for students are also made available. To date, only a few encyclopaedias have been produced for Indic philosophical and religious traditions. Most of the recent "encyclopaedias" of Religions in Asia are commercial ventures of publishing houses such as Brill and OUP for the international English medium student market. The label "encyclopaedia" came to be used in a metaphorical sense as a designation for collections of articles on selected themes and subjects by known scholars, rather than a comprehensive inventory of subjects presented in form of alphabetically ordered entries.

In the field of comparative religion the most voluminous and still unparalleled work of its kind is the trans-religious Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics edited by James Hastings between 1908 and 1921. Compared to the many denominational encyclopaedias of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the scope given to individual traditions and special topics is limited in this work. Hence encyclopaedias for individual non-monotheistic religious traditions began to be published as well. At the same time comprehensive encyclopaedias for "theology and religious studies" from denominational perspectives appeared, such as the Theologische Realenzyklopadie in 1977 and 2004.

Despite their aspirational title, most single subject "encyclopaedias" do not strive for comprehensiveness, but present pragmatic selections of themes considered essential knowledge for the respective intended readership. The selection of subjects is always the most delicate issue, especially for special-purpose publications. This applies also to Jaina "encyclopaedias."

When reaching a certain degree of complexity every corpus of knowledge needs to produce meta-data as part of the toolkit for systematisation. In the context of the Svetambara Jaina canon the Thana plays this role. It gives a quasi-encyclopaedic overview of classifications using 1-10 concepts summing up the main teaching of the Agamas. A similar numerical scheme is used by the less comprehensive Samavaya. The types of knowledge represented include realia such as time measures, languages, tribes, social groups, etc. The implicit principle of selection of themes is knowledge considered relevant from the mendicant practitioners' point of view.

Though many techniques and schemes have been employed in Jaina literary culture to create some sense of order and systematicity of both canonical and non-canonical texts, not least lexicographic works such as Hemacandra's 11th century Abhidhanacintamani, arguably no work of similar scope as the Thana has been produced before Acarya Vijaya Rajendra-suri's Abhidhanarajendrakosa 1903, which has the form of an anthology. Ever since, different "information systems" have been created within the Jaina community, generally along sectarian lines. The latest anthology of selected text passages ordered under some classificatory scheme is Yugabhusana-suri's vast Arya Yuga Visaya Kosa 2024 Most of the compendia pertaining to the Jaina tradition produced over last 100 years are not encyclopaedias. The majority do not cover realia but focus on metaphysics and ethics alone. The admirable Encyclopaedia of Jainism by Nahar and Ghosh 1917, for instance, is a textbook dedicated almost exclusively to philosophy. One-volume "encyclopaedias" in the style of Nahar and Gosh, such as N. Bhattacharyya's 2009 work of the same title, generally tend to be introductory textbooks in disguise.

A plan for an Encyclopaedia of Jainism worthy of its name was first envisaged by Nathmal Tatia and Muni Mahendra Kumar who in the Preface of their work Aspects of Jaina Monasticism 1981 sketched an alphabetical list of some 650 keywords. The list included many social matters such as casteism, dress, dowry, etc., and other themes that previously had not found their way into self-presentations of the Jaina community: allegories, biographies, first sermon, M. K. Gandhi, science, scientific method, Vedas, and many other non-standard subjects. The list does not contain the keywords ecology, economics, food, and of other issues that have moved to the forefront of Jaina interest today. This project has not been pursued in earnest yet as the Terapanth prioritised the publication of high quality text editions, dictionaries, and anthologies, which have become standard reference works.

The vision of Tatia and Kumar was to some extent realised by Nagendra K. Singh's 2001 multi-volume Encyclopaedia of Jainism which, however, is largely a collation of reprinted articles in English.

Another project, the Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies, initiated by Sagarmal Jain, stalled after the publication of the excellent first volume in 2010, evidently because leading members of the team of scholars had passed away. The following contents were planned: 1. Art and Architecture, II. Ethics and Moral Code: Its Modern Relevance, III. History of Jainism, IV. Language and Literature, V. Science & Technology, VI. Philosophy & Psychology, VII. Religious Practices. The focus on Jaina Studies rather than Jainism is remarkable. It signals that the contents were produced for an academic audience, not as general reference source. This is also reflected in the form of presentation which is not alphabetical as in standard encyclopaedias. The selected themes for the volumes are covered by all good textbooks as well, though in a different order. Exceptional are the subjects architecture, science, technology and psychology, and the emphasis on modern relevance as far as Jaina ethics is concerned, which is singled out in this respect.