Item Details

Karman and Compassion: Animals in the Jain Universal History

Issue: Vol 7 No. 1-3 (2013) Vol. 7, No. 1/No. 2 (Double) 2013

Journal: Religions of South Asia

Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies

DOI: 10.1558/rosa.v7i1-3.141

Abstract:

As a religious tradition which largely defines itself by its propagation of non-violence (ahiṃsā) and respect for all living beings, Jainism gives particular attention to the well-being of animals, e.g. in the prescription of a strict (lacto-)vegetarian diet, in advocating animal rights and the sponsorship of animal shelters. Against this background, this article examines the presence of animals and other non-human beings in Jaina mythology, more precisely the so-called Jaina Universal History. This Universal History in practice consists of the biographies (caritra or purāṇa) of sixty-three heroes (śalākā- or mahā-puruṣas), many of whom have parallels in broader South Asian epic, purāṇic or narrative traditions. This article introduces the various ways animals are dealt with in these Jaina purāṇic narratives, and will focus in particular on their symbolic value as representatives of human heroes.

Author: Eva De Clercq

View Original Web Page

References :

Babb, L. A. 1993. ‘Monks and Miracles: Religious Symbols and Images of Origin among Osval Jains.’ Journal of Asian Studies 52(1): 3–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2059142
— 1994. ‘The Great Choice: Worldly Values in a Jain Ritual Culture.’ History of Religion 34(1): 15–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/463380
— 1996. Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bender, E. 1976. ‘An Early Nineteenth Century Study of the Jains.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 96(1): 114–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/599898
Bloomfield, M. 1985. The Life and Stories of the Jaina Savior Pārçvanātha. Delhi: Gian Publishing House.
Brockington, J. 1998. The Sanskrit Epics (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Indien—12). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Caillat, C. 2009. ‘Les jaina et le règne animal.’ In N. Balbir and G. Pinault (eds), Penser, dire et représenter l’animal dans le monde indien: 123–55. Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion.
Chandra, K. R. 1970. A Critical Study of Paumacariyaṃ. Muzaffarpur: Research Institute of Prakrit, Jainology and Ahimsa Vaishali.
Chapple, C. K. (ed.). 2002. Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life. Cambridge: Harvard Divinity School.
Cort, J. 1993. ‘An Overview of the Jaina Purāṇas.’ In W. Doniger (ed.), Purāṇa Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts: 185–206. New York: State University of New York Press.
— 2010. Framing the Jina. Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
De Clercq, E. 2005. ‘The Jain Rāmāyaṇa-Purāṇa: Paumacariyam – Padmacarita – Paumacariu.’ In P. Koskikallio (ed.), Epics, Khilas and Purāṇas: Continuation and Ruptures (DICSEP III): 597–608. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Science.
Dhaky, M. A. 1997. Arhat Pārśva and the Dharaṇendra Nexus (B. L. Series No. 11). Delhi: Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology.
Dundas, P. 2002. The Jains. Reprint 1992. London: Routledge.
Geer, A. van der. 2008. Animals in Stone. Indian Mammals Sculpted through Time. Leiden: E.J. Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004168190.i-462
Glasenapp, H. von. 1999. Jainism—an Indian Religion of Salvation: An English Translation of Der Jainismus—eine Indische Erlösunsreligion by Shridhar B. Shrotri. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Jacobi, H., and M. S. Punyavijayaji (eds). 1962–1968. Ācārya Vimalasūri’s Paumacariyaṃ with Hindi translation (2 vols.) (Prakrit Text Society Series Nos. 6 and 12). Varanasi and Ahmeda­bad: Prakrit Text Society.
Jain, P. (ed.). 1954. Mahāpurāna (Vol. II): Uttar Purāna of Acārya Gunbhadra—with Hindi translation (Jñānapītha Mūrtidevi Jaina Granthamālā—Sanskrita Grantha No. 14). Kāshī: Bhāratīya Jñāna­pitha.
— (ed.). 1963–1965. Ādipurāṇa of Āchārya Jinasena (2 vols.) (Jñānapītha Mūrtidevī Jaina Gran­thamālā Sanskrit Granth Nos. 8–9). Kāshī: Bhāratīya Jñānapītha.
— (ed.). 1978. Harivaṃśa Purāṇa of Jinasena (Jñānapīṭha Mūrtidevī Jaina Granthamālā Sanskrit Grantha Nos. 27). New Delhi: Bharatiya Jnanpith.
Jaini, P. S. 1998. The Jaina Path of Purification. Reprint 1979. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Jaini, P. S. (ed.). 2000. Collected Papers on Jaina Studies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Johnson, H. (trans.). 1931–1962. Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra (6 vols.) (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, Nos. LI, LXXVII, CVIII, CXXV, CXXXIX & CXL). Baroda: Oriental Institute.
Lodrick, D. O. 1981. Sacred Cows, Sacred Places. Origins and Survivals of Animal Homes in India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Meisig, M. 1995. König Śibi und die Taube. Wandlung und Wanderung eines Erzählstoffes von Indien nach China. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Quintanilla, S. R. 2000. ‘Āyāgapaṭas: Characteristics, Symbolism, and Chronology.’ Artibus Asiae 60(1): 79–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3249941
Shah, U. P. 1987. Jaina-Rūpa-Maṇḍana—Volume I. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.
Śrīcaraṇavijayajī Mahārāj, Śrīpuṇyavijayajī Mahārāj, Śrīramaṇakavivijayajī Gaṇī and Vijaya­śīlacandrasūri (eds). 1990–2006. Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritamahākāvyam (4 vols.). Ahamadābād: Kalikālasarvajña Śrīhemacandrācārya Navama Janmaśatābdī Smr̥ti Śikṣaṇ Saṃskāranidhi.
Sukthankar, V. S. (ed.). 1933–1966. The Mahābhārata (19 vols.). Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Institute.
Turner, R. L. 1966–1985. A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages (4 vols.). London: Oxford University Press.
Upadhye, A. N., and H. Jain (eds). 1951–1956. Jadivasaha’s Tiloya-Paṇṇatti (2 vols.) (Jivaraja Jain Granthamala No. 1). Sholapur: Jaina Samskriti Samraksaka Samgha.
Varni, J. 1997–2000. Jainendra Siddhānta Kośa (5 vols.) (Moortidevī Jain Granthamālā: Sanskrit Grantha Nos. 38, 40, 42, 44 and 48). Reprint 1921–1983. New Delhi: Bharatiya Jnanpith.
Vijaya, Jina (ed.). 1934. Vividha Tīrtha Kalpa of Jinaprabha sūri (Singhi Jaina Series No. 10). Śāntiniketan: Sañcālaka, Siṅghī Jaina Granthamālā.