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The article offers information on a historical study of the Kalugumalai inscriptions. Topics include the historical importance of Vatteluthu inscriptions, the inscriptions which testify the religious toleration of the Pandya king Parantaka Nedunjadayan and the prevalence of Jainism in South India. It also discusses the popularity of Kalugumalai during the 8th and 9th centuries A.D.

This paper presents a description of Jaina relics in Kalugumalai, historically a major Jain centre in Tamilnadu. The Sanskrit word Jina means 'conqueror' and this is used as a title attached to the revered beings, who are said to have controlled their passions and have obtained perfect knowledge and freed themselves from the bondage of Karma. Their preaching and principles are popularly known as Jainism. Their followers are known as Jains or Nirgrantha. The period of origin of Jainism is not clear. Anyhow it began to attain the place of monastic idealism from sixth century B.C. onwards. There were 24 Thirthankaras beginning with Rishabha and ending with Vardhamana Mahavira. Among them the last two, namely, Parakanatha and Mahavira, are treated as historical beings. Jaina relics are found in several places in Tamilnadu. Kalugumalai in southern Tamilnadu presents a variety of relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study represents a detailed inquiry into the rhetoric of Jainism, an understudied religious-philosophical tradition that arose among Hinduism and Buddhism on the Indian subcontinent. Exploring the unique use of pluralism in Jaina authors such as Mahāvīra and Haribhadra, I advance the concept of engaged rhetorical pluralism to account for the argumentative use of pluralism to promote Jaina views. This concept is linked to Jainism's theory of multiperspectivism (anekāntavāda) as an orientation toward one's rhetorical activities in contexts of disagreement. Highlighting the controversies surrounding the relationship between Jaina tolerance and intellectual nonviolence, this study uses the concept of anekāntavāda to ground a pluralism of often contradictory critical claims made by those studying rhetorical phenomena from other cultures. Thus, anekāntavāda both describes the engaged pluralism evident in important Jaina rhetors and serves as a source of methodological guidance for scholars involved in comparative rhetoric and its inevitable situations of interpretative disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-violence, Jainism and Gandhi in some respect stands as parallel terms. Not only are they parallel but are so intertwined that one of it is incomplete without its others. The others of non-violence are Jainism and Gandhi; so also the others of Jainism and Gandhi are. The present attempt is to see how the ancient principles of Jainism are rejuvenated by M.K. Gandhi that restructures global order making it holistic and comprehensive. The analysis of Jaina principles in a socio-cultural and economic framework will reveal the impact that Gandhi had of Jainism. In fact, there is a deep concern in understanding and implementation of these principles by Gandhi tc' :ng into account its broad human and environmental consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this issue contribute to a paradigm shift in our approaches to historical discourse in precolonial South Asia. Rather than posing again the well-worn question of whether the Rājataraṅgiṇī should be considered a properly ‘historical’ text or a work of poetry, they focus on the complex and often hybrid sytlistic, thematic and aesthetic ‘lineages’ of the text, to understand how Kalhaṇa was able to articulate a unique vision of the past—and one that created the space for further iterations in later times. This final article seeks to at least partly test the value of such an approach through a similar examination of largely contemporaneous materials from Western India. Long noted for its peculiar combination of tantalising historical detail with magical elements and chronological anachronisms, the prabandha literature of Gujarat has recently been interpreted as an expression of a ‘Jain’ approach to kingship, morality and biography. Without denying this obvious connection, this article approaches the prabandhas by contexualising them against the wider background of temporalities and narrational styles in Sanskrit literature. It argues that the peculiar conventions of prabandha literature in Western India may best be explained through the interaction of distinctive narrative traditions and temporal orientations in Sanskrit writing that may have broad parallels in Kashmir’s literary history. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Taking up the still debated question whether Muslims and particularly Hindus were or were not aware of forming a common religious community before the nineteenth century, David N. Lorenzen stated in the introduction to his essay Who Invented Hinduism? published in 2009 that the term Hinduism designed religious identity as early as the fifteenth century in Hindu texts and even one century earlier in inscriptions. However, most scholars did not take into account the Jain texts, probably because it was more or less unconsciously admitted that Jains are in fact Hindus. Nevertheless, the testimony of Jain Prabandhas, a new genre which includes biographies, eulogies and chronicles, reveals to be of peculiar interest. Indeed, on one hand, the Prabandhas attest that the Jains saw themselves as different to the Hindu sects and that they competed for instance with devotees of Śiva in order to obtain the favour of a sovereign or to control a sacred place. On the other hand, the Jain authors do not go so far as to assimilate Muslims and Hindus into a single composite ‘other’. Rather they identify a double ‘other’ represented by the non-Jains in the Indian world and by the Muslim newcomers. The terms in use are analyzed through various examples. Besides, as opposed to this double ‘other’, the Jains seem to have developed a sense of a larger community. As a matter of fact, if they go on using terms which apply to members of one and the same sectarian group, they also overcome sectarian divisions. Furthermore, by borrowing from Persian sources the term hinduka, they reveal that the advent of a foreign elite entailed the emergence of new identities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper asks the question, whether nakedness embodies a potential wisdom. It deals with two different approaches to the phenomenon of nakedness: the first one rejecting, the second one appreciating the corporeality. The authors show different meanings the various cultures and civilizations attributed to nakedness, e.g. nakedness as a religious symbol of social subordination or belittling (Mesopotamia, Israel) or of a specific national dominance (Greece). Attention is paid also to the meanings of nakedness in Jainism, where the nakedness is a symbol of non-possessiveness; in Christianity, where the approach to nakedness is ambiguous; in tantrism with its vision of a person with numerous bodies, where the role of nakedness and sexuality is seen in cosmic context. Thus the meaning of nakedness remains multiple, depending on its context and visualization. The authors reject the pornography culture of contemporary society in favor of gymnosophy as the hierophany of the naturalness of nakedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses praśastis, or eulogies, in Jaina Apabhramśa sandhibandhas, or Jaina poetry. These "praśastis" could be used as historical sources as they provide information on Indian political, social, and religious history. The sandhibandhas of the Jain Tirthankaras, or enlightened teachers, Puspadanta, Vibudha Śrīdhara, and Raïdhū are discussed, with a focus on the evolution of praśastis within them. While Puspadanta's eulogies displayed gratitude towards his patrons, they eventually had become a means for patrons to increase their fame by the time of Raïdhu.

As it is comprised by many languages and numerous ethnic, social and religious groups India is a plural society. It is the birth place of four religions of the world-Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. The adherents of all these religions form the major religious groups, viz, the Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians, the Sikhs, the Buddhist and the Jams. These religious groups vary from one another in terms of their population characteristics. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the differentials as well as the spatial patterns in the work participation of the major religious groups in all the 593 districts of India using the 2001 census dataset on religion. The paper also highlights the gender gap differentials in work participation among these religious groups. In fact, the study of work participation on the basis of religious affiliation helps in identifying which groups are lagging behind and by how much so that targeted corrective measures may be provided to the concerned group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ahimsa is an ancient concept that began in India about 3600 years ago. The roots of ahimsa are found in the Vedas, i.e., the sacred scriptures of the Hindu tradition. However, the concept spread to Jainism and then to Buddhism. It culminated in the thought and practice of Mahatma Gandhi. For Gandhi, the basic meaning of ahimsa was no harm to any living being by thought, word or deed and the greatest love (compassion) for all creatures. Given Gandhi's belief in and practice of ahimsa, one is able to achieve the 'softening the boundaries of the self'. This softening is necessary if one is to overcome the ego which is formed by the tight boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]