Concept
Jain literature
Overview
Jain literature (Sanskrit: जैन साहित्य) refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the canonical Jain Agamas, which are written in Ardhamagadhi, a Prakrit (Middle-Indo Aryan) language. Various commentaries were written on these canonical texts by later Jain monks. Later works were also written in other languages, like Sanskrit and Maharashtri Prakrit.
Jain literature is primarily divided between the canons of the Digambara and Śvētāmbara orders. These two main sects of Jainism do not always agree on which texts should be considered authoritative.
More recent Jain literature has also been written in other languages, like Marathi, Tamil, Rajasthani, Dhundari, Marwari, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and more recently in English.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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All known religious beliefs, whether simple or complex, present one common characteristic: they presuppose a classification of all the things, real and ideal, of which men think, into two classes or opposed groups, generally designated by two distinct terms which are translated well enough by the words _profane_ and _sacred_ (_profane_, _sacré_). This division of the world into two domains, the one containing all…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Jain literature is.
It is quite recently that we first obtained a definite knowledge of Indian Philosophy; in the main we understand by it religious ideas, but in modern times men have learned to recognize real philosophic writings. Colebrooke,[17] in particular, communicated abstracts to us from two Indian philosophic works, and this forms the first contribution we have had in reference to Indian Philosophy. What Frederick von…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Jain literature is.
Not less true is that which it means spiritually, that in the Soul's liberation from Sin (or in the exodus of the Soul from Sin) it is made holy and free in its powers. But in demonstrating these, the Literal must always go first, as that in whose sense the others are included, and without which it would be impossible and irrational to understand the others. Especially is it impossible in the Allegorical, because…
Dante Alighieri, The Banquet
States what Jain literature is.
Philosophers who discussed Jain literature
Related ideas
- Ācārāṅga Sūtra
- Hemachandra
- Hinduism
- Gujarati language
- Kevala jnana
- Jainism
- Karnataka
- Moksha
- Mahabharata
- Ontology
- Kural
- Mahavira
- Prakrit
- Haribhadra
- Jinasena
- Shaivism
- Sanskrit
- Sutra
- Soul
- Kundakunda
- Anekantavada
- Tamil language
- Tattvartha Sutra
- Umaswati
Place in the tradition
Part of Determinism.