Jainism

An ancient path of extreme nonviolence and the many-sidedness of truth.

c. 600 BCE → (older roots) · India · Dharmic

Jainism teaches that liberation comes from purifying the soul of karmic matter through nonviolence (ahimsa), truthfulness, and ascetic restraint, guided by the example of the Tirthankaras — enlightened teachers, of whom Mahavira was the last historical figure. It holds no creator god but an eternal cosmos and an infinity of souls, and prizes anekantavada, the view that truth is many-sided. Arising in the śramaṇa milieu alongside Buddhism, its ethic of nonviolence influenced figures as recent as Gandhi.

Key figures

• Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara
• Rishabhanatha (the first)

Texts

• The Agamas
• Tattvartha Sutra

Beliefs

• Ahimsa — radical nonviolence
• Many-sidedness of truth (anekantavada)
• Karma as subtle matter weighing the soul
• Liberation of the soul (moksha)

Rituals

• Strict vegetarianism and vows
• Fasting and self-discipline
• Pilgrimage to sacred sites

Grew from

• Historical Vedic Religion

Connections in the atlas

• Shravanabelagola and the Bahubali statue
• The Kalpa Sūtra
• Jain emblem (hand of ahimsa)
• Yakṣa and yakṣī
• Akbar
• The pilgrimage to Kailash
• ▶ One symbol, many meanings: the swastika
• Jyotiṣa (Indian astrology)
• Where people lived
• Fasting (ritual)
• The Tamils
• Karma