JAINISM, jin'iz'm (from Skt. jaina, from jinn, conqueror, it name given to the founder of the religion, from to MIR pier). The name given to a schismatic religion of early India, which arose as a protest against Brahmanism about the same time as did Buddhism, and be came an important rival of the latter, although resembling it in It still retains a position as one of the most important among the living sects of the I tindus, and claims no less than a million believers. Many adherents to its teachings are found in every provini.e of Upper Ilindustan, in the cities along the (;gages, and in Calcutta, but more especially to the westward, in the States of Mewar and Marwar,in Guzerat. and southward along the upper part of the :Malabar coast and scattered throughout the peninsula. The Jains are among the wealthiest and most influential members of the Hindu community, as they are devoted largely to mercantile pur suits. In their way of living they are relined and simple, and in their they are gentle and attractive. It is now generally believed that Jainism antedated Buddhism in its he ginnings, and that its chief expounder, Ma havira, was an older contemporary of the Bud dha. The mune Muliarira itself is appellative and means -me (;mat Another name given to the deified saints of the faith is .1rhat, 'Venerable': accordingly. the followers of these spiritual leaders are sometime: called Arhatas. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, arose in the sixth een•ury B.C. in the region nit far from the holy city of Benares, which was the territory likewise that gave birth to Buddhism. His family name was Jnatriputi.a. and he is referred to in the Buddhist writings as Nataputta. tvhieh was the form of the name in his own dialect of Magadha Ills father's name in the some vernacular appears as Siddhattha ; his mother's as Trisa]a. It is said that on their death, in his thirtieth year, he renounced his home and kingdom. gave up his wife and his daughter. and became a religious devotee and recluse. For twelve years he practiced the most rigorous kind of asceticism. and then devoted the remaining thirty years of his life to preach ing and teaching. and, like Buddha, to organizing his faith and the religious order of his com munity. death must have occurred before Buddha's. as the latter refer: to that event. The reputed teacher of Mahavira was Par:va or Pargvanatha. who belonged to the Pre-Buddhistie sect of the Nirgranthas. 'Without Bonds.' or
'Free from Ties.' and this religious master must have flourished not later than the seventh eem me. There is evidence also of Mahivira's having also been influenced by a stern ascetic named Cosala, who was for a time his associate and pupil, but afterwards hi: rival and the leader of anoth• r sect of minor importance.
the tenets of the Jainas or Arhatas are in sev eral respects analogous to those of the Buddhists (see lit nouls3t ), but they resemble in others those of the Brahmanical Bindles. With the Buddhists they share in the denial of the divine origin and authority of the Vedas, and in the WOI'311ip of certain saints, whom they consider superior to the other beings of the pantheon. They (lifter, indeed, from them in regard to the history of these personages, but the original notion which prevails in both worships is the same. With the Brahmanical ninth's, on the other hand, they agree in admitting the institu tion of caste, in performing the essential cere monies called Samsbiras (q.v.), and in recogniz ing some of the subordinate deities of the Hindu pantheon, at least apparently, as they do not pay especial homage to them, and as they disre gard completely all those Brahmanical rites which involve the destruction of animal life. It deserves notice, too, that though rejecting in gen eral the authority of the Vedas, they admit it and quote Vedic texts if the doctrines of the latter are conformable to the Jaina tenets.
their doctrine, all objects, ma terial or abstract, are arranged under nine categories, called tattras, truth, or principles, of which the ninth and last is called Di de liverance or liberation of the vital spirit from the bonds of action, i.e. final emancipation, sal vation. To reach such an emancipation the most stringent ascetieism and self-mortification for twelve years is essential. Salvation can be ob tained only through such observances and the 'Three Cems' whieh are the treasures of the faith. These are 'right knowledge. right conception, and right actions.' fliee latter. which are synony mous with virtue. are fivefold: (1) non-injury; (2) kindness, and true but pleasant speaking; (3) uprightness, especially shown by non-steal ing; (4) purity in thought, word, and deed; (5) renunciation of worldly interests. This freeing of the spirit from the bonds of material things will come through successive reincarnations; it will mean true release, but the spirit will retain its individuality.