Reading History with the Tamil Jainas

Reading History with the Tamil Jainas
Author: R. Umamaheshwari
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2018-01-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 8132237560

This book provides a social history of the Tamil Jainas, a minority community living in Tamil Nadu in south India. It holds special significance in the method of studying the community, living in villages of Tamil Nadu and retrieving their perspectives on their past. This is a new approach in terms of historiography from extant works on Jainism in south India. A major feature of this book is the hitherto uncovered aspect of the question of language and identity, caste and the modern socio-political movements in Tamil Nadu, such as the Self-Respect Movement (initiated by ‘Periyar’), in which some Tamil Jainas were active participants. Special features in the book include photographs of the community and monuments, maps, and a unique style, which combines a journalistic approach and academic historical research. This book is of interest to readers of Tamil language and history, and to anyone working on the idea of politics of marginalisation of religious identities, ide as of memory, and community narratives of shared history in the face of religious persecution.

Open Boundaries

Open Boundaries
Author: John E. Cort
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791437858

Open Boundaries provides a new perspective on Jainism, one of the oldest yet least-studied of the world's living religions. Ten closely-focused studies investigate the interactions between Jains and non-Jains in South Asian society, with detailed studies of yoga, tantra, aesthetic theory, erotic poetry, theories of kingship, goddess worship, temple ritual, polemical poetry, religious women, and historiography. Viewing the Jains within a South Asian context results in a strikingly different portrait from the standard models represented in both traditional Western and Indian scholarship.

Jain Approaches to Plurality

Jain Approaches to Plurality
Author: Melanie Barbato
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004276769

In Jain Approaches to Plurality Melanie Barbato offers a new perspective on the Jain teaching of plurality (anekāntavāda) and how it allowed Jains to engage with other discourses from Indian inter-school philosophy to global interreligious dialogue. Jainism, one of the world’s oldest religions, has managed to both adapt and preserve its identity across time through its inherently dialogical outlook. Drawing on a wide range of textual sources and original research in India, Barbato analyses the encounters between Jains and non-Jains in the classical, colonial and global context. Jain Approaches to Plurality offers a comprehensive introduction to anekāntavāda as a non-Western resource for understanding plurality and engaging in dialogue. “Building upon earlier work in this field without simply reduplicating it, Melanie Barbato’s work delves deeply into the question of the relevance of Jain approaches to religious and philosophical diversity to contemporary issues of inter-religious dialogue, and dialogues across worldviews more generally. (...) This work is a most welcome contribution to the conversation.” — Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College. April 2017. Author of Jainism: An Introduction.

Life Force

Life Force
Author: Michael Tobias
Publisher: Jain Publishing Company
Total Pages: 130
Release: 1991
Genre: Ahiṃsā
ISBN: 0875730809

Outside India, little is known of Jainism, one of the oldest religions in the world; a gentle faith whose ancient precepts have always nurtured an ecological way of life, and which numbers today nearly ten million adherents. At the root of Jainism's compassionate philosophy is the practice of ahimsa, meaning non-violence, an approach to the world that greatly influenced Mahatma Gandhi. Today, with the earth's environment and everyone of its species under constant siege, Jainism has more of a role to play than ever before. In this accessible and thought-provoking portrait of a religion, the Jain antidotes to human violence and environmental abuse come elegantly and persuasively to light.

Being Jain

Being Jain
Author:
Publisher: Hatje Cantz
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-02-21
Genre:
ISBN: 9783775753500

A visual primer on the art and culture of the Jains, and their legacy today Strict nonviolence, the renunciation of possessions and universal tolerance are the guiding principles of Jainism--a religious community that is found around the world but is little known outside India. Combining masterpieces of Jain art from the collection of the Museum Rietberg, richly illustrated essays and interviews with Jains from Europe, the US and India, Being Jain: Art and Culture of an Indian Religionprovides impressive insights into the unique lifestyle and ethical values cultivated by Jainism over many centuries. The catalog investigates how the living tradition of contemporary Jainism can deal with the fundamental challenges the world faces today: climate change, rampant consumerism, ethnic and religious intolerance and social inequality. A board game inside the book encourages readers to reflect on their own ethical lives while engaging their sense of play.

Studies in Jaina History and Culture

Studies in Jaina History and Culture
Author: Peter Flügel
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2006-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1134235526

The last ten years have seen interest in Jainism increasing, with this previously little-known Indian religion assuming a significant place in religious studies. Studies in Jaina History and Culture breaks new ground by investigating the doctrinal differences and debates amongst the Jains rather than presenting Jainism as a seamless whole whose doctrinal core has remained virtually unchanged throughout its long history. The focus of the book is the discourse concerning orthodoxy and heresy in the Jaina tradition, the question of omniscience and Jaina logic, role models for women and female identity, Jaina schools and sects, religious property, law and ethics. The internal diversity of the Jaina tradition and Jain techniques of living with diversity are explored from an interdisciplinary point of view by fifteen leading scholars in Jaina studies. The contributors focus on the principal social units of the tradition: the schools, movements, sects and orders, rather than Jain religious culture in abstract. Peter Flügel provides a representative snapshot of the current state of Jaina studies that will interest students and academics involved in the study of religion or South Asian cultures.

Jainism and Indian Civilization

Jainism and Indian Civilization
Author: Raj Pruthi
Publisher: Discovery Publishing House
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2004
Genre: India
ISBN: 9788171417964

Contents: Introduction, The Background of Jainism, History of Jainism, Fundamentals of Jainism, Jainism as Religious Movement, Philosophical Thought of Jainism, The Basic Doctrines of Jainism, Political Thought, Peace of Jainism in Indian Thought, Jainism as Viewed by Annie Besant.

Tamil Culture

Tamil Culture
Author: A. Kiruṭṭin̲an̲
Publisher:
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN:

At a time the Tamils have forgotten their glorious past, the hights of their achievements in political, social, cultural and civilization fields, when they have lost even their sense of self respect, this book apart from being a treasure of culture, I consider, is one that awakens them, reminds them and rekindles their interest to know about their past and implores them to create a greater feature. I fervently hope that the vision of the author is realized and all our wishes filfilled. I am sure that the sincere and enlightened work serve the purpose and the society. It has website effect scanning every minutes detail of the Tamil culture. We are sure when you come out you would be a scholar to be sought after. Hardbound