Jainism and Karnataka Culture

SR No.: 011062
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 263
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

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JAINISM AND KARNATAKA CULTURE
misery as well as felicity." 15 Hence, the conclusion of the Jainas was, in the words of Subhacandra, “Lôka (world) was not created, nor is it supported by any being of the name of Hari or Hara, and is in a sense eternal." 16
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But this did not make the Jainas materialistic in the sense of the Caravaka, whose motto was to make merry while life lasted, since they thought the body turned to ashes turns not to life again.' 17 On the other hand, the Jainas firmly believed in the eternity of the soul, and insisted upon the very highest rectitude of life, up to final perfection, as a necessary means to permanent happiness now and hereafter. 18 The Pañcāstikaya-sāra by Kunda-Kundācārya, one of the earliest of South Indian Jaina works, states the Jaina view of life and salvation thus:--
"The soul which is the agent of its own karma and the enjoyer of the fruits thereof, as conditioned by its own karma, gets blinded by the veil of ignorance and roams about in the world of samsara, which is limited for the faithful and unlimited for the unfaithful.
'Suppressing or annihilating the veil of ignorance which clouds the faculties of perception and will, well equipped with the Three Jewels, the undaunted pilgrim that has conquered the suffering and pain due to the environment, beckoned by the ideal of self-knowledge, wades through the path and reaches the Divine City of Perfection." 19
Both the rationalistic atheism, as well as, the high spiritual idealism of the Jainas, contained in the above passages, were in contrast with the animistic faith of the Dravidians and the priest-ridden ritualism of the Brāhmaṇas. The latter too
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15 Latthe, An Introduction to Jainism, pp. 85-87. Jinasena, Ādi Purāno ch. III, cf. Bhandarkar, Report on San. MSS, 1833-84, p. 118.
16 S'ubhacandra, Com. Kartikeyānuprēkṣā ch. X; cf. Bhandarkar, op. cit., p. 113.
17 Cf. Tilak, Gitārahasya, ch. 1V, pp. 77-78; cf. Belvalkar add Ränade, Hist. of Ind. Philosophy II, pp. 403, 459.
18 Warren, Jainism, p. 2.
19 Pañcāstiķāya, 8. B. J. III, 75-76,