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GUIDELINES TO MAHAVIR-DARSHAN
PART V Socio-Cultural
LESSON XIV JAIN CULTURE
If we visualize the essential features of India's ancient civilization before and during the period of the advent of Tirthankara Mahavira and Buddha, it will be found that a persistent search for higher values was in the atmosphere. Dissatisfaction with the social conditions and the religious ideals that prevailed was deepening. Philosophical doubts stirred the minds of the people who gathered round enterprising thinkers, or heretic teachers, as they were usually called. Tirthankara Parsva, who preceded Mahavira by about two centuries and a half, had already given an impetus to the movement which ascribed supreme importance to the sacredness and inviolability of life--a movement which had been recognized by Tirthankara Nemi who was, if we are to believe the Jaina tradition, a contemporary of Lord Krishna, the chief personality of the Mahabharata age. It was left to Mahavira and his disciples and followers to revitalize and propagate this movement on a more intensive and wider scale, and to give a new orientation to the social outlook and the philosophical quest of the age.
In the course of this movement, a huge literature, mainly religious and philosophical-composed in the prevalent literary languages as well as in classical Sanskrit-grew up in conformity with the spirit of Nirgranthism, for this was earlier designation of the movement known as Jainism. Scientific subjects like astronomy and mathematics also received elaborate treatment in those compositions, as these were regarded as indispensable for a sound understanding of the ultimate purpose of life. Gradually the need of symbolizing the spiritual values was felt and it found expression in Jaina sculpture and painting, which have an aesthetic peculiarity of their own. Thus the Jainas made their contributions to almost all spheres of Indian life. A comparative estimate of these contributions will be helpful for appreciating the value of Jaina culture.
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