Report of Two Days National Seminar on ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM (New Delhi: 4th -5th January 2017) Co-Sponsored by ICHR, Ministry of HRD, New Delhi The origin of Jainism is shrouded in considerable obscurity. The available evidence of decide the questions is scanty, dubious and capable of different interpretations. Scholars have therefore come to widely divergent conclusions. Naturally the followers of every religious faith proclaim their religion as having its source in antiquity and Jains are no exception to this. The traditions and the legendary accounts prove the existence of Jainism as eternal. Jainism is revealed again and again in every cyclic period of the universe by forty-eight Tīrthaṅkaras (twenty-four in each half cycle). The Jains divide the whole span of time into two equally spanned cycles, namely, Utsarpiṇī and Avasarpiṇī. During Utsarpiṇī, there is a gradual ascendancy in moral and physical state of the universe, while during Avasarpiṇī, the case is just reverse, i.e. the gradual descent of moral and physical state of universe. Each of these two is subdivided into six arās each extending from over crores of years to twenty-two thousands of years. This time-cycle goes on endlessly and humans like us rise to be Tīrthaṅkaras (Jina) at regular intervals. They, themselves, practice the eternal principles of Jainism and attain omniscience (Kevalajñāna) and preach and expound us the same. On the basis of the above theme International School for Jain Studies (ISJS), New Delhi organized two days National Seminar on Antiquity of Jainism co-sponsored by Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Govt. of India. In this national seminar there were three Academic sessions and one Inaugural session. The first session was Inaugural session and the chief guest of this session was Prof. Y. S. Rao, Chairman of ICHR and Guest of Hounour was Dr. Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force Motors, Pune. The program started with the auspicious Jain Namokar Mantra by Dr. Sudha Jain. Chief-guest of the session, Prof. Y.S. Rao, Chairman ICHR, suggested that religion is a very lower word in terms of antiquity and has a vast manifestation. The concept of Śramaṇic tradition is much earlier than the thinking. He elaborated that philosophy based on Yoga system called Tapas or transcendental. The word antiquity cannot be traced but history or 1 Page
archaeology can be traced in modern as well as traces of the facts. He also discussed the Vedānta tradition in his presidential remark. Dr. Abhay Firodia, guest of honour of the session said that antiquity is not precise for Jainism, it precise for medieval age. He suggested that to recalibrate the time scale. He said when we use the word tīrthaṅkara, it depicts that the Śramaṇic tradition not for Jains because the word Jina is more later word in compare to Śramaṇa. All the tīrthaṅkara are propagated the Śramaṇic tradition not only tīrthaṅkara are following the Śramaṇic tradition but Buddha also. Dr. Firodia also said when we uses the word antiquity, we need some evidences, i.e. archaeology, history, excavation etc. he argued that the existence of tīrthaṅkaras are not much myth but it happened in Indic civilization. At the end of the talk he introduced proposed Jain Museum. Dr. Shugan C Jain gave the introduction and theme of the seminar and presided vote of thanks. This Inaugural session was conducted by Dr. Akhilesh Jain, Additional Director, ISJS. The first academic session was chaired by Prof. V.S. Rao. In this session there were three research papers presented. The first speaker was Dr. Shugan C Jain on the topic Social Political Literature of Jains as a Basis of Establishing Antiquity of Jainism. In this paper Dr. Jain emphasised the twofold distinguish characteristics of Jains that separated Jainism from the others religion. He said that who are the Śramaṇas? The Śramaṇas are focusing the self-effort and Niggantha. He approaches to establishing the existence to date of Jainism in following ways: i. Mythology ii. Cultural and Philosophical history of the culture iii. Historical and canonical history of the culture iv. Inscription, object of the art and life style depiction v. Inference from way of life of common people Apart from that he also discussed 63 luminary persons (63 Ślākāpuruṣas) to establish the traces of Śramaṇa tradition (Jainism) before the Mahabharata. The second paper was presented by Prof. Bhagchandra Jain Bhaskar, Nagpur, on the topic of Existence of Jainism in Srilanka. He started his lecture with what is tradition. He said 2 Page
tradition cannot be decline but always changes. He said the people of India need to crossed and reached Srilanka from various parts like Gujarat, Bengal and South India. Particularly the southern part was the main centre of Jainism where the acharyas propagated Jainism of Jain tīrthaṅkara tradition. The Jains were given magnificent grant for their spiritual purpose, numerous Jain temples and scriptures were erected by Kings. In his own talk Prof. Bhaskar discussed about Ārhata and Vārhata tradition. He was giving light the evidences of existence of Jainism in Srilanka prior to advent to Buddhism. He propagated that Jain tradition recorded is already there in respect which is now supported by Srilankan literature and archaeological findings. The last paper of this session was presented by Prof. Arvind P Jamkhedkar, Pune on the topic Antiquity of Jainism in the light of Archaeological, Art-Historical and evidence from History of Religions. He started his presentation with the meaning of antiquity. He said when we talk about antiquity must go to archaeology in terms of religious idea to establish the antiquity. He emphasised the evidence about the religious belief in Harappan civilization. He quoted some recent studies (e.f. Shubhanga, Atre etc.) that have shown the predominant religion based on the cult of mother goddess. He discussed in his talk about Āyāgapaṭṭa of Mathura to show the historicity of Jainism. At the end of his talk he suggested to more research will have to be done of anionic representation in Jain tradition such as Aṣṭa Maṅgala and motifs in the dreams associated with the birth of the tīrthaṅkaras and also suggested that to explore the pañca kalyāṇakas in different places, so that we find some archaeological traces of Jainism. Second day, first academic session was chaired by Prof. Arvind Jamkhedkar and the first paper read by Dr. Priyadarshana Jain, Chennai on the topic Antiquity of Jainism Early Jaina Presence in Tamil Nadu. She started her talk to show that the Jainism is known as Śramaṇa Dharma, Nirgrantha Dharma, Ahiṃsā Dharma. She emphasised the Indus Valley Culture is a Kāyotsarga culture of Vitarāgi Jinas symbolising deep spirituality heightened consciousness and supreme detachment that is deeply imbibed in the Indian religions. She discussed Tamilnadu state- Madurai and Pudukottai regions especially were prominent Jain basins. At last she discussed Jainism played a vital role in the history of Tamilnadu by its enormous contribution to literature and social development. The last vestige of Jainism is the heritage of Tamilnadu. End of her talk she discussed Ahiṃsā walk run by her team in Chennai. 3 Page
Group photo of all dignitaries of the Seminar The next speaker of this session was Dr. Shanti Swaroop Sinha, Varanasi presented his paper on Antiquity of Jainism and Jina Images as Revealed from Jaina Inscriptions of Mathura. In this talk Dr. Sinha emphasised his paper on based on Mathura excavation-kankālī Ṭīlā. The inscription found in Mathura mostly in 1st to 2nd c. BC. The inscriptions found in Mathura in the name of Jinas i.e. Ṛṣabhanātha, Arisṭanemi, Sambhavanāth, Muni Suvrata and Mahāvīra. The entire inscription found on image shows the Jina image during the Kuṣāṇa period. He show some images and discussed with relate to Jainism. He also discussed the term Arhat with concerning inscription. All the inscriptions tend to its own meaning. Tyāga, Sādhanā and Ahiṃsā are the principles are depicted in Mathura s Āyāgapaṭṭas. The next speaker of this session was Dr. Anupam Jash, presented his paper on the topic on Jain Antiquities in Eastern India. In his talk Dr. Jash constitutes as exploration of the origin and development of Jainism in Eastern India both from the original sources of Jain canons and studies from historical and archaeological perspectives. He also discussed the physical geography of eastern India to understand the way the Jain thinkers went about spreading Jainism in eastern India. He touches in his talk especially Bihar, Bengal and Orissa states. 4 Page
The third speaker of the session was Dr. D. P. Sharma, Varanasi, presented his paper on the topic Jain Art in Ancient India. Dr. Sharma enquired the antiquity of Jain art early Indus Sarswati period and continued in Indus Valley Civilization. In his paper he dealt Jain art of Ancient India from earliest line of medieval period. He shows that the traces found of the first tīrthaṅkara Ādinātha in Indus valley Civilization. He also discussed the tradition of Yakṣa and Yakṣī in ancient Indian Art during pre-indus and Indus period. He denied the word Indus but used Sindhu/Sarswati, so the civilization is Sindhu Sarswati Civilization. In his continuation of his paper he also discussed the cakras. The fourth paper of this session by Dr. G. Jawaharlal on the topic Origin of Jainism. He was trying to make strongly connection between the roots of Jain tradition and Indus Valley culture. He said that the word Vātarasana or Śiśna devatā in Ṛgaveda comes only and only for the Ādināth (belongs to Śramaṇic tradition). In this paper Dr. Jawaharlal addressed that the Paśupati cult was a later development. More over Shiva is never portrayed as sitting on the platform surrounded by animals. No doubt it is a figure of Śramaṇa tradition likely Ṛṣabha, so the figure is not Paśupati but it depicts Prajñāpati. The second academic session was chaired by Dr. Shugan C Jain. In this session the first paper was presented by Dr. Rajmal Jain, Ahmedabad on the topic Exploring the Evolution of Jainism form Palaeolithic to Neolithic era. His paper based on pure scientific method. He show some chart in his presentation to proof his argument. He started his paper with the belief of Kālacakra. He discussed nomenclature of period and pointed the period as follows: 1. Neolithic Age 2. Bronze Age 3. Iron Age 4. High Face Age 5. Space Age He further discussed Palaeolithic and Neolithic era. He said the Mesolithic era followed the Palaeolithic era but the period of the Palaeolithic -Mesolithic boundary varies by geography by as much as several thousand years. He presented a comparison chart of Neolithic and Palaeolithic era. He also discussed various observation, artefacts and evidences obtained in the last few millions of the years and conjecture a model for antiquity of Jainism. 5 Page
The second speaker of the session was Dr. Shalin Jain, Delhi on the topic Modern Roots of an Ancient Religion: A Historiographical Survey of Jainology. In his paper Dr. Jain attempts to briefly trace the historiographical survey of Jainology starting from the form of understanding of Jainology rooted in the colonel knowledge discourse guided by orientalist. Many western scholars in their quest for Indian knowledge and antiquity discovered and rehabilited Jain manuscripts and inscription. Dr Jain extensively propagated what is the root of Jainism. The third speaker of this session was Dr. Sudha Jain on the topic Antiquity of Jainism: The Mahābhārata period and beyond upto Mahāvīra. In this paper Dr. Jain made some literary evidence back to Neminātha. She quoted some Vedic references which are related to Śramaṇaic tradition. She also pointed that the name Ariṣṭanemi was found in Ṛgaveda. The fourth paper of the session was Sh. Arun Khanna, Delhi on the topic Preservation of Jain Heritage in India. In this paper Sh. Khanna trying to show how to preserve the old Jain heritage. He mentioned 52 Gaja Temple as an example to preserve. The fifth paper of this session read by Dr. Navin Kr Srivastav on behalf of Dr. Santosh Rai, Delhi on the topic Community, Space and Religion: Jains of Delhi through the ages. The fifth and last speaker of this session was Dr. Akhilesh Jain, Delhi on the topic Jainism: An Appraisal of its Antiquity. In this paper he incorporate the variously scattered references to Jainism s past made by different archaeologist and the available studies to classify the evidences/ reports into different time period of human evolution vis-à-vis the Jain order. In continuation of his paper Dr. Jain quoted some ancient as well as modern textual references. At the end of the session Dr. Shugan C Jain gave the vote of thanks. This seminar was appreciated by all the scholars for its depth of the content, thoughtful research presentation and discussions. Present Scholars and Guests: Prof. Y. S. Rao, Delhi, Dr. Abhay Firodia, Pune, Sh. Nirmal Kumar Sethi, Delhi, Prof. Arvind Jamkhedkar, Pune, Prof. Bhagchandra Jain Bhaskar, Nagpur, Bengal, Prof. D.P. Sharma, Varanasi Dr. G. Jawaharla, Tirupati, Dr, Rajmal Jain, Dr. Priyadarshana Jain, 6 Page
Chennai, Dr. Shanti Swaroop Sinha, Varanasi, Dr. Shalin Jain, Delhi, Dr. Anupam Jas, Sh Arun Khanna, Prof. PC Jain, Delhi, Sh. Pawan Kumar Jain, Delhi, Dr. Shikhar Chand jain, Delhi, Dr. N.K. Jain, Delhi, Gr. Capt. Vimal Jain, Delhi, Dr. Kamla Jain, Delhi, Dr. SK Jain, Faridabad, Sh. Arjun Kumar Jain, Delhi, Prof. R.C. Agrawal, Delhi etc., Smt. Anu Bhatia, Noida, Sh. Nirmal Jain, Delhi, ISJS staffs etc. 7 Page