Books on Jainism

[Indian Books Centre]

Books on Jainism

Books on Jainism

1. A Comparative Study of Jainism and Buddhism/Sital Prasad.

Contents: Introduction. List of works consulted. 1. Nirvana, Moksha or
liberation. 2. Existence of the soul. 3. The path of Nirvana or liberation.
4. Karmas and their fruits. 5. Ahimsa. 6. Why Jainism and Buddhism are the
same?

"Jainism is older than Buddhism. Vardhaman Mahavira, the last Tirthankara of
the Jainas was the contemporary of Gautama Buddha. The sects organised by
the two leaders flourished for centuries together, before and after the
Christian era. Although there were differences in the conduct of their monks
in as much as the Jaina saints remained naked and the Buddhist monks wore
cloths, there were closer resemblances between the two.

"This book on Jaino-Buddhist religion places stress on the common factors on
the religious life of the Jaina and Buddhists. On comparing the literature
of both, the writer has come to the conclusion that coming in close
association each sect has either borrowed from the other or both have
derived material from common source. The work is an analytical account of
Jainism and Buddhism. It is full of references. The author has exploited all
the relevant material in discussing the subject. He has tried to show
similarities between old Jainism and old Buddhism and prove that both were
one and same at their base; that the old Buddhism was nothing but old
Jainism and that Gautama Buddha must have preached the same philosophy that
was preached by old Jainism. He has shown that the nature of Nirvana and its
path as found in Buddhist Pali books are not different from the nature of
Nirvana and its path as given in old Jaina works."

2.

An Encyclopaedia of Jainism/edited by P.C. Nahar and K.C. Ghosh. Reprint.
First published in 1917. 1996, xxx, 706 p., plates, Delhi,Sri Satguru.,
Rs.500. US$33.

Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. Jainism--its philosophy and religion. 2.
Predicaments by pre-eminence. 3. Knowledge and its forms. 4. Epistemology
and logic. 5. Pratyaksha is really Paroksha. 6. The Jain theory of formal
logic. 7. The Jain logic and the "Nayas". 8. The doctrine of Syadbad. 9.
Shankar and Syadbad. 10. Examination of Shankar. 11. The doctrine of unity
in difference. 12. The universe as a self-existent unit. 13. Theories of
evolution. 14. The sankhya philosophy. 15. Causation and compound evolution.
16. God. 17. Soul. 18. The karma phenomenology. 19. Churchianity and the law
of karma. 20. Belief in re-birth. 21. Re-birth and karma-sarira. 22.
Karma-sarira and oudarika-sarira. 23. Free-will and fatalism. 24. Will and
individuality. 25. Causality in the moral world. 26. Classification of
karmas. 27. From metaphysics to ethics. 28. The conceptions of virtue and
vice. 29. On punya and its fruitions. 30. Papa, vice or sin. 31. Asrava or
influx. 32. Bandha or bondage. 33. Samvara or stoppage. 34. Nirjara or
dissipation. 35. Moksha or emancipation. 36. Gunasthanas. 37. Jain church.
38. Jain festivals. 39. Jain places of pilgrimage. 40. Jain literature. 41.
Jain art and architecture.

"The present book An Encyclopaedia of Jainism, is a compilation forming an
epitome having for its basis the most orthodox principles, doctrine and
tenets as found in the original work of authority and high antiquity as
promulgated on the subject by Jaina speculative writers and conformed to by
accurate thinkers in their spiritual inquiries."

3.New Delhi, Satguru, 2003, liii, 324 p.,Rs.300. US $17 (pbk). ISBN
81-7030-779-1.

Jaina Sutras, Vol. I. The Akaranga Sutra; The Kalpa Sutra/translated from
Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi.

Contents: Introduction. Akaranga Sutra: First Book: 1. Knowledge of the
weapon. 2. Conquest of the world. 3. Hot and cold. 4. Righteousness. 5.
Essence of the world. 6. Cleaning. 7. Liberation. 8. The pillow of
righteousness. Second Book: I. First part: Lecture: 1. Begging of food. 2.
Begging for a couch. 3. Walking. 4. Modes of speech. 5. Begging of clothes.
6. Begging for a bowl. 7. Regulation of possession. II. Second part:
Lecture: 8-14. III. Third part: Lecture:15. The clauses. IV. Fourth part:
Lecture: 16. The liberation. Kalpa sutra: I. Lives of the Ginas: 1. Life of
Mahavira: Lecture: 1-5. 2. Life of Parsva. 3. Life of Arishtanemi. 4. Epochs
of the intermediate Tirthakaras. 5. Life of Rishabha. II. List of the
Sthaviras. III. Rules for Yatis. Index

4.

Jaina Sutras, Vol. II. The Uttaradhyayana Sutra; The Sutrakritanga
Sutra/translated from Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi. New Delhi, Satguru, 2003,
xlii, 456 p.,Rs.300. US $17 (pbk). ISBN 81-7030-780-5.

Contents: Introduction. Uttaradhyayana: Lecture: 1. On discipline. 2. On
troubles. 3. The four requisites. 4. Impurity. 5. Death against one's will.
6. The false ascetic. 7. The parable of the ram, &c. 8. Kapila's verses. 9.
The Pravragya of King Nami. 10. The leaf of the tree. 11. The very learned.
12. Harikesa. 13. Kitra and Sambhuta. 14. Ishukara. 15. The true monk. 16.
The ten conditions of perfect chastity. 17. The bad Sramana. 18. Sangaya.
19. The son of Mriga. 20. The great duty of the Nirgranthas. 21.
Samudrapala. 22. Rathanemi. 23. Kesi and Gautama. 24. The Samitis. 25. The
true sacrifice. 26. The correct behaviour. 27. The bad bullocks. 28. The
road to final deliverance. 29. The exertion in righteousness. 30. The road
of penance. 31. Mode of life. 32. The causes of carelessness. 33. The nature
of Karman. 34. On Lesya. 35. The houseless monk. 36. On living beings and
things without life. Sutrakritanga: First Book: Lecture: 1. The doctrine. 2.
The destruction of Karman. 3. The knowledge of troubles. 4. Knowledge of
women. 5. Description of the hells. 6. Praise of Mahavira. 7. Description of
the wicked. 8. On exertion. 9. The law. 10. Carefulness. 11. The path. 12.
The creed. 13. The real truth. 14. The Nirgrantha. 15. The Yamakas. 16. The
song. Second Book: Lecture: 1. The lotus. 2. On activity. 3. Knowledge of
food. 4. Renunciation of activity. 5. Freedom from error. 6. Ardraka. 7.
Nalanda. Index of names and subjects. Index of Sanskrit and Prakrit words.

.

5.

Open Boundaries : Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History/edited by
John E. Cort. 1999, vii, 264 p., figs., Rs.280.Delhi, Sri Satguru.. ISBN
81-7030-635-3.

Contents: 1. Introduction: contested Jain identities of self and other/John
E. Cort. 2. Haribhadra's analysis of Patanjala and Kula Yoga in the
Yogadrstisamuccaya/Christopher Key Chapple. 3. Becoming Gautama: Mantra and
history in Svetambara Jainism/Paul Dundas. 4. Hemacandra and Sanskrit
poetics/Gary A. Tubb. 5. Erotic excess and sexual danger in the
Civakacintamani/James Ryan. 6. Who is a king? Jain narratives of kingship in
medieval Western India/John E. Cort. 7. Sweetmeats of corpses? Community,
conversion, and sacred places/Michael W. Meister. 8. Ritual culture and the
distinctiveness of Jainism/Lawrence A. Babb. 9. Sramanas against the Tamil
way: Jains as others in Tamil Saiva literature/Indira Viswanathan Peterson.
10. Jain and Hindu "Religious women" in early medieval Tamilnadu/Leslie C.
Ott. 11. The story of the disappearing Jains: retelling the Saiva-Jain
encounter in medieval South India/Richard H. Davis. References. Index.

"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."

[John E. Cort is Associate Professor of Religion at Denison University.

6.

The Unknown Pilgrims : The Voice of the Sadhvis : The History,
Spirituality and Life of the Jaina Women Ascetics/N. Shanta. Delhi, Sri
Satguru, 1997, 789 p., plates,Rs.750. US $50. ISBN 81-7030-535-7.
"Furthermore, it is not without interest that this study finds its own
proper place in an age which is rediscovering feminine values. At a time
when so many people are taking a deep interest in Asian spiritualities we
find here an original and strictly defined spiritual path and also a
spiritual teaching whose strength and subtlety merit our attention and
invites us to embark on an authentic spiritual journey."

"This book permits us to penetrate within one of the most ancient ascetic
spirituality, that followed by some 6000 Jaina women ascetics.

"Written with their collaboration, it presents to the reader their life of
radical renunciation of which one of the hallmarks is incessant pilgrimage,
a regular shifting from one place to the next in a sustained striving
towards self-purification, a striving of which the final goal is Nirvana.

"Here then we have before us the whole Jaina tradition, presented through
scriptures, ancient texts, biographies, epigraphy and iconography. Here too
we may observe its outworking in contemporary daily life and its
contribution to inter-cultural and inter-monastic encounter.

7.Encyclopaedia of Indian Iconography : Hinduism--Buddhism-Jainism/S.K.
Ramachandra Rao.

"The present publication, Encyclopaedia of Indian Iconography, is intended
to focus attention on the traditional details concerning images and their
worship. The details given in these volumes are taken entirely from the
traditional texts of Agama and Silpa-sastra, like Brhatsamhita, Manasara,
Kasyapa-silpa, Isana-siva-guru-deva-paddhati, Silpa-ratna, Padma-samhita,
Hayasirsa-samhita, Vaikhanasagama and Rupa-mandana. The entries include not
only the Gods and Goddesses of popular so-called Hinduism, but also the
divinities of Jaina (both Digambara and Svetambara divisions) and Buddhist
(Mahayana) religions. The deities worshipped in Nepal and Tibet are also
included. Sadhana-mala has been used for descriptions of Buddhist deities,
and Rupa-mandana for Jaina deities. Most of the entries are illustrated by
line-drawings of images in temples, monasteries, basadis and in museums.
Topics of peripheral interest (like temple-construction, image-making
worship rituals and Agama divisions) have also been included here.

"The volumes follow the Sanskrit alphabetical order (akaradi) to facilitate
translation into Indian languages. The first volume begins with the words
beginning with vowels in Sanskrit alphabet. Followed with mute consonants
and the rest of the consonants in the subsequent volumes.

"Among various and synonymous names of the deities, the better known ones
have been selected for entry, while cross-references also have been
indicated. Wherever necessary, background stories for particular
iconographical representations have been given."

Reprint. Delhi, Satguru, 2003, 3 volumes, xviii, 1744 p.,Set.Rs.5000. US
$215 (set). ISBN 81-7030-765-1.

Reprint. Delhi, Satguru, 2003, xxx, 304 p.,Rs.300. US $17 (pbk). ISBN
81-7030-82-7. [Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica Series No. 7
Thanking You

Varun Gupta

Indian Books Centre
40/ 5, Shakti Nagar,
Delhi 110007
Ph. No. 2384 4930, 2384 6497
Fax No. 91-11- 2384 7336
Website http://www.indianbookscentre.com
Email ibci...@vsnl.com
Thanking You

Varun Gupta

Indian Books Centre
40/ 5, Shakti Nagar,
Delhi 110007
Ph. No. 2384 4930, 2384 6497
Fax No. 91-11- 2384 7336
Website http://www.indianbookscentre.com
Email ibci...@vsnl.com
indianbo...@gmail.com