International Journal of Jaina Studies (IJJS) Archive 2008

Worlds in Conflict. The Cosmopolitan Vision of Yaśovijaya Gaṇi Author: Jonardon Ganeri

Year: 2008

International Journal of Jaina Studies (Online) Vol. 4, No. 1 (2008) 1-11 Abstract The Jaina philosopher Yaśovijaya Gaṇi (c.1608-1688 CE) lived during a period of exceptional socio-philosophical interest, one in which the world of traditional Sanskrit discourse found itself in an encounter with the new intellectual world of the Mughal empire. One might well imagine how these circumstances would provide a Jaina philosopher of the period with a distinctive range of challenges. Certainly, we find in Yaśovijaya an attempt to continue the tradition of Jaina philosophical scholarship in the new scholarly language of Navya Nyāya. But do we find in his large corpus of works a responsiveness to newly emerging intellectual horizons? The article attends primarily to a little known but fascinating text of his, the Nyāya Jainakhaṇḍakhādya. In this text we find among other things a return to one of the strongest of the classical themes, the debate between Buddhists and Naiyāyikas over the existence of self or soul. Why, we might well ask, at a time when the Buddhists have long since ceased to be present in the Sanskrit philosophical debate, does Yaśovijaya choose to revisit this debate once again? Download File (pdf; 75kb)

On The Unintended Influence Of Jainism On The Development Of Caste In Post-Classical Tamil Society Author: Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan

Year: 2008

International Journal of Jaina Studies (Online) Vol. 4, No. 2 (2008) 1-65 Abstract Tamil nationalist scholars have held that the early Tamil society was casteless. But, they have not been able to explain away the occurrence of words such as pulaiyaṉ, iḻipiṟappiṉōṉ, iḻipiṟappāḷaṉ, and iḻiciṉaṉ, which are traditionally interpreted as low-born persons in classical Tamil literature. On the other hand, these words have led scholars like K. K. Pillay and George Hart to state that the concept of untouchability - and hence the notion of caste - has been present from the time of Classical Tamil literature. All these scholars have failed to consider the influence of Jaina worldview reflected in the classical Tamil literature. When the classical Tamil texts are analyzed using information from the field of Jainism along with philology, Dravidian linguistics, and South Indian epigraphy, one could see that neither untouchability nor caste was indigenous to Tamil society. In fact, the word pulaiyaṉ, which later came to mean ‘a polluted man’, originally meant ‘a man who causes auspiciousness/prosperity’. Ironically, the non-violence principle of Jainism was an inadvertent catalyst in the development of violence-ridden untouchability among the speakers of Dravidian languages in post-classical Tamil times. Download File (pdf; 274kb)