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Jainism
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Jainism is one of the oldest religions of the world. The Rig Veda mentions the names of two Jain tirthankaras, Rishaba and Aristanemi. The Vishnu Purana and the Bhagwat Purana describe Rishaba as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. According to the Kalpasutra of Bhadrabahu, Rishabhadeva or Adinatha was the first Tirthankara. Parsvanatha is considered as the 23rd Tirthankara who imparted great strength to Jainism. The modern founder of Jainism is accepted as Vardamana Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, who existed over 2500 years ago in Kundapura near Vaishali in the present-day Bihar.
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Jainism is a religious system of India practiced by about 5,000,000 persons. Jainism,Ajivika, and Buddhism arose in the 6th cent. B.C. as protests against the overdeveloped ritualism of Hinduism , particularly its sacrificial cults, and the authority of the Veda. Jaina tradition teaches that a succession of 24 tirthankaras (saints) originated the religion. The last, Vardhamana, called Mahavira [the great hero] and Jina [the victor], seems to be historical. He preached a rigid asceticism and solicitude for all life as a means of escaping the cycle of rebirth, or the transmigration of souls. Thus released from the rule of karma , the total consequences of past acts, the soul attains nirvana, and hence salvation.
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Compared to Buddhism which was ... founded round about the same time, Jainism does not have as many followers. The stricter Jain conduct is possibly the reason for this. 11th century AD is considered to be the golden period in Jain history, when many kings and commoners converted to Jainism, especially in Rajasthan. A large part of the trader community in western India converted to Jainism to get a better social standing. In the Hindu caste system, they were third in the hierarchy, behind the Brahmins and the kings.
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The two main sects of Jainism, the Digambara (space-clad, or naked) and the Svetambara (white-clad, wearers of white cloth), have produced a vast body of secular and religious literature in the Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. The art of the Jains, consisting primarily of cave temples elaborately decorated in carved stones and of illustrated manuscripts, usually follows Buddhist models but has a richness and fertility that mark it as one of the peaks of Indian art. Some sects, particularly the Dhundia and the Lunka, which reject the worship of images, were responsible for the destruction of many works of art in the 12th century, and Muslim raids were responsible for the looting of many temples in northern India. In the 18th century another important sect of Jainism was founded; it exhibited Islamic inspiration in its iconoclasm and rejection of temple worship. Complex rituals were abandoned in favor of austere places of worship called sthanakas, from which the sect is called Sthanakavasi.
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Jainism traces its roots to a succession of 24 Jinas ("those who overcome", or conqueror) in ancient East India. The first Jina is traditionally believed to have been a giant who lived 8.4 million years ago. The most recent and last Jina was Vardhamana (a.k.a. Mahavira, "The Great Hero") He was born in 550 BCE) and was the founder of the Jain community. He attained enlightenment after 13 years of deprivation. In 420 BCE, he committed the act of salekhana which is fasting to death.
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Jainism is somewhat similar to Buddhism, of which it was an important rival in India. It was founded by Vardhamana Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira (599-527 BC), called Jina (Spiritual Conqueror), a contemporary of Buddha. As do the Buddhists, the Jains deny the divine origin and authority of the Veda and revere certain saints, preachers of Jain doctrine from the remote past, whom they call tirthankaras (“prophets or founders of the path”). These saints are liberated souls who were once in bondage but became free, perfect, and blissful through their own efforts; they offer salvation from the ocean of phenomenal existence and the cycle of rebirths. Mahavira is believed to have been the 24th tirthankara. Like adherents to their parent sect, Brahmanism, the Jains admit in practice the institution of caste, perform a group of 16 essential rites, called samskaras, prescribed for the first three varna (castes) of Hindus, and recognize some of the minor deities of the Hindu pantheon; ... their religion, like Buddhism, is essentially atheistic.
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Jainism