The Canon · No. 016
Jainism
Jain Dharma
c.850 BCE (Parshvanatha) / c.599–527 BCE (Mahavira) – present · Dharmic / Indian · Living · India, principally Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka; diaspora
III. THE AXIAL AGE — c.900 – 200 BCE
How many
About 4.5–6 million, over 90% in India. Small in number, disproportionate in literacy, wealth and influence.
Who began it
Mahavira (Vardhamana, c.599–527 BCE by the traditional dating, or c.549–477 BCE by a common scholarly revision), a Kshatriya prince from near Vaishali who renounced at thirty. Jains insist he was not a founder but the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara of this cosmic cycle, the twenty-third being Parshvanatha (c.850 BCE), for whose historical existence there is reasonable evidence.
What it is for
To liberate the soul from the matter that weighs it down, and to do so without harming anything on the way.
What it worships
No creator god. Jainism is explicitly non-theistic: the universe is eternal and uncreated, and no deity made it or runs it. The Tirthankaras are venerated as perfected liberated souls and exemplars, but they are past intervention and cannot answer prayer. Devotion is aspirational, not transactional.
What it holds
Ahimsa — non-violence, and Jainism carries it further than any other tradition on earth. Every living thing has a jiva, a soul, including plants, water bodies, fire and air. Karma is understood not as an abstract moral law but as a subtle physical substance that adheres to the soul and is shed by austerity. Anekantavada, many-sidedness: reality is too complex for any single viewpoint, illustrated by the blind men and the elephant, which is a Jain parable. Syadvada, conditional predication — every statement should be prefixed in some respect. This built-in epistemic humility is Jainism's most distinctive intellectual contribution. Five vows: non-violence, truth, non-stealing, chastity, non-possession.
What it does
Strict vegetarianism, and beyond it the avoidance of root vegetables, since uprooting kills the plant and disturbs organisms in the soil. Water is filtered; some monks sweep the path before them and wear a mouth-cloth to avoid inhaling insects. Fasting is central, culminating in Sallekhana, the voluntary fast to death undertaken by the terminally ill or very aged — legally contested in India in 2015 and upheld by the Supreme Court as a religious practice, and firmly distinguished by Jains from suicide, which requires passion, whereas sallekhana requires its absence. Paryushana, the eight- or ten-day annual festival, ends with Michhami Dukkadam, asking forgiveness of every being one has harmed.
After death
Rebirth through countless lives across heavens, hells, human, animal and microscopic births, driven by accumulated karmic matter. Heavens and hells are elaborately mapped and temporary. The goal is kevala jnana, omniscience, and then moksha: the liberated soul (siddha) rises to the Siddhashila at the very top of the universe and remains there in infinite knowledge and bliss, individual and separate, forever. Note the contrast with Advaita Hinduism, where liberation dissolves individuality, and with Buddhism, which denies there is a permanent soul to liberate at all.
Its texts
Agamas (accepted by Shvetambaras; Digambaras hold the originals lost). Tattvartha Sutra of Umaswati (c.2nd–5th c. CE), accepted by all Jain sects — a rare point of full agreement. Kalpa Sutra. Samayasara of Kundakunda.
Its branches
Digambara and Shvetambara, plus Sthanakvasi and Terapanth (aniconic reform movements rejecting image worship).
Of note
Jainism's practical influence far exceeds its size: it is the direct doctrinal ancestor of modern non-violent resistance, by way of Gandhi and then King.
Its timeline
- c.850 BCE Parshvanatha, twenty-third Tirthankara.
- c.599–527 BCE Mahavira. Contemporary of the Buddha, in the same region, addressing the same problems and reaching sharply different conclusions.
- c.300 BCE Famine in Magadha; the community splits over whether monks may wear clothes.
- c.79–82 CE Formal schism into Digambara (sky-clad, monks naked) and Shvetambara (white-clad).
- c.5th c. CE Valabhi council fixes the Shvetambara canon.
- c.1200–1500 CE Jain temple complexes at Ranakpur, Mount Abu and Palitana; Shravanabelagola's monolithic Bahubali statue (981 CE).
- 1867–1901 Virchand Gandhi and others present Jainism at the Chicago Parliament and abroad.
- 1915–1948 Jain ahimsa, absorbed through Gandhi's Gujarati upbringing and his adviser Raychandbhai Mehta, feeds directly into satyagraha — and from there to the American civil rights movement.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.