Jainism

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Jainism
IconJainism.png
Symbol
Organised Religion
Ideological doctrine: Dharma, Transtheism, Non-violence (ahimsa)
Operation
Region(s) of operation: Multi-system
Status & relations
Internal factions: Digambara, Śvētāmbara
Historical information
Predecessors: Śramaṇa traditions
[Source]
Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.

–Mahavira

Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion with followers of Jainism called "Jains", a word derived from the Sanskrit word jina (victor) referring to the path of victory in crossing over life's stream of rebirths by destroying karma through an ethical and spiritual life. Tracing its spiritual ideas and history through a succession of twenty-four victorious saviours and teachers known as tirthankaras, Jainism advocates ahiṃsā (non-violence), anekāntavāda (many-sidedness), aparigraha (non-attachment) and asceticism. Since the creation of the Kimber drive and the establishment of exosolar colonies, Jainism has become widespread and experienced enormous growth though it still very much remains a minority religion.

History[edit | edit source]

Background[edit | edit source]

The origins of Jainism are obscure. The Jains claim their religion to be eternal, and consider Rishabhanatha to be the founder in the present time cycle, the first of 24 Jain tirthankaras in Jain belief, and someone who lived for 8,400,000 purva years. According to the hypothesis of the philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Jainism was in existence before the Vedas were composed. According to historians, the first 22 of the 24 tirthankaras were mythical figures. These figures were supposed to have lived more than 85,000 years ago. They were five to one hundred times taller than average human beings and lived for thousands of years. The 23rd tirthankara, Parshvanatha, is generally accepted to be based on an ancient historic human being of uncertain dates, possibly the eighth to sixth century BCE, with Mahāvīra being the more agreed upon founder of the religion.

Some Indian history scholars such as Parikh have hypothesized that images such as those of the bull in Indus Valley Civilization seal are related to Jainism. Jainism, like Buddhism, is one of the Śramaṇa traditions of ancient India, those that rejected the Vedas. There is inscriptional evidence for the presence of Jain monks in south India by the second or first centuries BC, and archaeological evidence of Jain monks in Saurashtra in Gujarat by the second century CE. Statues of Jain tirthankara have been found dating back to the second century BC.

Mahāvīra and Buddha are generally accepted as contemporaries (circa 5th century BCE). The interaction between Jainism and Buddhism began with the Buddha. Buddhist texts refer to Mahāvīra as Nigantha Nataputta. Beyond the times of the Mahāvīra and the Buddha, the two ascetic sramana (seeker) religions competed for followers as well as the merchant trade networks that sustained them. Their mutual interaction, along with those of Hindu traditions, have been significant. In some cases, the titles of the Buddhist and Jaina texts are the same or similar but present different doctrines.

Royal patronage has been a key factor in the growth as well as the decline of Jainism. The Pallava King Mahendravarman I (600–630 CE) converted from Jainism to Shaivism under the influence of Appar. His work Mattavilasa Prahasana ridicules certain Shaiva sects and the Buddhists and also expresses contempt towards Jain ascetics. Sambandar converted the contemporary Pandya king to Shaivism. During the 11th century, Basava, a minister to the Jain Kalachuri king Bijjala, succeeded in converting numerous Jains to the Lingayat Shaivite sect. The Lingayats destroyed various temples belonging to Jains and adapted them to their use. The Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana (c. 1108–1152 CE) became a follower of the Vaishnava sect under the influence of Ramanuja, after which Vaishnavism grew rapidly in what is now Karnataka.

Jainism and Hinduism influenced each other. Jain texts declare some of the Hindu gods as blood relatives of legendary tirthankara. Neminatha, the 22nd tirthankara for example is presented as a cousin of Krishna in Jain Puranas and other texts. However, Jain scholars such as Haribhadra also wrote satires about Hindu gods, mocking them with novel outrageous stories where the gods misbehave and act unethically. The Hindu gods are presented by some Jain writers as persecuting, tempting, afraid of, or serving a legendary Jina before he gains omniscience. In other stories, the Hindu deities such as Vishnu, or Rama and Sita come to pay respect to a Jina at a major Jain pilgrimage site such as Mount Satrunjaya.

The Jain and Hindu communities have often been very close and mutually accepting. Some Hindu temples have included a Jain Tirthankara within its premises in a place of honor. Similarly numerous temple complexes feature both Hindu and Jain monuments, with Badami cave temples and Khajuraho among some of the most well known.

Jainism faced persecution during and after the Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent. Muslims rulers, such as Mahmud Ghazni (1001), Mohammad Ghori (1175) and Ala-ud-din Muhammed Shah Khalji (1298) further oppressed the Jain community. They vandalised idols and destroyed temples or converted them into mosques. They also burned Jain books and killed Jains. There were significant exceptions, such as Emperor Akbar (1542–1605) whose legendary religious tolerance, out of respect for Jains, ordered the release of caged birds and banned the killing of animals on the Jain festival of Paryusan. After Akbar, Jains faced an intense period of Muslim persecution in the 17th century.

The Jain community were the traditional bankers and financiers, and this significantly impacted the Muslim rulers. However, they rarely were a part of the political power during the Islamic rule period of the Indian subcontinent. They would become further marginalized during British colonial rule with Christian missions variously viewing Jainism as either a sect of Hinduism or Buddhism, or as a distinct religion. Missionaries of Christianity and Islam considered Jain traditions as idolatrous and a false religion, characterizing Jain temples and icons, such of those of Jina, as false idols and superstitious practices.

The British colonial government in India, as well as Indian princely states, passed laws that made monks roaming naked in streets a crime, one that led to arrest. This law particularly impacted the Digambara monks. The Akhil Bharatiya Jaina Samaj opposed this law, and argued that it interfered with the religious rights of Jains. Acharya Shantisagar entered Bombay in 1927, but was forced to cover his body. He then led an India-wide tour as the naked monk with his followers, to various Digambara sacred sites, and was welcomed by kings of the Maharashtra provinces. Shantisagar fasted to oppose the restrictions imposed on Digambara monks by the British Raj and prompted their discontinuance. The colonial era laws that banned naked monks remained effective through World War II, but they were abolished by India after it gained independence.

With the independence of India in 1947, Jainism would spread to other countries through migration and limited missionary work. Many of the colonial-era restrictions on Jainism would also be lifted, but full status as a religious minority was not granted to the religion throughout India immediately. In 2005, the Supreme Court of India declined to grant Jains the status of a religious minority throughout India, leaving it to the respective states to decide on the group's minority status. However in 2014, Jains were finally designated a minority at the national level in India and given official status.

Jainism continued its status as a minority religion in the Indian subcontinent while Earth's environment fell apart over the next hundred years. In the meantime, Jainism would also begin its first forays into space with its first few missionaries, who would particularly focus on Mars, the Main Belt, and the Outer Planets. These missionaries went out into space with the mindset that this new segment of humanity should prevent the possessiveness and violence that led to the current situation on Earth. These missionaries would only really succeed with Belters, many of whom embraced Jainism's asceticism to live with their existences in among the asteroids, but this early missionary work would pave the way for later thrusts into known space.

The creation of the Kimber Drive and the colonization of exoplanets would quickly followed by Jain missionaries and monks with similar ideals to those in the Solar System. The first Jains would arrive on Zhu Que in the 2930s but would find scant converts among the colonists, many of whom were irreligious, Buddhists, or adherents to Chinese folk religions. Still, a small Jain community persists on Zhu Que with Jains being an accepted minority with a long history on the planet. Zhu Que would be only the first of Jainism's thrusts into space beyond the Solar System.

Jainism would not be welcome in every location it arrived. The colonies on Nova and Tranquility were less open to Jainism than Zhu Que, Nova especially. The Novian Temple initially reacted very negatively to any new religions arriving on Nova, and Jainism was prevented from really taking root. On the other hand, Jainism on Tranquility was able to spread more among both the poor and the elite, with the Jain minority present into the current day. Jain missionaries and monk would also visit other worlds such as Barnard's Star b, Proudhon, Ross 128 b, and Zilong. However, Jainism has no significance presence on these planets or longstanding communities.

The spread of Jainism across known space has surprised many and even angered some, particularly in the Main Belt and on Saturn. In the main Belt, various factions of Belters see Jain Belters as traitors to the cause and cowards for their strict policy of non-violence and apathy towards Belter self-determination. This has led to violence between Belters, particularly on the smaller "rocks", with Jain Belters being sometimes even killed due to these disputes. Meanwhile, Jain Saturnians have faced similar persecution to Buddhists on the planet due to their vulnerability to violence. In particular, Jain monks are the targets of many Lumpen gangs on Saturn's irregular moons and were targeted viciously during the Tethys Crisis on both Iapetus and Tethys to a smaller extent.

Current Era[edit | edit source]

Structure[edit | edit source]

A decentralised religion, Jainism has no clergy outside of ascetics with its order of monks and nuns. Jainism monastic organization is a part of Jain society called sangh with two denominations: the Digambara and the Śvētāmbara. Digambaras use the word muṇi for male monastics and aryika for female monastics. Digambara monks are also called nirgrantha (without bonds). Śvētāmbaras use the word sadhvis for female monastics. The monks observe extreme abstinence with male Digambara monks wearing no clothing. Jain temples are constructed as places of worship for the Jain community with no priesthood owning the temples with Jain monks being very mobile.

Membership[edit | edit source]

Jainism is a minority religion from the Indian subcontinent that has spread to the stars since, similarly to Buddhism. Although Jainism remains a minority religion within the ISCO Protectorate on Earth, it has expanded significantly into the Solar System with Belters and KuBelters being the most willing converts to Jainism for its asceticism and the relative ease of ahimsa in such an isolated environment. Jain missionaries are also found in many ports across known space with the largest communities outside the Solar System being in the Gliese 832 System and the Luyten System.