The present work by Dr. B. C. Law is to be welcomed from two points of view. It gives a clear analysis of the principal canonical texts of the Jains, but it is also a contribution to the much wider question of the growth and ramifications of Indian philosophical and religious enceptions. To give an impartial and balanced description of these is impossible without duly considering the separate directions in which the many thinkers of India have sought a solution of their problems, and the share which Jainism has contributed has not yet been weighed or even fully examined.
At the present time the first thing required is to know what the records actually say. In this respect Western scholarship has always been hampered. The difficulty in ascertaining the authoritative records has often led to rash and mistaken conclusions. Some good work on particular sutras has been done by German, French, and Dutch scholars, but even the ablest of these investigators, Albrecht Weber, thought that the Jains were one of the schismatic sects which branched off from Buddhism.
Another reason for such misapprehension is the fact that Jainism is a purely Indian form of cultural growth, and Westerners failed to find in it any philosophical ideas which they could link on to their own problems. Dr. Law's work now allows us to approach the subject as a whole and from an Indian standpoint. He gives a picture of the material, but it is still material that needs much study and analysis, for it brings into prominence many of the problems that still have to be examined before their place in the history of Indian thought can be fairly judged. From this point of view the calmness and impartiality of Dr. Law's method will be a great aid to the clearness of treatment required in order to reach assured conclusions.
The first problem that meets us is that of chronology. Where in the history of India is to be placed the activity of the Jains as we know it from the texts? The mere settlement of the points involved will be an aid in solving other parallel questions of Indian chronology.
This leads us straight to the question of Buddhism. Both systems arose in the same part of India; both show that each of them stood in some sort of opposition to the other; and they have in common a number of technical terms. The question of a common terminology, which Dr. Law points out, is extremely important, though it has been largely ignored by Buddhistic students. Yet if we have reason to believe that certain terms such as asava and tathagata (taha-gaya) were used in a technical sense before being adopted by the Buddhists, we must approach them in a quite different way than by merely analysing their literal sense. There is the further possibility that the borrowing was not always on one side, and that some light may be thrown on Jainism by the parallel study of Buddhist texts.
Jainism in fact One important feature brought out by Dr. Law is the fact that in the Jain texts we find many more references to related philosophical systems and to secular literary works than can be found anywhere in the Buddhist canon. on the literary side shows a much greater development than what is to be seen in the Buddhist texts. This aspect takes us further than the stage which Dr. Law has undertaken to examine in the present work, yet it is worth recalling here, for it shows that this stage was not a mere transient phenomenon, but that it underwent a fruitful development, as has been well described by Buhler:
'The Jains did not stop at merely expounding their own doctrines in Sanskrit works. They also devoted themselves to the secular sciences of the Brahmans. Their achievements in grammar, astronomy, as well as in some branches of secular literature, have been so important that they have received notice even from their opponents, and some of their works are still of importance for European science. In southern India, where they were active, among the Dravidians, they have also aided in the development of these languages. The literary language of the Kanarese, of Tamil, an Telugu, rests on the basis laid by the Jaina monks. This activity led them indeed far from their proper aims, but it has created for them a not unimportant position in the history of Indian literature and culture.' 1 and of These words suggest what a rich harvest still awaits the historian and archaeologist, but for its proper comprehension we must begin, as Dr. Law here invites us, with the foundations.
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