Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism Online

Get access Subject: Asian Studies

Edited by: John E. Cort, Denison University, Paul Dundas, University of Edinburgh, Knut A. Jacobsen, University of Bergen, Kristi L. Wiley, University of California, Berkeley

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Brill’s Encyclopedia of Jainism Online makes available up-to-date research on main aspects of the Jain traditions in original essays written by some of the world’s foremost scholars on Jainism. The encyclopedia is thematic and seeks to present a balanced and impartial view of Jainism with a focus on both historical and contemporary traditions and institutions. The articles address topics such as the human condition, pantheons, historical perspectives, regional cultures, renunciation, lay society, ritual, devotion, visual and material culture, time and space, literature, and philosophy and logic.

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Pārśva and Mahāvīra in History

(15,318 words)

Author(s): Dundas, Paul
While the Jains have never developed any sort of reflexive science of history, they have always possessed a keen awareness of being a historically constituted community. At the mundane level, localized versions of the Jain past, often couched in a hagiographical idiom, have been regularly produced over the last millennium to make sense of the contours of sectarian history. More broadly, Jains’ historical awareness in the premodern period has taken the form of locating themselves in the overarchi…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism Online
Date: 2020-04-07