You are here

Home

Between Tradition and Modernity: 19th, 20th and 21st Century Jain Mendicant Leaders

Submitted to Program Units
1: Jain Studies Unit

Anil Mundra, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This panel focuses centrally on the seminal role that Jain mendicant leaders of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries have played in translating tradition into modernity, thereby transforming their notions of this binary altogether.  It examines and compares four highly influential 20th- and 21st-century Jain Śvetāmbara and Digambara mendicant leaders, and their multiple methods of adapting Jain practices for the modern period which often depend upon an engaged Jain lay community. Despite having outsized influences on the transmission, translation, and adaptation of the Jain tradition into the modern period, no panel to date has taken a microscopic look at the actions and sensibilities of influential Jain mendicant leaders who have reshaped the Jain religious landscape as we know it today. By doing so, we come to appreciate the fluidity of the categories of “tradition” and the “modern,” and understand that both are at play and reconceptualized.

Papers

  • Venu Mehta, Claremont School of Theology

    Fortifying the Tradition through the Icon: Ātmārāmajī Mahārāj’s Vision for Reforming Jainism in Modern India

    Abstract

    Ātmārāmajī Mahārāj (1837-1896) is the popular name of the Jain ācārya Vijayananda Surī, a Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka Jain mendicant leader in the late 19th century. Ātmārāmajī saw the need for reforming Jainism in the western and northern parts of a colonized India in response to the growing influence of Hindu practices and ideals and to the aniconic sentiments of the Sthānakavāsīs (non-image worshipping Jains) and a contemporary Hindu reformation leader Dayānanda Sarasavatī (1824-1883) of the Ārya Samāj, a Hindu Indian reform movement. By exploring Ātmārāmajī’s The Chicago Praśnottara (1892-93) and Ajñānatimīra-bhāskara (1882) as well as his own autobiographical accounts found in various sources, this paper discusses how Ātmārāmajī navigated the tradition of the Jain mūrti-pūjā—practices associated with worshipping an icon that form the ritual praxis of particular Jain sects—through the modern period as part of his vision to reform Jainism in the modern period.

  • Pratibha Pragya, Florida International University

    Mahāprajña’s Exegetical Approach in Ācārāṅga-bhāṣyam

    Abstract

    This paper investigates the exegetical approach of Śvetāmbara Terāpanthi leader Ācārya Mahāprajña (1920-2010) in order to illustrate how a learned Jain mendicant leader adapted his exegetical style for a modern context. Mahāprajña’s commentary on the canonical text of the Ācārāṅga Sūtra or his Ācārāṅga-bhāṣyam reinterprets ancient Jaina descriptions of ascetic practice and proposes a new format for understanding scripture tailored for a contemporary audience. He strongly believed that it is difficult to understand Jaina canonical literature without understanding Vedic, Buddhist and Āyurvedic sources. He was explicit about the sources and constructive method of his modern exegetical practices, divorcing himself from the traditional approach set by the oldest commentaries of the Niryukti, which the poetic compositions of older Jain commentators followed. I argue that his reliance on an “end-note” type of commentary (ṭippaṇa),  rather than proposing a mere textual adaptation of the chosen text, redefined contemporary approaches to scriptural exegesis.

  • Corinne Smith, SOAS University of London

    Kānjī Svāmī: The Transmission of the Adhyātmik Tradition in the Modern Era

    Abstract

    This paper discusses the role of technology in the dissemination and preservation of the teachings of Kānjī Svāmī (1890 – 1980). His religious career as an independent Jain leader began in the 1930s, delivering daily lectures on adhyātma, and most frequently on the Samayasāra of Kundakunda. I argue that the community’s use of technology and updating to the latest modes was significant in spreading these teachings into the modern age. Kānjī Svāmī was well-known for his oratory skills and never composed a single written work during his career. His followers certainly exploited the oral nature of Kānjī Svāmī’s teachings to great effect via audio recordings which began from the 1950s onwards using different analogue formats through to the digital age. Keeping pace with the latest technological trends and advancements allowed the preservation and transmission of oral content to audiences, which contributed to the successful growth of the movement.

  • Lynna Dhanani, University of California, Davis

    Preserving Knowledge: Jambūvijaya and the Jaisalmer Bhaṇḍār

    Abstract

    This paper will show how the learned Jain scholar-monk Jambūvijaya (1923-2009) opened the archives to the West while simultaneously revamping indigenous understandings of knowledge-preservation through his enormously successful cataloguing, scanning, copying, and digitizing efforts at the Jaisalmer bhaṇḍār or Jain manuscript libraries located at the Jaisalmer Fort in the Rajasthani desert. Western and Asian scholars, such as Daniel Ingalls, Paul Dundas, Nalini Balbir, Shin Fujinaga, John E. Cort, Maria Heim, and dozens of others, benefited from Jambūvijaya’s intellectual prowess, curiosity, and generosity from the 1950s onward. Jain studies, specifically, would not have advanced without his manuscript cataloguing work, critical editions, and independent writings. His willingness to use modern methods alongside traditional ones and engage local and international scholars opened the treasures of the Jaisalmer bhaṇḍār (and other Jain libraries) to the world. Despite such influence and output, there remain limited studies of his collective influence on Jain and Indological studies.

Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen
Play Audio from Laptop Computer
Podium microphone

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

90 Minutes
Schedule Info

Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Tags

#Jainism
#Indianascetics
#south asia

Session Identifier

A23-322