Jainism
Jainism is a religion which stresses extreme non-violence towards all life. Jainism is a Dharmic religion and is not a branch of Hinduism. Jainism was founded by Mahavira, who taught self-denial and non-violence toward all forms of life. Jainism's strict rules of non-violence, non-possessiveness, chastity, non-theft, and truth[1] caused it to lose popularity, but today it has over 4 million adherents worldwide.
Jainism history can be traced through a succession of twenty-four victorious saviors and teachers known as tirthankaras, with the first being Rishabhanatha, who was the first king of Ikshvaksu dynasty before becoming ascetic, and twenty-fourth being the Mahāvīra around 600 BCE. Jains believe that Jainism is an eternal dharma with the Tirthankaras guiding every cycle of the Jain cosmology.
Jainism and Hinduism have coexisted for thousands of years, and so there are similarities in customs and religious holidays between the religions. Vedas, sacred scriptures of Hinduism have mentions of few of these Tirthankaras as well.
The swastika is also a holy symbol for Jains, but is in no way connected with the Nazi swastika.
Jainism and the Mauryan Empire
Historically Several ancient Indian dynasties of Nanda EMpire and Mauryas were all Jains. Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan Empire was Jain. When he was older, Chandragupta renounced his throne and became ascetic. Chandragupta’s son, Emperor Bindusara, constructed several hunded thousand Jain temples.
Jain Temple in the old part of Fort Kochi, Kerala, India.
See also
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