Jainism and Hinduism (actually Vaishnavism)

[Shrisha Rao]

On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Anand Hudli wrote:

>   Given the "tight-coupling" between Jains and certain sects of Vaishnavas,
>   it is not surprising if there is Jaina influence on some school(s) of
>   Vaishnavism. A book that I am reading, titled "advaitatattvaprakAshikA"
>   by Shri Ramachandra Shastri (in Kannada), continues along these lines.
>
>    For instance, Dr. B.N.K. Sharma, a Dvaita scholar of repute is, in his
>    book "Philosophy of Shri Madhvacharya", said to have stated that
>    "Jaina philosophy and moral code have some affinity to Madhva's thought."

I don't know how pertinent this issue is to this list, but just a brief
comment: although Dr. Sharma has noted "parallels" between Madhva's and
Jaina theology, he has stopped short of suggesting the latter's causation
of the former.  That particular void is filled by Robert Zydenbos's
article, `On the Jaina background of Dvaitavedanta', JIP, 1991, to which
attention may be drawn for those interested in this matter.  However, a
note of caution may be appropriate.  I personally am highly unsatisfied
with the quality of Dr. Zydenbos's research on this issue, which shows
gross ignorance of several undisputed historical and literary facts, and
otherwise shows poor grasp of the material.  Dr. Zydenbos was completely
unable to provide any cogent responses to my objections when this issue
arose on another forum in March this year.  I also have it on good
authority that he has misrepresented Jainism as well.  A rebuttal article
to his is currently in the final stages of preparation (not by me,
although I have contributed some research findings), but may take a year
or two to appear.

Regards,

Shrisha Rao

>   Anand