Jain in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India

The opening discussion frames the study through the consecration of a Jain temple and introduces the central tension between liberation-oriented ascetic ideology and worldly religious values. It establishes the book’s focus on Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjak Jains in Patan and north Gujarat. Chapter 1 explains the ideology of the path to liberation, especially right faith, right knowledge, right conduct, karma, asceticism, and the role of the Jina as the model of perfected liberation. Chapter 2 situates Jain life in Patan, describing local communities, sectarian affiliations, religious institutions, and the social environment in which Jain practice operates. Chapter 3 studies temple worship and devotional practice, showing how lay Jains approach images, rituals, offerings, and divine presence. Chapter 4 analyzes gifting, merit, and grace through patterns of interaction between laypeople and mendicants. Chapter 5 examines asceticism as a sacred ideal embodied by mendicants and valued by lay communities. Chapter 6 presents the Jain religious year through festivals, remembrance, fasting, celebration, and communal ritual time. Chapter 7 synthesizes the book’s argument by comparing different realms of value in Jain life, especially liberation, wellbeing, ascetic merit, devotion, prosperity, and social-religious identity.