50 Fun Facts About Jainism

Which foods do observant Jains refuse because each one is believed to house countless tiny souls in a single body?

Root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots are ruled out, so Jain cooks in Gujarat and Rajasthan built whole cuisines without them.

In the parable Jains use to show that truth has many sides, which animal do blind men describe by touch?

An elephant seems like a thick snake to the man holding the trunk, a fan to the one at the ear and a pillar to the one at the leg.

Which leader of India's independence movement called the Jain poet Shrimad Rajchandra his guide in spiritual crisis?

Mahatma Gandhi met the poet in Mumbai in 1891 and kept writing to him from South Africa, where he was advised to be patient and to study Hinduism deeply.

Many observant Jains will not eat after which daily moment, a practice meant to spare tiny organisms from harm?

Sunset is the cut-off in a practice called chauvihar, and strict Jains filter their drinking water for the same reason.

What do Jain monks and nuns carry so that they crush no insects where they walk or sit?

A soft broom is among the few things an ascetic may keep, and some orders make theirs from peacock feathers that the birds have shed naturally.

Which autumn festival, also kept by Hindus, marks for Jains the night the 24th Tirthankara attained final liberation?

Diwali has a second meaning for Jains: the teacher's chief disciple, Gautama, is said to have gained omniscience that same night.

Which Sanskrit word, written on the raised open palm in Jain symbolism, names the vow never to harm any living being?

Ahimsa sits inside a wheel on the palm, and the wheel stands for the resolve to end the cycle of rebirth by never causing harm.

Which teacher, a contemporary of the Buddha, do Jains revere as the 24th and last Tirthankara of the present age?

Mahavira left a royal household at 30 to live as a wandering ascetic, and scholars see him as the reformer of an older tradition, not its founder.

In Jainism, during which season do wandering monks and nuns stay in one place for four months to avoid crushing insects?

The monsoon retreat, called chaturmas, exists because the rains bring out small creatures that a monk walking the roads could kill by accident.

Which Mughal emperor, persuaded by the Jain monk Hiravijaya, banned the slaughter of animals for months of the year?

Akbar invited the monk to his court for philosophical debate, and the edicts that followed also banned fishing in certain sacred lakes.

Monks of which Jain sect, whose name means sky-clad, traditionally own nothing and wear no clothes at all?

Digambara monks carry little beyond a water gourd, while the other main tradition holds that an ascetic need not go naked.

Who, said to have meditated standing until vines climbed his legs, is shown in the giant statue at Shravanabelagola?

Bahubali is bathed only once every 12 years, when pilgrims pour milk, saffron and sugarcane juice over the single-block granite figure.

Which Gujarat town, below a hill crowded with Jain temples, became the world's first legally vegetarian city?

Palitana banned the sale of meat, fish and eggs in 2014; its marble temples cover Shatrunjaya hill, counted among the holiest sites in Jainism.

Which Jain vow, taken only near the end of life, involves gradually giving up food and water until death?

Sallekhana was banned as suicide by the Rajasthan High Court in August 2015, but India's Supreme Court stayed that ruling within weeks and lifted the ban.

Which Jain doctrine, whose name means many-sidedness, holds that no single statement can capture the whole of reality?

Anekantavada led Jain thinkers to treat every claim as valid only in some respect, one perspective that is always incomplete.

In Jain belief, what is pictured as extremely subtle matter that seeps into the soul and stains it with colour?

Karma is far more than cause and effect in Jainism: it is treated as a kind of pollution, drawn in by every act, word and thought.

Which ancient symbol do Jains use to stand for the four states a soul can be born into?

A swastika's arms stand for heavenly beings, humans, hellish beings and animals or plants, and a crescent drawn above it marks liberation.

Which Tirthankara, the 23rd, is shown beneath a canopy of serpent hoods and is widely accepted as a historical figure?

Parshvanatha is the earliest Tirthankara that historians accept as real, and legend says a serpent god shielded him from rains sent to break his meditation.

Which first Tirthankara, also called Adinatha, has a bull as his emblem and is said to have taught people farming?

Rishabhanatha is said to have taught six professions, among them farming, writing and trade, once the wish-granting trees of an easier age began to fail.

Which 19th Tirthankara does the Svetambara tradition hold to have been a woman, a claim the other main sect rejects?

Mallinatha is known in that tradition as Mallivati; the rival view is that a woman must first be reborn as a man before she can reach liberation.

Which annual Jain festival of fasting and study lasts eight days for Svetambaras and ends on a day of forgiveness?

Paryushana means abiding and coming together; the other main sect follows it with a ten-day festival of its own, built around ten virtues.

Which Prakrit phrase do Jains say to friends and relatives at the close of their annual fast to ask forgiveness?

Micchami Dukkadam literally means 'may all the evil that has been done be in vain', and monks also use it in their regular rite of confession.

Which Jain term names the omniscience that a soul is said to gain once every obscuring particle is shed?

Kevala jnana is held to be a natural quality of every soul, merely masked for now, and the 24 great teachers are those who uncovered it.

Right faith and right knowledge are two of the Three Jewels of Jainism; the third is right what?

Conduct completes the trio that Jains call the path to liberation; the better-known Buddhist list of 'rights' runs to eight.

Which of the five great Jain vows means non-attachment to possessions and leads some monks to own nothing at all?

Aparigraha binds householders too, as a vow to limit both their possessions and their desires.

The word Jain comes from the Sanskrit jina, a title given to the Tirthankaras; what does jina mean?

Conqueror is the meaning, though the battle is an inner one: a jina has defeated the passions and bodily desires, not an army.

What does the title Tirthankara, given to the 24 great teachers of Jainism, literally mean?

Ford-maker fits because a tirtha is a shallow place where water can be crossed, and each of the 24 teachers is said to open one for others to follow.

Which Indian emperor is said in Jain tradition to have left his throne and fasted to death as a monk?

Chandragupta Maurya is said to have left the empire to his son and lived out his years as an ascetic on a hill now named Chandragiri after him.

In which present-day Indian state was the 24th Tirthankara born, in a village called Kundagrama in the Videha kingdom?

Bihar holds his birthplace, though scholars still dispute exactly where in the state the village of Kundagrama stood.

Which animal is the emblem of the 24th Tirthankara, placed beneath his statues to tell him apart from the others?

A lion sits beneath his image, and Jain texts say that he was himself born as one in an earlier life.

In which American city did a young Jain lawyer represent the faith at the first Parliament of the World's Religions?

Chicago heard a layman because the monk first invited could not come: Jain monks do not travel overseas, so he trained a stand-in for six months.

What does Jainism teach about the origin of the universe?

It has always existed, in Jain teaching: the universe runs itself, with no creator, governor, judge or destroyer.

How do new Jain monks and nuns traditionally remove the hair from their heads when they are initiated?

Plucking it by hand comes late in the rite, after the initiate has given away their wealth and put on monastic clothing.

What do living beings possess more of the higher they rank in Jain teaching, from plants up to humans?

Senses set the scale: plants have only touch, ants are counted as three-sensed and flies as four-sensed, with humans and fish at the top.

Which food is forbidden to Jains alongside meat and alcohol, although no animal is killed to make it?

Honey is ruled out because collecting it is counted as violence against the bees, while dairy foods stay on the menu.

Svetambara monks and nuns, unlike the unclothed monks of the other main sect, wear seamless robes of which colour?

White is in the name: Svetambara is Sanskrit for white-clad, and its ascetics own little beyond their robes, an alms bowl, a long stick and scriptures.

What childhood name, meaning the one who grows, was given to the royal child who became the 24th Tirthankara?

Vardhamana was chosen because the kingdom prospered around his birth; the name he is known by is a later title, earned for staying steadfast amid dangers.

Which queen, mother of the 24th Tirthankara, is said to have seen a series of auspicious dreams before his birth?

Trishala's dreams number 14 in one tradition and 16 in the other, and court scholars read them as signs of a strong, courageous and virtuous child.

Near which Rajasthan town do the Dilwara Temples stand, Jain shrines famed for their intricate marble carving?

Mount Abu is the only hill station in Rajasthan, and its temples went up between the 11th and 16th centuries, the earliest built by a Jain minister.

Which Jharkhand pilgrimage site is held to be where 20 of the 24 Tirthankaras attained liberation?

Shikharji means venerable peak; it crowns the highest summit in the state, and pilgrims go up on foot or carried in a litter.

Neminatha, the Tirthankara who gave up the world on his wedding day, is in Jain tradition a cousin of which Hindu god?

Krishna's cousin is said to have turned away on hearing the cries of animals penned for slaughter for the feast, then become a monk on the hill of Girnar.

Which everyday greeting do Jains exchange, a Sanskrit phrase honouring those who have mastered their inner passions?

Jai Jinendra means victory to the lord of the jinas, and a poem carved on a temple wall in 634 CE already opens with a shorter form of it.

Which prayer, the most significant in Jainism, bows to five kinds of worthy beings without naming any individual?

Namokar Mantra asks for nothing: Jains do not seek favours or material benefits through it, and honour only the good qualities of the worthy.

What name is given to the canonical Jain scriptures, the oldest of them written in the Ardhamagadhi language?

Agamas were first passed on by word of mouth, and the two main sects still do not agree on which of the surviving texts carry authority.

Which Rajasthan village holds a 15th-century Jain temple resting on 1,444 marble pillars, no two of them carved alike?

Ranakpur has one pillar left unfinished, and legend says that whenever it is completed it has broken down again by the next morning.

In which town, known for a temple set in a lotus pond, is the 24th Tirthankara said to have died?

Pawapuri marks the spot of his cremation with the Jal Mandir, or water temple, whose pond fills with lotus flowers every summer.

Which Jain scripture, often illustrated with miniature paintings, contains the life stories of the Tirthankaras?

Kalpa Sutra copies were being illustrated by the mid-15th century, and it was among the first Jain texts to be translated into English.

In Jain cosmology, which realm at the very top of the universe is the final home of liberated souls?

Siddhashila takes its name from the siddhas, the title given to souls once they have discarded the mortal body for good.

In which holy city on the Ganges is the 23rd Tirthankara said to have been born?

Varanasi, better known as a Hindu holy city, is where tradition places his birth, to King Ashvasena and Queen Vamadevi.

Under which kind of tree is the 24th Tirthankara said to have attained omniscience after twelve years of penance?

Sal is the species in the traditional account, which sets the scene on the bank of the Rijuvalika river when he was 43.