Jains and violence

[Royce.Wiles at anu.edu.au]

>Lars Martin Fosse wrote:

>While we are on the subject of Jains, does anybody know about Jain
>cosmologies/cosmogonies/sociogonies? I am interested in a) references to
>scholarly books about such themes, and b) references to Jaina scriptures
>treating these themes.

In addition to what my friend Eiichi has suggested I would add that the
best overall scholarly treatment of Jain cosmography is still probably:

        Willibal Kirfel

        Die Kosmographie der Inder : nach Quellen dargestellt.
        Bonn : Kurt Schroeder, 1920.
        [Reprint: Hildesheim : Georg Olms, 1967.]

His references are to older editions, generally unavailable, but maybe in
Hamburg you can see all those editions still. On p. 208-209 he gives a list
of the main scriptural sources (Svetambara and Digambara).

Then there is

        Ravi Kumar and Collette Caillat. 1981.
        The Jain cosmology.
        Basel : R. Kumar, 1981.

with colour reproductions of many illustrations (cosmographical and
otherwise) from Jain technical manuscripts ...

Royce Wiles

Royce Wiles
Asian History Centre, Faculty of Asian Studies
Australian National University
GPO Box 4, Canberra  ACT 0200   AUSTRALIA

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