National Seminar Held to Revive Jainism

India (CHAKRA) – A 36-year old book which seeks to unite all sects of Jainism has been brought to light after a group of Jain scholars organized a national seminar to revive the book.  The importance of the message of the text is what has led them to hold a separate seminar to bring awareness.

The seminar was held for two days on a Thursday and Friday, and consisted of 15 academic presentations which highlighted the various facets of Saman-Suttam which is a book compiled from information from the Agamas.  The Agamas are religious scriptures of Jainism.  Three hundred Jain Acharyas and scholars from Digambar and Shvetambar sects of Jainism attended and took part in these presentations. Vinoba Bhave a freedom fighter and human rights advocate commissioned the book and it was completed in 1974.

Dr. Geeta Mehta, a Jainology professor at KJ Somaiya Centre for Studies in Jainism said that Bhave’s goal was to create a single text that incorporated all sects of Jainism into one to highlight the essence of the religion as a whole.  The campus that Dr. Mehta works at is where the seminar was held.

The book is written in the form of 756 verses and has been translated in English, Hindu and Gujarati. However, this book did not unite various sections successfully as initially intended. Dayanand Bhargav, a professor of Vedic religion stated that “Each sect preferred to refer to its own texts rather than one which belongs to all,”.