
Jains in the World
Religious Values and Ideology in India
John E. Cort(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 19. July 2001
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-19-513234-2 (ISBN)
Description
This book presents a detailed fieldwork-based study of the ancient Indian religion of Jainism. Drawing on field research in northern Gujarat and on the study of both ancient Sanskrit and Prakrit and modern vernacular Jain religious literature, John Cort provides a rounded portrait of the religion as it is practised today.
Cort begins by looking at the institutional structures that make up Jain society and by examining the major facets of Jain practice. Separate chapters present descriptions of temple worship and the connected Jain understandings of divinity, interactions between laity and monks and nuns, ascetic and dietary practices, and the many festivals and observances that make up the Jain calendar year. The portrait of the Jains that emerges in this book is significantly different from those found in earlier text-based studies that failed to portray the lived experience of Jainism. Cort's own interpretation of Jainism focuses on a distinction between two realms of value. One is the clearly defined religious ideology that is at the core of mendicant practice and ideal lay practice, and whose goal is liberation. The other, less clearly delineated because it stems from everyday ethics and religious imagination, is the realm of wellbeing. Cort demonstrates that this informal, unarticulated concept is the necessary complement to the formal ideology and is no less authentically Jain.
Shedding new light on Jainism and highlighting the interaction between formal religious ideology and implicitly enunciated values, this highly original study will be of enormous value to both scholars and students in the fields of religious and cultural studies.
Cort begins by looking at the institutional structures that make up Jain society and by examining the major facets of Jain practice. Separate chapters present descriptions of temple worship and the connected Jain understandings of divinity, interactions between laity and monks and nuns, ascetic and dietary practices, and the many festivals and observances that make up the Jain calendar year. The portrait of the Jains that emerges in this book is significantly different from those found in earlier text-based studies that failed to portray the lived experience of Jainism. Cort's own interpretation of Jainism focuses on a distinction between two realms of value. One is the clearly defined religious ideology that is at the core of mendicant practice and ideal lay practice, and whose goal is liberation. The other, less clearly delineated because it stems from everyday ethics and religious imagination, is the realm of wellbeing. Cort demonstrates that this informal, unarticulated concept is the necessary complement to the formal ideology and is no less authentically Jain.
Shedding new light on Jainism and highlighting the interaction between formal religious ideology and implicitly enunciated values, this highly original study will be of enormous value to both scholars and students in the fields of religious and cultural studies.
Reviews / Votes
The scholarship is impressive ... this is a well-researched and interesting volume * Gavin Flood, Times Literary Supplement * As a clear, detailed, rich, and accessible account of the life of a community, Jains in the World is unsurpassed in the field of Jain studies, and stands as a fine example of ethnographic writing in the broader fields of anthropology and the study of religion. * Jeffery D. Long, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
numerous halftones, 2 line illustrations, 3 maps
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
615 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-513234-2 (9780195132342)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
11/2011
Oxford University Press Inc
€55.80
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
03/2001
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€29.99
Available for download
Person
John E. Cort is Associate Professor of Religion at Denison University.
Content
Note on Language, Transliteration, and Names
Hymn to Pancasar Parsvanath
Introduction: On the Occasion of the Blessed Installation of the Lord
1. The Ideology of the Path to Liberation
2. Jains and Jainism in Patan
3. Going to the Temple: How to Worship God
4. Gifting and Grace: Patterns of Lay-Mendicant Interaction
5. Holy Asceticism
6. Remembrance and Celebration: The Jain Religious Year
7. Ideologies and Realms of Value
Hymn to Pancasar Parsvanath
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Hymn to Pancasar Parsvanath
Introduction: On the Occasion of the Blessed Installation of the Lord
1. The Ideology of the Path to Liberation
2. Jains and Jainism in Patan
3. Going to the Temple: How to Worship God
4. Gifting and Grace: Patterns of Lay-Mendicant Interaction
5. Holy Asceticism
6. Remembrance and Celebration: The Jain Religious Year
7. Ideologies and Realms of Value
Hymn to Pancasar Parsvanath
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index