The struggle for the legal recognition of the Jain community in India as a religious minority from 1992 onwards has generated a renewed interest in Jaina law and an intense debate on the question of Jain identity in the context of the wider question of the interface between religion, society, law and politics in contemporary South Asia. This book analyses contemporary Jain identity and legal status in India.

Chapters in this book, written experts on the subject, address the following issues: How do Jains themselves define their identity and customs privately and collectively in...

Interest in Indian religion and comparative philosophy has increased in recent years, but despite this the study of Jaina philosophy is still in its infancy. This book looks at the role of philosophy in Jaina tradition, and its significance within the general developments in Indian philosophy. Bringing together chapters by philologists, historians and philosophers, the book focuses on karman theory, the theory of conditional predication, epistemology and the debates of Jaina philosophers with representatives of competing traditions, such as Ājīvika, Buddhist and Hindu. It analyses the...