Muni Ratnacandra's Nine Jain Questions for Christians

Abstract

Ajivikism, a vanished Indian religion, has been admirably studied by A. L. Basham in his 1951 monograph. Since then, a renewed study of the existing evidence has led to an improved understanding of this religion. New evidence, moreover, has shown that this religion remained intellectually active and influential at least until the end of the first millennium CE. This paper will discuss other evidence again, also from the end of the first millennium, which appears to show that Ajivikism shared the�anekantavada�with Jainism, but not only that. Like Jainism, it used the�anekantavada�to solve a problem that did not arise until many centuries after the time of Mahavira. It follows that Jainism and Ajivikism remained closely in close contact with each other for at least half a millennium since their beginning, perhaps longer, and shared some crucial intellectual developments. Show more