|
Anandghan
Anandghan was a 17th-century Jain monk, mystical poet and hymnist. Though very little is known about his life, his collection of hymns about philosophy, devotion and spirituality in vernacular languages are popular and still sung in Jain temples. Life There is no historical information available about life of Anandghan. The majority of information is based in hagiographies and oral history. He was born in Rajputana (now Rajasthan, India). His dates differs according to sources. Generally 1603 or 1604 is accepted but he could have born before 1624 according to some estimation.Bangha and Fynes 2013: xxvii–xxx His childhood name was Labhanand. He was initiated as Jain monk and named Labhavijay. He might belonged to Tapa Gaccha branch of Murtipujaka Svetambara Jainism but Jain monastic hierarchy does not mention him. He might have lived as ascetic not associated with any organized ascetic branches. He stayed in the area of present-day north Gujarat and Rajasthan in India. Legends ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manoj Shah
Manoj Sakarchand Shah (born 5 February 1955) is an Indian theatre director, actor and producer known for his works in the Gujarati theatre. He has directed over 90 plays, such as one-man plays and biographical plays, in different genres . He is known primarily for his quirky biographical plays which include: ''Hu Chandrakant Bakshi'' based on the writer of the same name, ''Mohan No Masalo'' based on Mahatma Gandhi, ''Apurva Avsar'' based on Jain mystic Shrimad Rajchandra, ''Mareez'' based on poet Mareez, '' Jal Jal Mare Patang'' based on writer-philosopher Manilal Dwivedi, '' Karl Marx in Kalbadevi'' based on German philosopher Karl Marx, and '' Dr. Anandibai Joshi: Like, Comment, Share'' based on Anandi Gopal Joshi, India's first female doctor. He produces plays under his theatre company Ideas Unlimited. His play ''Mohan No Masalo'' was included in the ''Limca Book of Records'' for its performances in three languages (English, Hindi and Gujarati) in a single day. His biographic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrimad Rajchandra
Shrimad Rajchandra (11 November 1867 – 9 April 1901) was a Jain poet, mystic, philosopher, scholar and reformer. Born in Vavaniya, a village near Morbi, he claimed to have recollection of his past lives at the age of seven. He performed ''Avadhāna'', a memory retention and recollection test that gained him popularity, but he later discouraged it in favour of his spiritual pursuits. He wrote much philosophical poetry including ''Atma Siddhi''. He also wrote many letters and commentaries and translated some religious texts. He is best known for his teachings on Jainism and his spiritual guidance to Mahatma Gandhi. Early life Shrimad Rajchandra was born on 11 November 1867 ( Kartika Purnima, Vikram Samvat 1924), in Vavaniya, a port near Morbi (now in Gujarat, India). His mother, Devbai, was Svetambara Sthanakvasi Jain and his father, Ravjibhai Mehta and paternal grandfather, Panchan Mehta, were Vaishnava Hindu. So he was introduced to Jainism and Hinduism from early life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yashovijay
Yashovijaya (, 1624–1688), a seventeenth-century Jain philosopher-monk, was a notable Indian philosopher and logician. He was a thinker, prolific writer and commentator who had a strong and lasting influence on Jainism.Dundas, Paul (2004) p.136 He was a disciple of Muni Nayavijaya in the lineage of Jain monk Hiravijaya (belonging to the Tapa Gaccha tradition of Svetambara Jains) who influenced the Mughal Emperor Akbar to give up eating meat. He is also known as Yashovijayji with honorifics like Mahopadhyaya or Upadhyaya or Gani. Early life Yashovijaya was born in a village called Kanoda in the Mehsana district in Gujarat in 1624 CE. Some sources place his year of birth as 1608 CE. His childhood name was Jasha. He belonged to the endogamous group of Oswal Jains. He lost his father when he was very young and consequently he was brought up by his mother. The inclination towards religious life was inculcated by his mother, who often used to take him to Jain upashrayas. Young Ya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being Rishabhadeva, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third ''tirthankara'' Parshvanatha, whom historians date to the 9th century BCE, and the twenty-fourth ''tirthankara'' Mahāvīra, Mahavira, around 600 BCE. Jainism is considered to be an eternal ''dharma'' with the ''tirthankaras'' guiding every time cycle of the Jain cosmology, cosmology. The three main pillars of Jainism are ''Ahimsa in Jainism, ahiṃsā'' (non-violence), ''anekāntavāda'' (non-absolutism), and ''aparigraha'' (asceticism). Jain monks, after positioning themselves in the sublime state of soul consciousness, take five main vows: ''ahiṃsā'' (non-violence), ''satya'' (truth), ''Achourya, asteya'' (not stealing), ''b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Braj Language
The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominant literary languages of North-Central India before the switch to Hindustani in the 19th century. Braj is spoken by people in the vaguely defined region of Braj (Braj Bhoomi) in northern India, which was a political state in the era of the ''Mahabharata'' wars. According to ancient Hindu texts such as the Bhagavata Purana, the Kingdom of Surasena is described as spreading through Braj (also known as Brij, Vrija or Vraja), where the incarnation of Vishnu, Krishna was born and spent his childhood days, according to tradition. This region lies in the Agra-Mathura-Hathras-Firozabad-Aligarh area & Etawah-Mainpuri-Auraiya area, and stretches as far as the environs of Delhi. In modern India, this area lies mostly in central western Uttar Prades ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jain Philosophy
Jain philosophy refers to the ancient Indian philosophy, Indian philosophical system found in Jainism. One of the main features of Jain philosophy is its Mind–body dualism, dualistic metaphysics, which holds that there are two distinct categories of existence, the living, conscious or sentient being (''jiva'') and the non-living or Matter, material (''ajiva''). Jain texts discuss numerous philosophical topics such as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, cosmology and soteriology. Jain thought is primarily concerned with understanding the nature of living beings, how these beings are bound by karma (which are seen as fine material particles) and how living beings may be liberated (''moksha'') from the cycle of reincarnation. Also notable is the Jain belief in a beginning-less and Cyclic model, cyclical universe and a rejection of a Creator deity. From the Jain point of view, Jain philosophy is eternal and has been taught numerous times in the remote past by the great enlightened ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti-colonial nationalist politics in the twentieth-century in ways that neither indigenous nor westernized Indian nationalists could." and political ethicist Quote: "Gandhi staked his reputation as an original political thinker on this specific issue. Hitherto, violence had been used in the name of political rights, such as in street riots, regicide, or armed revolutions. Gandhi believes there is a better way of securing political rights, that of nonviolence, and that this new way marks an advance in political ethics." who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific ''Mahātmā'' (Sanskrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rakesh Jhaveri
Rakesh Jhaveri, also known as Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai and Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, (born 26 September 1966) is a spiritual leader, mystic, scholar of Jainism, author and orator from India. Spiritually inclined from a young age, he is a follower of Shrimad Rajchandra, a Jain spiritual teacher. He completed doctoral studies on Shrimad's work ''Atmasiddhi''. He founded Shrimad Rajchandra Mission, Dharampur which supports spiritual and social activities. Early life Rakesh Jhaveri was born in Mumbai, India on 26 September 1966 to Dilip and Rekha Jhaveri, who followed the Shwetambara Murtipujaka tradition of Jainism. In 1968, Sahaj Anandji, a monk from Rajasthan who had established Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram at Hampi, was at Palitana. Rakesh's parents were influenced by Sahaj Anandji who died in 1970 and was succeeded by Mataji. In 1972, Rakesh began his academic studies at Activity High School in Mumbai. From an early age, he was spiritually inclined. From the age of four h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digambara
''Digambara'' (; "sky-clad") is one of the two major schools of Jainism, the other being ''Śvētāmbara'' (white-clad). The Sanskrit word ''Digambara'' means "sky-clad", referring to their traditional monastic practice of neither possessing nor wearing any clothes. Digambara and Śvētāmbara traditions have had historical differences ranging from their dress code, their temples and iconography, attitude towards female monastics, their legends, and the texts they consider as important. Digambara monks cherish the virtue of non-attachment and non-possession of any material goods. Monks carry a community-owned ''picchi'', which is a broom made of fallen peacock feathers for removing and thus saving the life of insects in their path or before they sit. The Digambara literature can be traced only to the first millennium, with its oldest surviving sacred text being the mid-second century ''Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama'' "Scripture in Six Parts" of Dharasena (the Moodabidri manuscripts) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banarasidas
Banarasidas (15861643) was a Shrimal Jain businessman and poet of Mughal India. He is known for his poetic autobiography - ''Ardhakathānaka'', (The Half Story), composed in Braj Bhasa, an early dialect of Hindi linked with the region around Mathura. It is the first autobiography written in an Indian language. At the time, he was living in Agra and was 55 years old - the "half" story refers to the Jain tradition, where a "full" lifespan is 110 years. Life Banarasidas was born in a Shrimal Jain family in 1587. His father Kharagsen was a jeweller in Jaunpur (now in Uttar Pradesh). He received basic education in letters and numbers from a local ''Brahmin'' in Jaunpur for one year and then from another ''Brahmin'' named Pandit Devdatt at the age of 14. He further completed his higher studies in astrology and ''Khandasphuta'', a work on mathemetics. He studied lexicographical texts like ''Namamala'' ( synonyms) and ''Anekarthakosha'' (words with multiple meanings). He also studi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surdas
Surdas (IAST: Sūr, Devanagari: सूर) was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna, the supreme lord. He was a Vaishnava devotee of Lord Krishna, and he was also a revered poet and singer. His compositions glorified and captured his devotion towards lord Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, while some were also written in other dialects of medieval Hindi, like Awadhi. There are many theories about Surdas, but most popularly, he is said to have been blind from birth. During his time, lived another saint by the name of Vallabhacharya. Vallabhacharya was the founder of the Pushti Marg Sampraday, and his successor, Vithalnath, had selected eight poets who would help him to further spread the glory of lord Krishna, by composing works of music. These eight poets were known as the "Astachap", and Surdas is believed to be the foremost among them due to his outstanding devotion and po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kabir
Kabir Das (1398–1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Garib Das, and Kabir Sagar. Born in the city of Varanasi in what is now Uttar Pradesh, he is known for being critical of both organized religion and religions. He questioned what he regarded to be the meaningless and unethical practices of all religions, primarily what he considered to be the wrong practices in the Hindu and Muslim religions. During his lifetime, he was threatened by both Hindus and Muslims for his views. When he died, several Hindus and the Muslims he had inspired claimed him as theirs. Kabir suggested that "Truth" is with the person who is on the path of righteousness, considered everything, living and non living, as divine, and who is passively detached from the affairs of the world. To know the Truth, suggested Kabir, drop the " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
