https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=JinasenaJinasena - Revision history2026-07-31T12:12:36ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Jinasena&diff=405605&oldid=prevAjay Kumar at 16:07, 12 August 20232023-08-12T16:07:17Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|8th/9th-century CE Indian Jain monk}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2016}}<br />
{{Infobox religious biography<br />
| honorific-prefix = [[Acharya]] Shri<br />
| native_name = जिनसेन<br />
| image = Digambar.jpg<br />
| alt = Jinasena<br />
| caption = Image of a ''Digambara Acharya''<br />
| religion = [[Jainism]]<br />
| sect = [[Digambara]]<br />
| initiator = [[Virasena]]<br />
| predecessor = [[Virasena]]<br />
| successor = [[Gunabhadra (Jain monk)|Gunabhadra]]<br />
| disciples = [[Amoghavarsha]]<br />
}}<br />
{{Jainism}}<br />
'''Jinasena''' (c. 9th century CE) was a monk and scholar in the ''[[Digambara]]'' tradition of [[Jainism]].<ref name=britjinasena/> He was patronized by the Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha I.<ref name=britjinasena/> He was the author of [[Ādi purāṇa|''Adipurana'']] and ''[[Mahapurana (Jainism)|Mahapurana]]''.<ref name=britjinasena>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jainism/Early-medieval-developments-500-1100 Early medieval developments (500–1100)], Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref><ref name="CaillatBalbir2008p122">{{cite book|author1=Colette Caillat|author2=Nalini Balbir|title=Jaina Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecKCrO6nLiAC |year=2008|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-3247-3|pages=122–123}}</ref><br />
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Jinasena was the disciple of ''[[Virasena|Acharya Virasena]]'' and he completed the commentary ''[[Dhavala]]'' on ''[[Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama]]'', a revered text in the Digambara tradition. The name is shared by an earlier Acharya Jinasena who was the author of ''[[Harivamsa Purana]]''.<ref>{{citation |last1=Jinasena|first1=Acharya|last2=Jain (Sahityacharya)|first2=Dr. Pannalal|date=2008|title=Harivamsapurana|trans-title=Harivamsapurana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_sFcJNt1sUC |publisher=Bhartiya Jnanpith (18, Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110003)|isbn=978-81-263-1548-2|orig-year=783 AD}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2019}}<br />
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==Life==<br />
Acharya Jinasena was a 9th-century CE Jain scholar who belonged to the Panchastupanvaya.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=15}} He was a disciple of Virasena.<ref>Jain Dharma ka_Maulik Itihas_Part 3, Ed. Gajsingh Rathod, 2000, Jain Itishas Samiti, p. 652-656</ref> He claimed that [[Rishabhanatha]] first taught humanity how to extract sugarcane juice and that the fire by itself was not divine.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=15}}{{sfn|Doniger|1993|p=238}} [[Rastrakuta king]] [[Amoghavarsha]] was his disciple.{{sfn|Narasimhacharya|1988|p=2}}<br />
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Jinasena had prohibited the use of meat, honey and other similar materials in [[Jain rituals]] due to their connection with violence.{{sfn|Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh|2008|p=82}} He gave recognition to the ''[[dvija]]s'' (twice-born).{{sfn|Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh|2008|p=82}} He prohibited the use of sacred thread by artisans, dancers and ''[[shudra]]s'' but allowed them to wear ''dhoti''.{{sfn|Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh|2008|p=82}} He preached the importance of ''[[Dāna]]'' (charity) for Jain households.{{sfn|Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh|2008|p=82}}<br />
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Jinasena's lineage started with Chandrasena who initiated Aryanandi.{{sfn|Pannalal Jain|1951|pp=30-31}} Aryanandi initiated [[Virasena]] and Jayasena.{{sfn|Pannalal Jain|1951|pp=30-31}} Virasena initiated six disciples who were Dasharayguru, Jinasena, Vinayasena, Shripal, Padmasena and Devasena.{{sfn|Pannalal Jain|1951|pp=30-31}} Dasharayguru and Jinasena initiated [[Gunabhadra (Jain monk)|Gunabhadra]] who later initiated Lokasena.{{sfn|Pannalal Jain|1951|pp=30-31}} Vinayasena initiated Kumarasena who started the [[Kashtha Sangha]].{{sfn|Pannalal Jain|1951|pp=30-31}}<br />
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== Works ==<br />
He wrote the encyclopedic ''[[Adipurana]]''.{{sfn|Narasimhacharya|1988|p=2}} ''Mahapurana'' includes [[Ādi purāṇa]]{{sfn|Granoff|1993|p=208}} and Uttarapurana, the project was completed by his pupil ''[[Gunabhadra (Jain monk)|Gunabhadra]]''.<ref>Voices of Unbelief: Documents from Atheists and Agnostics,<br />
Dale McGowan, ABC-CLIO, 2012, p. 23</ref><br />
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Mahapurana is the source of the famous quote, used by [[Carl Sagan]] and many others:<ref>Sources of Indian Tradition, Ainslie T. Embree, Columbia University Press, 1958, p. 77</ref><ref>"The Edge of Forever," of "Cosmos," by Carl Sagan, epigraph to chapter 10, 1980, p. 140</ref><br />
<blockquote><br />
Some foolish men declare that creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? No single being had the skill to make the world - for how can an immaterial god create that which is material? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression. If you declare that this raw material arose naturally you fall into another fallacy, For the whole universe might thus have been its own creator, and have arisen quite naturally. If God created the world by an act of his own will, without any raw material, then it is just his will and nothing else — and who will believe this silly nonsense? If he is ever perfect and complete, how could the will to create have arisen in him? If, on the other hand, he is not perfect, he could no more create the universe than a potter could. If he is form-less, action-less and all-embracing, how could he have created the world? Such a soul, devoid of all morality, would have no desire to create anything. If he is perfect, he does not strive for the three aims of man, so what advantage would he gain by creating the universe? If you say that he created to no purpose because it was his nature to do so, then God is pointless. If he created in some kind of sport, it was the sport of a foolish child, leading to trouble. If he created because of the karma of embodied beings [acquired in a previous creation] He is not the Almighty Lord, but subordinate to something else. If out of love for living beings and need of them he made the world, why did he not take creation wholly blissful free from misfortune? If he were transcendent he would not create, for he would be free: Nor if involved in transmigration, for then he would not be almighty. Thus the doctrine that the world was created by God makes no sense at all, And God commits great sin in slaying the children whom he himself created. If you say that he slays only to destroy evil beings, why did he create such beings in the first place? Good men should combat the believer in divine creation, maddened by an evil doctrine. Know that the world is uncreated, as time itself is, without beginning or end, and is based on the principles, life and rest. Uncreated and indestructible, it endures under the compulsion of its own nature.<br />
</blockquote><br />
[from Barbara Sproul, ''Primal Myths'' (San Francisco; Harper Row, 1979), 192].<br />
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He also wrote ''Dharmashastra'', a lawbook for laymen.{{sfn|Doniger|1993|p=238}}<br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Harivamsa Purana]]<br />
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==References==<br />
===Citations===<br />
{{reflist|30em}}<br />
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===Sources===<br />
* {{citation |editor-last=Doniger |editor-first=Wendy |editor-link=Wendy Doniger |title=Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kZFzHCuiFAC |year=1993 |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=0-7914-1381-0 }}<br />
* {{citation |last=Granoff |first=Phyllis |author-link=Phyllis Granoff |title=The Clever Adulteress and Other Stories: A Treasury of Jaina Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Po9tUNX0SYAC |year=1993 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |orig-year=1990 |isbn=81-208-1150-X }}<br />
* {{citation |editor-last=Jain |editor-first=Pannalal |editor-link=Pannalal Jain |title=Mahapurana Adipurana of Bhagavata Jinasenacharya |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.327048 |year=1951 |publisher=[[Bharatiya Jnanapitha]] |ref={{sfnref|Pannalal Jain|1951}} }}<br />
* {{citation |last=Narasimhacharya |first=Ramanujapuram |author-link=Ramanujapuram Narasimhacharya |title=History of Kannada Literature (Readership Lectures) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOTmIt3wumwC |publisher=[[Asian Educational Services]] |year=1988 |isbn=81-206-0303-6 }}<br />
* {{citation |last=Shah |first=Natubhai |title=Jainism: The World of Conquerors |url={{Google books|qLNQKGcDIhsC|plainurl=yes}} |volume=I |date=2004 |orig-year=First published in 1998 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-1938-2 |ref={{sfnref|Natubhai Shah|2004}} }}<br />
* {{citation |last=Singh |first=Ram Bhushan Prasad |title=Jainism in Early Medieval Karnataka |url={{Google books|JtWGm4E4qZIC|plainurl=yes}} |year=2008 |orig-year=1975 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-3323-4 |ref={{sfnref|Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh|2008}} }}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{Commons category-inline}}<br />
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<br />
[[Category:Digambara Acharyas]]<br />
[[Category:Indian religious leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Jain monks]]<br />
[[Category:8th-century Indian Jains]]<br />
[[Category:8th-century Jain monks]]<br />
[[Category:8th-century Indian monks]]<br />
[[Category:9th-century Indian Jains]]<br />
[[Category:9th-century Jain monks]]<br />
[[Category:9th-century Indian monks]]</div>Ajay Kumar