On the Indian Sect of the Jainas

Georg Bühler, the pioneering German Indologist, offers one of the earliest Western scholarly examinations of Jainism, the ancient Indian religion that predates Christianity and remains largely unknown to most Western readers. Published in an era when European languages were the exclusive domain of serious Indology, this work was deliberately designed to reach educated Indians who might otherwise never access such research. Bühler maps the entire Jaina landscape: the foundational figures and tirthankaras, the profound doctrine of non-violence (ahimsa) that would later influence Gandhi, and the irreconcilable split between the Digambara (sky-clad) and Śvetāmbara (white-robed) sects. He situates Jainism alongside Buddhism as a radical rejection of Brahmanical authority, while illuminating what makes it distinctly its own: an exacting ethical system built around extreme asceticism and the belief that every soul can achieve liberation. This is not merely a historical account but a window into a philosophical tradition that views all life as sacred and liberation as the sole worthy purpose of existence.