The Jainism has divided the rotations of the wheel of time in two on the basic of their outcome. During the utsarpini period the Joys increase gradually and during avasarpini the woe multiply. Sixty-three men who influence the life on this planet are born during both utsarpini and avasarpini. They are called Tirthankars Chakravarties Vasudevas and Prativasudevas. In this saga the life and times of the distinguished sixteen that were born during the present avasarpini times is described vividly.

Jainism is arguably the most non-violent and austere religion in the world. While lay Jains attempt to never harm humans or animals, the strict non-violence followed by the highly revered monks and nuns also proscribes harm to any living being, even a microscopic organism. And while laywomen (and a few laymen) undergo long and difficult fasts, the longest being for one month, renouncers' austerities also include pulling their hair out by the roots two to five times a year, walking bare-foot throughout India most of the year, and, in the case of some monks, not wearing any clothing at all. Jainism: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of this fascinating tradition, explaining many basic Jain values, beliefs and practices in the same way they are taught to Jains themselves, through the medium of sacred narratives. Drawing from Jainism's copious and influential narrative tradition, the author explores the inner-logic of how renouncers' and laypeople's values and practices depend on an intricate Jain worldview.

The book is about lord Jagannatha - the established god of Hindus and His temple at Puri known as Badadeula. The book is for general reading for those interested to know about lord Jagannatha and His temple at Puri and not a historical treatise. Many of the descriptions and anecdotes in it are from the epics, legends and folktales that may or may not have historical relevance. But at the same time, they are interesting facts about lord Jagannatha since ages. The book with the captioned name is divided into four chapters (1) Lord Jagannatha, (2) The Temple - Badadeula, (3) The Festivals of Jagannatha and (4) Mahaprasada. (the food offerings to Jagannatha). The eight annexes deal with (i) Important temples in Puri, (ii) Important mathas (monasteries) in Puri, (iii) Different beshas (costumes/dresses) of Jagannatha, (iv) Important festivals in Badadeula, (v) Fables and facts about Jagannatha,(vi) Invasion on Puri and Badadeula by Afghans and Moguls (vii) Salient facts and figures about Badadeula and Puri and (viii) Places of interest in and around Puri.

Jainism regards life to be eternal. Recognizing that the soul can never die, but merely takes a new body, a careful tradition welcoming death through intentional fasting developed more than two thousand years ago. A legal challenge Rajasthan was put forward in 2013, suggesting that this practice is harmful and coercive and targets women in particular. For a short while SallekhanÀ, which means the “thinning of existence,” was declared illegal. In response to this controversy, three conferences were convened by the International School for Jain Studies to explore the legal, religious, and medical aspects of this practice. Experts discussed the long history of the practice, attested to in epigraphs throughout India; the ways in which fasting to death has become an acceptable practice in the Western world; and contemporary instances of its observance in India. This volume presents an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about the end of life, from biomedical, historical, religious, and legal perspectives.

This book is the first to present current scholarship on gender and in regional and sectarian versions of the Rāmāyaṇa. Contributors explore in what ways the versions relate to other Rāmāyaṇa texts as they deal with the female persona and the cultural values implicit in them. Using a wide variety of approaches, both analytical and descriptive, the authors discover common ground between narrative variants even as their diversity is recognized. It offers an analysis in the shaping of the heterogeneous Rāma tradition through time as it can be viewed from the perspective of narrating women's lives. Through the analysis of the representation and treatment of female characters, narrative inventions, structural design, textual variants, and the idiom of composition and technique in art and sculpture are revealed and it is shown what and in which way these alternative versions are unique. A sophisticated exploration of the Rāmāyaṇa, this book is of great interest to academics in the fields of South Asian Studies, Asian Religion, Asian Gender and Cultural Studies.