Some years before the Buddha lived, another renunciant teacher rose to prominence in ancient India. Known as Mahavira, “the great hero,” he practiced the most difficult austerities. Preaching non-violence, he aimed to transcend his body and escape rebirth. When he finally reached liberation, he became known as the Jina—the victor. His followers, the Jains, worshipped Mahavira as the last in a series of enlightened teachers. Although its numbers are relatively small, Jainism remains a vibrant faith in India up to the present day—making it one of the oldest surviving religions in South Asia. On this episode, Finnian speaks with Ellen Gough, assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University, about her work on Jain mantras and rituals. These are features that most scholarship on Jainism has neglected—or even considered alien to the tradition’s ascetic roots. But Ellen’s research puts Jainism in a new light, showing the importance of mantras, mandalas, healing, and astrology. 

Show Notes

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Ellen Gough’s forthcoming book is Making a Mantra: Tantric Ritual and Renunciation on the Jain Path to Liberation (University of Chicago Press, 2021).

Formulas, texts, and terms discussed in this program include:

Namokar/Navkar/Panchanamaskar mantra, a popular devotional mantra that praises Jain monks, teachers, and saints

The Jaina Method of Curing by Manju Jain

Bhaktamara stotra, a widely used Jain praise-poem

Riddhis, ‘superhuman powers’ achieved by some Jain teachers and ascetics

Tirthankaras ‘ford-makers,’ 24 enlightened figures whose lives provide a template for Jains to pursue liberation

Rishaba, the first tirthankara

Mahavira, the last tirthankara