The volumes of the PROJECT ON THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOSPHY AND CULTURE IN INDIAN CIVILIZATION aim at discovering the main aspects of India’s heritage and present them in an interrelated way. In spite of their unitary look, these volumes recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers and writers who are methodologically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. The Project is marked by what may be called ‘methodological pluralism’. Inspite of its primarily historical character, this project, both in its conceptualization and execution, has been shaped by scholars drawn from different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique and comprehensive character has been undertaken to study critically a major world civilization. The historical, conceptual, theological and the social ethos of Indian culture come alive in the vast spectrum of themes related to the origins and development of Jainism, one of the oldest living religions of the world. Eminent contributors to this volume explore the immensity of the Jaina scriptures, literature and art, to open up a vast store-house of knowledge. The socio-anthropological and metaphysical conceptualism of various philosophical theories and their development in the context of the evolution of human society, are analyzed in depth. The teachings of a galaxy of Teerthankaras culminating with Mahavira, have contributed immensely to the essence of Indian culture - freedom of thought, belief and expression, tolerance and non-violence (Ahimsa), that is the backbone of Jaina philosophy. The work is divided into three sections: part I: HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE; Part II: EPISTEMOLOGY AND MYSTICISM and Part III: CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION. Together these offer to readers, researches and scholars much food for further exploration of the mystique, that is Jainism.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

D.P. CHATTOPADHYAYA, M.A., LL.B., Ph.D. (University of Calcutta and London School of Economics), D. Litt. (Honoris Causa), studied and researched on law, philosophy and history and taught at various universities in India, Asia, Europe and USA from 1954 to 1994. Founder-Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (1981-1990) and President-cum-Chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1984-1991), Chattopadhyaya is currently the Project Director of the multidisciplinary ninety-six volume Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture (PHISPC) and Chairman of the Centre for Studies in Civilizations (CSC). Among his 37 publications, authored 19 and edited and co-edited 18, are Individuals and Societies(1967); Individuals and Worlds (1976); Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx (1988); Anthropology and Historiography of Science (1990); Induction, Probability and Skepticism (1991); Sociology, Ideology and Utopia (1997); Societies, Cultures and Ideologies (2000); Interdisciplinary Studies in Science, Society, Value and Civilizational Dialogue (2002); Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology and Other Essays (2003); Philosophical Consciousness and Scientific Knowledge: Conceptual Linkages and Civilizational Background (2004); Self, Society and Science: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives (2004); Religion, Philosophy and Science (2006); Aesthetic Theories and Forms in Indian Tradition (2008) and Love, Life and Death (2010). He has also held high public offices, namely, Union cabinet minister and state governor. He is a Life Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a Member of the International Institute of Philosophy, Paris. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2009 by the Government of India. GOVIND CHANDRA PANDE (1923-2011) thinker, scholar, historian, writer, regarded internationally as an authority on Buddhism and ancient Indian culture, joined the University of Allahabad, his alma mater, as Lecturer in the Department of History after receiving his D.Phil in 1947. Later he became Professor and Head of the Department of History at three universities?Gorakhpur, Rajasthan and Allahabad. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Allahabad from 1978 to 1984. During 1984-88 he was Visiting Gaekwad Professor at Banaras Hindu University. He was the first National Fellow of Indian Council of Historical Research from 1985-86, and was also President cum Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. As Member of the Governing Board of the Centre for Studies in Civilizations (CSC), he edited several volumes of ancient history culture in the Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture (PHISPC). He was also Chairman of Allahabad Museum Society, Allahabad, and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath. The prestigious Fellowship of the Sahitya Akademi was conferred on him in 2002, in recognition of his contributions to the areas