The Scientific Foundations of Jainism

In The Scientific Foundations of Jainism Professor Mardia attempts to elucidate the point that Jainism is a science with religion. After a very brief introduction to the Jainism, the author introduces the four Axioms and discusses their theoretical and applied aspects and their plausibility in a modern context. It gives Jaina logic together with present trends in scientific thinking and indicates how Jainism and modern science are related. “Written by a modern thinker and a scientist with an international reputation in research and the dissemination of scientific knowledge. The Scientific Foundation of Jainism is a valuable guide in understanding Jainism. Mardia refers to the Jain claim that one can see the whole truth of Jain science when one attains kevalajnana or infinite knowledge! His efforts to reveal to us the truth of Jain science in an understandable way provide a testimony to the vast amount of knowledge he must have acquired through the dilligent study of the literature on Jainism.

The book includes a bibliography, glossary and an index. Wherever possible, a sharper scientific pictorial representation has been given, and very few original terms are used in the text so that the flow of the arguments is not hampered. Paul Marett in the Foreword says “Prof. Mardia’s book divides naturally into three parts. First he explains the basic ideas of the soul, karma, living beings and non-living matter, and brings these together in the Jain explanation of life and death and the universe. Next he moves from the general to the particular, to the practice of self-conquest and the path of the individual soul towards purification. Thirdly, in two chapters which demand, and reward, close reading, he places Jain logic in its rightful position as a valid and acceptable system, and draws together the most fundamental and up-to-date aspects of modern physics with the scientific theories of the Jain writers.”

Review(s)

It will, I am sure, be of value to Jains living in the modern world who often find it difficult to discern the relevance of the writings of long-dead authors to the world today. It will also be of value to non-Jains, particularly those who approach the study of a little-known religion in a spirit of rational inquiry. – Paul Marett, Jain Journal, Vol.25, July 1990

This is a very important book. The author wears his formidable scholarship both in theoretical physics and in Jain Philosophy lightly: the book is readable and understandable. He has given a vocabulary and a set of concepts which make possible the presentation of much that was shrouded in abstruse terminology and pre-modern science, in the language of today. – The Jain, March 1991

Written by a modern thinker and a scientist with an international reputation in research and the dissemination of scientific knowledge, The Scientific Foundations of Jainism is a valuable guide in understanding Jainism. Mardia refers to the Jain claim that one can see the whole truth of Jain science when one attains kevalajnana or infinite knowledge! – Jain Samaj, April 1992

Instead of explaining Jainism in terms of Brahmanical philosophies and method, here we find a new modern approach to Jainism which is welcome. …The whole theme is divied into ten chapters-Bibliography, glossary and index are added. The book deserves recommendation to the students of philosophy and science. – E.R. Sreekrishna Sarma, The Adyar Library Bulletin, Vol.54, 1990.

About the Author(s)

Professor Mardia was born on 3rd April 1935 in Sirohi (Rajasthan). He received the M.Sc. (Statist.) degree from the University of Bombay in 1957; the M.Sc. (Pure Maths.) degree from the University of Poona in 1959 and the Ph. D. degree from the University of Rajasthan in 1964. He received the Ph. D. degree and the D.Sc. From the University of Newcastle, UK in 1967 and 1973 respectively. He has been the holder of the Chair of Applied Statistics at the University of Leeds since 1973. He is also Director of the Centre of Medical Imaging Research. Prof. Mardia is currently President of the Yorkshire Jain Foundation and Vice Chairman of the Jain Academy. He has written several articles on Jainism in reputed journals and was a founding editor of the Jain. In the Foreword, Paul Marett writes “Professor Mardia is a very distinguished scholar in a very exacting science. He is a mathematician, or more properly a statistician, and his university degrees include three doctorates. He is also a devoted and practising Jain. Thus he is particularly well-qualified to approach the task of rendering the basic principles, philosophy and ethics of Jainism in the terms of modern science.”