What about Jainism in India at a glance.

People who follow Jainism, an ancient Hindu religion, are called Jains. They mainly live in India. It is a spiritual religion. As you have asked many questions in one go. Point wise reply to your queries is here as under:
1. Teachings of Jainism: there are 4 teaching of Jainism. These includes : Ahinsa or non violence, satay or truthfulness, brahmcharya and asteya or non stealing. According to these teaching anybody should not cause harm to any living beings, speak truth only, not to steal anything and not to involve in sensual desires.
There are Triratna of Jainism or three principles of Jainism. These are: Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.
2. In India, mostly Jains community lives in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. However, they are scattered across India.
3. In India only 4,451,753 Jains population is there (Census 2011).
4. There are many pilgrim place or worship places present throughout India. Most famous temples are Dilwara temple located in Mount Abu, Rajastha; Gometeshwar Temple, Vindhyagiri hill, Karnataka, Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, New Delhi; Ranakpur Jain Temple, Ranakpur, Rajasthan; Ahimsa Sthal, New Delhi; Palitana Temples, Bhavnagar, Gujarat; Sonagiri Temple, Datia, Madhya Pradesh; Shikharji Jain Temple, Parasnath Hill, Jharkhand; Kulpakji Temple, Telangana; Hanumantal Bad a Jain Mandir, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh; Parshavnath Temple, sandstonet, Madhya Pradesh; Dharmanath Temple, kochi, Kerala; Saamvira, kambada Basadi, Moodabidri, Karnataka, Naya Jain Mandir, New Delhi; Ellora Caves, Ellora, Maharashtra; Parshavnath Temple, Varanasi, UP; Shatrunjaya, Gujarat etc.
5. Oldest Jain Temple is Shri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, Chandni Chawk established in 1956.
6. 'Agam' scriptures are considered as sacred/ holy book of Jains.These were compiled by Indrabhuti Gautam Swami, chief disciple of Lord Mahavira.It comprises of 12 Angas(parts).

Thank you for your kind response and it gives very essential details on Jainas. Thanks a lot

Jainism is an Indian religion that teaches the path of spiritual sterility and enlightenment through nonviolence to all living things from plants, animals, bacteria and all that have souls. It is one of the three, most ancient Indian religious traditions still in existence and practiced in the interior of south Asia. The name Jainism is derived from the Sanskrit word "Ji" meaning "to conquer." The ones who were able to conquer are called Jina. The Jain monks and nuns need to overcome the passion and bodily feeling to attain enlightenment, all-knowing power and purity of soul. Religious scholars say that Jainism originated in the 5th–7th century BC in the Ganges basin of eastern India. It asks their followers to abstain from domestic and social action, desert from rituals and gain spiritual enlightenment from their own efforts and seek freedom from rebirth(liberation of soul).

Jains do not have a known founder but as per evidence, Parshvanatha, a strict teacher who has lived in the 7th century BC and founded the community based on the dispensation of wordly needs and concerns. Jain tradition regards him as the 23rd Tirthankara who has led the way of salvation from rebirth. The great hero Mahavir (Vardhamana) dated to 527-599 BC is the 24th and last Tirthankara of that age and is believed to have been the last teacher of "right" knowledge, faith, and practice.

1. What are the teachings of Jainism?
Jain follows that though different living creatures are bound in different ways by action, we must treat all living beings with kindness and respect and avoid harming them. it means to live a life of harmlessness and abdication. It also teaches that in order to reach moksha, we need to get rid of not only bad karma(sin) but also good karma (holy).

2. In India, in which states we can see Jains living large scale?
As per the 2011 census, the Jain community makes 0.36% of the population in India i.e. nearly 4.5 million people. The list of state with the Jain population(as per 2011 census and Wikipedia) is given below :
1. Maharashtra with 1,400,349 people
2. Rajasthan with 622,023 people
3. Gujarat with 579,654 people
4. Madhya Pradesh with 567,028 people
5. Karnataka with 440,280 people
6. Uttar Pradesh with 213,267 people
7. Delhi with 166,231 people
- The Digambara sect was present in the state of Karnataka for almost 2,000 years and in neighboring Tamil Nadu state
- The Shvetambaras in the north were there in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

3. Approximately how many Jains in our country India? ( in crores/ lakhs)?
The Jain community has grown quickly, it numbered 14,000 monks and 36,000 nuns at the time of Mahavira's death. There are somewhere between 5 and 10 million Jains in the world and over 100,000 Jains living in the United States today.
-Jains from western India settled in eastern African countries most notably Kenya and Uganda.

4. What is the main pilgrim center of Jains in India? and How old it is?
- Parasnath Hill and Rajgir in Bihar state.
- Shatrunjaya and Girnar hills on the Kathiawar Peninsula
- Shravanabelagola(White Lake of the Ascetics) in Karnataka state
- Mounts Abu and Kesariaji in Rajasthan state
- Antariksha Parshvanatha in Akola district of Maharashtra.
- The jain stupa or funerary monument at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

5. What is the base Holy Grandha of Jains?
The original teachings of the Tirthankaras, the Purvas, contained in 14 ancient are said to be and many Digambaras believe all existing Jain texts are corrupt or adulterated.
The sacred literature that was passed orally was first arranged in a council at Patna about the end of the 4th century BC and again in two and third councils at Mathura and Valabhi as early 3rd century CE. The fourth and last council, at Valabhi in the mid-5th century, is considered the source of the existing Shvetambara canon, but many insist that the present version comes from the Mathura council( from the 2nd council held in the 3rd century CE).
The Austrian scholar Johann Georg Bühler has fixed the number of texts in this canon at 45, divided into six groups:
- 12 Angas but one (the Drishtivada) has been lost. It contains several dialogues, mainly between Mahavira and his disciple Indrabhuti Gautama, assumed to be recorded by his disciple Sudharman, who passed the teachings to his own disciples.
- 12 Upangas (subsidiary texts),
- 4 Mula-sutras (basic texts),
- 6 Cheda-sutras (concerned with discipline),
- 2 Chulika-sutras (appendix texts),
- 10 Prakirnakas (mixed, assorted texts).

Vardhamana Mahavira (599-527 B.C.) the originator of Jainism was the twenty-fourth and last of the Jain Tirthankars. He was born in Bihar (that time Vaishali). At the age of 42 only he reached the stage of enlightenment (Nirvana) and started preaching Jainism. The Jain people were originally traders and merchants. Today they are in maximum numbers in the state of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

As per the 2011 census the population of Jains was about only 45 lakhs. Most of them are living in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Though many people have not joined or become Jains but they follow the Jain doctrine in their lives. Jains are vegetarian and are staunch supporters of nonviolence. They do not intentionally or unintentionally kill the animal life. They are so particular that the Jain saint or monks will keep a small mask on their mouth to avoid accidental inhaling of micro organism in the air. Jains believe that all our actions and tasks affect the soul which is also a living body and interacts with all sort of non-living matters. The Jain community has two main types of followers one is Digambara and other is Svetambara. The Digamara do to wear clothes but Swetambara will have a while clothing on their body.

Jains generally do not worship the idols as we do but keep the image or picture of their revered Tirthankars and remember them by bathing the images and offering flowers and food items. Jain temples are well known for their extra ordinary sculpture and cleanliness. People of all religion go to see the beauty of these temples. Jains have no neglecting attitude for others religion. They very well observe the rituals of other religions of India. It may look surprising but it is true spirit of their own religion that they respect others also. In general Jains will celebrate and observe the events like conception, birth, renunciation, enlightenment and final release after death as encountered in the life of Mahavira.

In our country there are some major Jain pilgrimage centres which are Palitana, Ranakpur, Shravanbelagola, Dilwara Temple, Khandagiri Caves and Udayagiri Caves.

Jainism is one of the religions that are very well known in India. Vardhamana Mahavira is the person who started this religion called Jainism

1. This religion mainly advocates, Non-Violence, Satyam Vada that means always telling truth only, not-getting into materialistic desires and not practising any bad habits. It virtually teaches going away from all types of desires and karmas.

2. We will find Jains in many Stated of India. But they are more in three States Maharasthra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

3. There is a good number of Jains across the Globe. They may be around 7 to 8 million Jains in this world as on date.

4. Gometeshwar Temple, Vindhyagiri hill, Karnataka is a very famous pilgrim in Karnataka State of South India. There is a place called Kolanpak near Hyderabad in Telangana State of South India is also very famous and the place of worship in this village is recently renovated and attracting many pilgrims from Jains. Other religion people also visit this place and food is offered in this place. Yearly once big festival will be organised in this place and during that time a good number of pilgrims will visit this holy place. Parasnath Hill in Bihar state,
and Mounts Abu in Rajasthan state is also very famous.

5. Some sacred books of this religion are

5.1 jain Ramayana
5.2 jain Mahabharata
5.3 24tirthankar puran.
5.4 Mahaveer puran.
5.5 Harivanshpurana.

Jainism is the religion preaching us the concept of non - violence and its implementation in our daily activities. Bardhaman Mahavira was the first prophet initiating the path of Satya and Non violence to be followed at all the costs in our daily activities and his preachings are known as Jainism. The following are the highlights of Jainism - religions-
1) Satya and Ahinsa are the hallmarks of this religion. This gives much importance to Ahinsa and he applied this mechanism even for the protection of animals including domestic - animals, insects and tiny creatures even if they are not visible. The Jains prefer to take their meals prior to setting in night in order to avoid any life - loss of insects of creatures as a result of non visibility of the same due to the prevalence of dark - night. Moreover, Satya should be the essence of our life - culture.
2) The population of the people believing the concept of Jainism has not grown appreciably and still in India, the population of this religion constitutes to 3 percent of the entire population. However, there is major concentration of their population in Maharastra, Gujrat, Rajsthan.
3) The Jains are well educated and are engaged in the diversified business such as Food - merchants, Paints - industries, Chemicals etc and the other areas having their inclinations are as Teachers, Professors, Scholars of different languages, eminent Doctors etc. They have their penetration across the entire glove with their engagement in the different professional areas.
4) Parasnath Temple situated in Jharkhand near Giridih are their famous Pilgrims and they throne to this place in celebrating to birth - day to their Bhagvan Mahavira.
The other area is the Kolanpak situated adjacent to Hyderabad in Telangana is a notable place for their pilgrims. Gometeteswar Temple situated in Karnataka is the famous place of their pilgrims.
5) Their sacred books are as follows -
1) Jain Ramayana
2) Jain Mahabharata
3) Mahavir Puran etc.