Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c21.2

c21.2

Unlike Buddhism the strength of Jainism lay in the mass of lay followers, which helped in the survival of the Jain religion. Another cause of its survival was its rigid conservatism which kept it free from Tāntrika developments, unlike its sister religion Buddhism. This conservatism of holding fast to their original institutions and doctrines did not allow any change in essentials of religion and hence the religious life of the Jain community even now is substantially the same as it was two thousand years ago. The new rituals and practices of Vaisnavism, saivism and other sects could not create any allurement and so Jainism lost its importance in the south where it had once gained dominance. Jain religion has maintained its old spirit and even now it exercises its hold on an influential community in India.