Jainism

Jainism, philosophy and religion with about 2 million adherents, mainly in India. It was founded in about the 6th century B.C. as a protest against the ritualism of Hinduism. The last of its succession of 24 original saints, called Mahavira or Jina, seems to have been a historical figure. He taught the doctrine of ahimsa, or non-injury to all living animals. Jains do not believe in a creator God, but see the universe as divided into two independent eternal categories: “life” and “non-life”. They maintain that people can reach perfection only through ascetic, charitable, and monastic discipline.