Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society among the Jains

by James Laidlaw

The Jains of India are a flourishing and prosperous community, but their religion is focused on the teaching and example of ascetic renouncers, whose austere regime is actually dedicated to ending worldly life and often culminates in a fast to death. This book, which draws upon a detailed study of Jainism in the city of Jaipur, shows how renunciation and ascetism play a central part in the life of a thriving business community, and how world-renunciation combines for Jain families with the pursuit of worldly happiness.

446 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 1996

Reviews

[Samrudha Surana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent read. The author demonstrates, aptly I believe, the impossibility and the paradoxicalness of being a Jain. The book is about Jains, not Jainism -- and the reader should note that it primarily looks at two sects within the city of Jaipur. I mention this not as a limitation, but so that the reader can better contextualize when reading the book.
The author concludes brilliantly, "Precisely because it can be so easily forumalated as a total system of prescriptions, inexorably derived from a set of metaphysical postulates, and because it is actually formulated that way so readily by practicing Jains, it is inescapably striking that this is not how it works in people's lives.