This course looks at how Jains, over a period of about 2,000 years, have developed their own mantras in conversation with both Hindus and Buddhists. We will examine the different versions and meanings of the most important Jain mantra, the pañcanamaskāra, and look at how mantras like OṂ HRĪṂ and ARHUṂ have been related to the soul, karmic destruction, and the path to liberation. 

Learning Objectives

• Understand the histories of some important Jain mantras, especially the pañcanamaskāra/ṇamokār/navkār mantra

• See how Jain mantras have been related to karma theory and the path to liberation

• Compare Buddhist, Jain and Hindu interpretations of the mantras OṂ, HRĪṂ, and ARHAṂ/AHAṂ

• Examine some ways in which mantras have been used in Jain rituals and material culture 

Course Details

Learning Area

Jain Philosophy, History & Anthropology

Instructor

Ellen Gough, PhD

Ellen Gough, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University. She received a PhD in Asian Religions from Yale University in 2015.

Most of her research takes an ethno-historical approach that combines the study of Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Prakrit texts, the study of material culture, and fieldwork. Her book, Making a Mantra: Tantric Ritual and Renunciation on the Jain Path to Liberation (University of Chicago Press, 2021), examines the life of a single Jain mantra, from its origin at the outset of the first millennium, to its use in medieval mendicant initiations and meditative exercises, to its use in healing rites today. She is now working on projects related to Digambara festivals and Jain astrology.