Jain Mantras
Course Number: 2003
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.
Jain Philosophy, History and Anthropology
Ellen Gough, PhD
Learning Area
Jain Philosophy, History and 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.
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.