Gleanings

Summary

The Gleanings section provides a series of speculative notes and historical snippets designed to illustrate the antiquity and global spread of Jainism. It asserts that the Phoenicians spread the worship of Ṛṣabha (Rishabha), the first Tīrthaṅkara, across Central Asia, Egypt and Greece; the deity allegedly survived in different cultures under names such as Reshef, Apollo and Tesheb. The editors propose that the ancestors of the Egyptians and other Middle Eastern peoples originated in India and carried with them the cult of Ṛṣabha. They claim that cities such as Reshappur and Rebatanao in ancient Mesopotamia derived their names from Ṛṣabha. The section lists archaeological finds of Jain images in Armenia and the Hittite region, contending that these sculptures prove a widespread veneration of the Tīrthaṅkaras. It further suggests that various ancient scripts—including Indus Valley signs, Hebrew, Egyptian, Chinese and Sumerian writing—evolved from the Brahmi script. The authors draw parallels between Indus Valley seals and Mesoamerican artefacts and argue that pre‑Columbian civilisations such as the Pueblo, Aztec, Maya and Inca resembled ancient Indian cultures, implying a cultural diffusion. They also report the discovery of a Jain sūtra translated into Chinese at Tokyo University, which supposedly proves that Jainism once had a strong presence in China. The underlying theme is that Arhat Dharma (the Jain religion) was, at some point, the predominant religion of the world, and that traces of its influence remain in disparate parts of the globe. The section does not cite academic sources for these claims but presents them as “gleanings” from miscellaneous research. It aims to instil pride among Jain readers by suggesting that their tradition was historically influential and to encourage further investigation into cross‑cultural connections.