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Jain Tales of Moksha
Series: Murty Classical Library of India
Brief Description
A tenth-century Jain guide to ethics, self-discipline, and the quest for meaning at life’s end. Vaḍḍārādhane (literally, the veneration of ritual death), the first extant prose work in Kannada, is a tenth-century collection of Jain stories about nineteen warrior saints who embrace death in pursuit of...
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Jain Tales of Moksha
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Vaḍḍārādhane is a tenth-century collection of Jain stories about warrior saints who embrace ritual death in pursuit of moksha, or spiritual liberation. Jain Tales of Moksha presents the authoritative Kannada text alongside a modern English translation that invites us to reflect on desire, duty, and the quest for meaning.
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Description
A tenth-century Jain guide to ethics, self-discipline, and the quest for meaning at life’s end.
Vaḍḍārādhane (literally, the veneration of ritual death), the first extant prose work in Kannada, is a tenth-century collection of Jain stories about nineteen warrior saints who embrace death in pursuit of moksha, or spiritual liberation.
Each tale in this book of living and dying follows the renunciate’s transformation from an ordinary person enmeshed in worldly desires to an enlightened being who attains moksha through penance, fasting, meditation, and self-mortification, culminating in ritual death.
Originally recited for spiritual protection to Jain renunciates approaching the end of life, these narratives explore social hierarchy, duty, and discipline while offering enduring insights into human striving and ethical courage.
Attributed to Shivakotyacharya, a Digambara Jain cleric, the collection combines the vernacular stories with verses in Prakrit and Sanskrit. Presented here in a modern English translation alongside the authoritative Kannada text, Jain Tales of Moksha speaks across centuries.
Its medieval themes of moral choice, self-discipline, and the search for ultimate freedom invite contemporary readers to reflect on how we navigate desire, duty, and the quest for meaning in our own lives.
Series: Murty Classical Library of India
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674292512
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 01 September 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Contributors:
- Translated by Vanamala Viswanatha
- Translated by Visiting Professor Vanamala Viswanatha
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 24.0mm
Width: 133.0mm
Height: 203.0mm
Weight: 688g
Pages: 608
About the Author
Vanamala Viswanatha is a literary scholar and translator of The Life of Harishchandra.
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