Jainism is one of the oldest religions. A detailed discussion of Jain history would be
very long. It covers many different periods of history.
I have divided the time-scale
into seven periods so that we can correlate
the events within the Jain history, and can also relate the history of Jainism
with other events in India and outside of India. You will note that several
famous philosophers were contemporary of Lord Mahavira, and that 13-15th
century was the age of reform in India as well as in Europe.
It should be recognized that as we go back in time, it becomes harder and
harder to date events exactly. The dates I have given below, have been taken
from several different sources.
We must distinguish between tradition and history. Tradition is the info-
rmation that we have received through oral or written tradition. History
on the other hand, is an analytical but approximate science. A historian
takes a critical look at the information available to come to a conclusion.
It is common for the historians to disagree.
