Talk:God in Jainism

Definition of gods and devas
A god is a being similar to 'Godan', which is Lombardic (Germanic language) for Odin. Compare it to 'Gott' in German. It became shorthand over time and adopted a 'd' instead of a 't' due to Celtic influence. A deva in English is 'deity', as in a being similar to 'Deus' (Zeus, or Jupiter, coming from Dyaus Pita). As such, a god and a deity are the same thing. It just means anything similar to Odin or Zeus, which are the head gods of Germanic and Hellenic religion respectfully. The deities or gods were compared to their pantheon leader for naming.

As such, I cannot see a reason to say Jains lack a belief in gods but they believe in devas (deities). This makes no sense. Just use the word Jains typically use: deva. There is no 'God' in Jainism, as that is a Germanic word to start with and there is no Jain Germanic tradition historically for a basis of using the word. If they have a supreme Deva or deity concept, just refer to it as it is.

It feels foolish reading 'there are no Jain gods, only Jain devas' when they are the same thing in German and Greek. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.162.96.154 (talk) 18:33, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Tirthankar or Arihant or Jina are those atma(souls) that have freed themselves from bondage of Karma and preach others the same path. They are revered and also called as "Bhagwan". While "bhagwan" is sometimes loosely translated as God, Bhagwan literally means a revered one. While the Tirthankars are revered, they are not God in the creator, keeper or destroyer sense. An atman(soul) can live in four gatis: Deva(Heaven), Narak(Hell), Manushya(Human) and Tiryancha(Animal). Padmavathi, Manibhadra etc.. are Deva. They are popular with the community because of the belief in their ability to fulfil one's desires. I agree with Mananshah15 below that the translations can lead to inaccuracy and we would be better off addressing them as how they are called rather than attempting to translate. KUNALKUMARJAIN1986 (talk) 09:19, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

How to write tiryancha in Devanagari? 178.120.56.62 (talk) 20:43, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

contradictions
The first paragraph disagreed with the second. There are no gods in Jainism, the original writer was uneducated Thegreyanomaly 00:36, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

-- I completely Disagree with the following Lines -

"Mahavira was God but he was not the only God, there were many other Gods too. However, the quality of godliness is one and the same in all of them. Thus, Jainism can be defined as polytheist, monotheist, nontheist and atheist varyingly, depending on one's definition of God."

There is no concept of GODS in Jainism, so one does not need to address them as being God, Demi-God or whatever. The article is complete farce. Just address them what what they are called. No need of the translation of the terminologies. The author needs to verify the facts here. People please add in your opinions

Mananshah15 (talk) 09:16, 3 April 2012 (UTC)


 * This article in particular and wikipedia in general cannot be based on any POV or personal beliefs. Please do not try indulge on Original research. Exactly how do you intend to portray the words like "Bhagwan", "Deva" etc?--Indian Chronicles (talk) 17:24, 3 April 2012 (UTC)