Porters are carrying a man coming back from the Shatrunjaya jaïn pilgrimage centre ( India)
A jaïn pilgrim is coming back from the temples of Shatrunjaya located on the top of a hill. Jaïnism is a very old religion. Evidences of its existence have been discovered in the ruins of the towns of the Indus valley civilization which flourished 5000-4000 years ago. It is a religion without god(s) but prophets (24 "tirthankara") and spiritual leaders who claim anyone can become a saint provided that the faithful follows a strict way of life and applies in his daily life tolerance and non-violence ("ahimsa"). Eating meat is prohibited as well as drinking alcohol, indulging in lighting a lamp at night : it would kill insects. Not possible to become a soldier, a policeman and even a farmer : these professions implies far too much violence. That's why many jaïns are businessmen, jewellers or are working in the civil services. If they constitute only about 1% of the indian population, they are the richest community of the country and are very influential in the political, economic and religious fields. Since
Size: 3773px × 2502px
Location: Palitana ( Gujarat, India)
Photo credit: © steve ofenhagaue / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ahimsa, carrying, center, centre, chair, culture, devotion, devout, gujarat, hill, hindu, india, indian, jaï, jaïnism, mountain, palitana, pilgrim, pilgrimage, porter, religion, sedan, shatrunjaya, temple, tolerance, tradition, violence
