(1) Though unfortunately at one time Jainism was misunderstood to be merely an off-shoot of Hinduism, later research has established beyond any controversy that Jainism is an independent religion which existed in India even prior to Hinduism, as can be seen from the references to Jainism even in the Vedas themselves which are by far the most ancient scriptures of the Hindus. The tenets of Jain religion as preached by its sages and saints and practised by its followers are fundamentally different from those of the Hindu religion. Some oriental scholars have come to the conclusion that the Jains are seceders from the orthodox Vedic religion. The Jains maintain that they are the followers of an entirely independent religious faith from very remote period. Any way the Jains cannot be mixed up with the Hindus.
