Jayandra Soni

Jayandra Soni

Pronounced Jayendra Soni (जयेन्द्र सोनी/જયેન્દ્ર  સોની). Born in Stanger, Natal, South Africa.  Son of Dayaljee Prgjee and Kamar Ben

Education and Academic Activity

1972: BA University of Durban-Westville, Durban. South Africa.

1975: MA (Philosophy) Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. MA Thesis: “The Problem of Alienation in Modern European Thought”.

1978: PhD (Philosophy) Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. PhD Thesis: “The Human Predicament: A Critique of Some Philosophical Perspectives” (unpublished).

1979–1982: After being trained in the Berlitz method to teach a native language as a foreign language, taught English at all levels in the Berlitz programme.

1987: PhD (Religious Studies) McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. PhD Thesis: “Toward an Understanding of Man in Śaiva Siddhānta: A Study in Philosophical Anthropology.” Published as Philosophical Anthro­pology in Śaiva Siddhānta, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989/2018.

From October 1991 till retirement at the end of April 2012: Full-time Lecturer at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Department of Indology and Tibetology, Germany, to teach Indian Languages (Sanskrit, Hindi, and my mother tongue Gujarati) and Indian Philosophy. Date of retirement: End of April 2012.

Academic activity after 2012: Part-time Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy and Department of Theology, University of Innsbruck, Austria, to teach Indian Philosophy and Religions.

Ongoing studies in Indian philosophy and participation in conferences with many of the contributions published, as the publications show.

2012–2022: Elected Secretary General of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS). See here at the end: http://www.sanskritassociation.org/about-us.php

2022: invited in September by Professor Diwakar Acharya of Oxford Univer­sity to be one of six trustees of the reanimated Sanskrit Text Society which since 15 March 2022 is registered in the UK as a charity: Register of Charities with the Registered Charity Number 11982239. The website of the STS is here:

 https://tinyurl.com/2d3wvufc

Email:  jaysoni05ATgmail.com

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Publications

2023: “The Conundrum of Kundakunda’s Status in the Digambara Tradition”, Journal of Indian Philosophy, Published online 02 September 2023. Open Access: DOI: 10.1007/s10781-023-09549-1.

OR: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10781-023-09549-1

2022a: Section editor of Jaina Logic in: Handbook of Logical Thought in India edited in 2 volumes by Sundar Sarukkai and Mihir Kumar Chakraborty, London, etc.: Springer. My own article: “A General Introduction to Logic in Jainism with a List of Logicians and their Texts”, pp. 23–43.

2022b: “Letters to the Jaina Monk Vijayendra Sūri (1881–1957)”. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens (WZKS)/Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies, Bd./Vol. LVIII/ 2019–2021, pp. 77–107.

2022c: “Vidyānandin’s Satyaśāsanaparīkṣā on Buddhist Teachings” in: Mahinda Deegalle (ed.) Dharmayātrā. A Felicitation Volume in Honour of Venerable Tampalawela Dhammaratana. Paris: Nuvis éditions, pp- 373–380.

2021: Together with Luitgard Soni. “Der Kailash/Kailāsa im Kaleidoskop kultureller Betrachtung”. In Thomas Steppan und Monika Fink (Hg.) Heilige Berge — Berge und das Heilige, Regensburg: Verlag Schnell & Steiner, pp. 119–133.

2020a: Four articles in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Jainism (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 2 South Asia), edited by Knut Jacobsen, John A. Cort, Paul Dundas and Kristi L. Wiley. Leiden, etc.: Brill Academic Publication. 1. “Emergence of a Jain Philosophical Identity”, pp. 821–836; 2. Akalaṅka, pp. 883–886; 3. Kundakunda, pp. 898–903; 4. Umāsvāti, pp. 912–917. ISBN-10: 9004297464, ISBN-13: 978-9004297463.

2020b: “The Concept of Manas in Jaina Philosophy”, Journal of Indian Philosophy, Open Access, First Online: 31 January 2020, pp. 1–14: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-020-09421-6

2019a: “Vidyānandin’s Discussion with the Buddhist on Svasaṃvedana, Pratyakṣa and Pramāṇa.” Journal of Indian Philosophy, 47/5, pp. 1003–1017. Open Access: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10781-019-09405-1, https://tinyurl.com/tuambmz

2019b: “On Ṇāṇa and Daṃsaṇa (Jñāna and Darśana) in the Ṣaṭ-khaṇḍāgama”. In Hampa Nagarajaiah and Jayandra Soni (eds), चारुश्री Cāruśrī Essays in Honour of Svasti Śrī Cārukīrti Bhaṭṭāraka Paṭṭācārya, Bengaluru: Supna Book House, 2019, pp. 215–222.

2018a: Jaina Epistemology Including the Jaina Theory of Error. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan (81 pages), ISBN: 978-81-934621-3-3.

2018b: “Basic Jaina Epistemology” in History of Indian Philosophy, Editor-in-Chief Purushottama Bilimoria: London, etc.: Routledge, pp. 381–389 (first published in 2000 in Philosophy East and West, Vol. 50, No. 3. pp. 367–377).

2017a: “Jaina Virtue Ethics: Action and Nonaction” in: The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Ethics, edited by Shyam Ranganathan, Bloomsbury, London, etc., pp. 155–176.

2017b: “Some Aspects of Being Human in Indian Thought”. In Andreas Oberprantacher and Anne Siegetsleitner (eds): Mensch sein — Fundament, Imperativ oder Floskel? Beiträge zum 10. Internationalen Kongress der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Philosophie in Innsbruck. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press, pp. 117–123, 7pp.

2017c: “Vidyānandin’s Discussion with the Buddhist on Svasaṃvedana, Pratyakṣa and Pramāṇa.” Paper presented at SOAS, London, Centre of Jaina Studies Workshop “Jainism and Buddhism” on 18 March 2017. Video of the talk is archived here:

2016: “Yoga in the Tattvārthasūtra”. In Christopher Key Chapple (ed.): Yoga in Jainism. London/New York: Routledge, pp. 29–36.

2015a: “A Sketch of Jaina Epistemo­logy”  Luitgard Soni and Jayandra Soni (eds)i: Sanmati. Essays in Honour of Professor Hampa Nagarajaiah. Bengaluru Sapna Book House. Article:, pp. 377–382.

2015b: “Aspects of Philosophy in the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama”. In Peter Flügel and Olle Qvarnström (eds): Jaina Scriptures and Philosophy. London/NewYork: Routledge, pp. 133–144. The book contains articles presented at the 11th Jaina Studies Workshop on “Jaina Scriptures and Jaina Philosophy” in SOAS on 12 March 2009.

2014a: edited together with M. Pahlke and C. Cüppers: Buddhist and Jaina Studies. Proceedings of the Conference in Lumbini, February 2013. Lumbini: Lumbini Inter­national Research Institute.

2014b: “Some aspects of the tension between rationality and wisdom in Indian Philo­sophies” in Europa Forum Philosophie 63. Nordhausen, Germany: Verlag Trau­gott Bautz, pp. 16–29.

2014 c: with Luitgard Soni: “Right Belief: The Jaina View”. In: He Is not Far From Any of Us: Fest­schrift für Hans-Jürgen Findeis. Ed. by: Annakutty Valiamangalam K. Findeis, et al. Bonn: Bier pp. 631–636.

2013: “Prabhācandra’s Status in and Contribution to the History of Jaina Philosophical Speculation”, paper presented at the 15th Jaina Studies Workshop, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), London. Published online here: http://www.soas.ac.uk/research/publications/journals/iijs/file88721.pdf

2012a: Edited: Jaina Studies. Proceedings of the DOT 2010 Panel in Marburg, Germany, ed. by Jayandra Soni. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. My own contribution: Introduction pp. 1–5 and article: “Jaina Epistemology Revisited: On Erroneous Cognition”, pp. 97–112.

2012b: together with L. Soni: “Sanskrit Studies in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. 1950–2010” in Radhavallabh Tripathi (ed.): ॥षष्ट्यब्दसंस्कृतम् ॥ Sixty Years of Sanskrit Studies (1950–2010). Vol. 2: Countries other than India. Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and DK Printworld.

2012c: Review of Himal Trikha: Perspektivismus und Kritik. Das pluralistische Erkenntnis­modell der Jainas angesichts der Polemik gegen das Vaiśeṣika in Vidyānandins Satyaśāsanaparīkṣā. Publications of the De Nobili Research Library edited by Gerhard Oberhammer, Utz Podzeit and Karin Preisendanz, Volume XXXVI. Wien: Sammlung de Nobili ... Universität, 2012, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 132.4, 2012, pp. 698–699.

2011a: “Five in One: A Report on Jaina Events in Karnataka”. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Centre of Jaina Studies, Newsletter, March 2011, Issue 6, pp. 17–19. http://www.soas.ac.uk/jainastudies/newsletter/file66850.pdf, https://tinyurl.com/s98olkx.

2011b: Edited together with John Raymaker: “Focus On Global Ethics”, Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 39.2, June 2011, pp. 193-260. The focus issue contains a "Focus Introduction" by the editors (193-203) and articles by Sumner B. Twiss, Shanta Premawardhana and Ariane Hentsch Cisneros. See: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14679795/2011/39/2, https://tinyurl.com/qnjc8ca

2010: “Patañjali’s Yoga as Therapeia” in Philosophy as Therapeia. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 66. Edited by Jonardon Ganeri and Clare Carlisle. Cambridge: University Press, pp. 219–232.

2009a: “A Section of Vidyānandin’s Critique of Buddhism” in Pāsādikadānaṁ. Fests­chrift für Bhikkhu Pāsādika, ed. Straube, et al. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, pp. 449–458.

2009b: Review of Rakshasa’s Ring by Vishakhadatta, edited and translated by Michael Coulson (Clay Sanskrit Library). Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesell­schaft, 159/2, pp. 495–497.

2009c: Biogramme und Werkbeschreibungen der Gujarati-Literatur in Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, 3., völlig neu bearbeitete Auflage. Hrsg. von Heinz Ludwig Arnold. Stuttgart/Weimar: Verlag J. B. Metzler.

2009d: Review of Sundar Sarukkai: Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 2005. In International Journal of Hindu Studies 13, 2, pp. 235–238.

2009e – together with Ram Adhar Mall: Kleines Lexikon der indischen Philosophie (in der Reihe “Welten der Philosophie” 1), 109 Seiten. Freiburg/München: Verlag Karl Alber.

2008: Review of Balcerwicz, Piotr: Jaina Epistemology in Historical Perspective. Critical Edition and English Translation of [Jaina] Logical-Epistemological Treatises ..., Stuttgart: Steiner, 2001. In Orientalische Literaturzeitung103 (2008) 3, pp. 411–413.

2007a: “Anekāntavāda Revisited—for doṣas” in Indica et Tibetica. Festschrift für Michael Hahn zum 65. Geburtstag, Wien: Arbeitskreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien, Universitaet Wien, pp. 477–490.

2007b: “Hinduismus und die Überwindung von Gewalt” in Hans-Martin Barth/ Christoph Elsas (Hg.) Innerer Friede und die Überwindung von Gewalt. Religiöse Tradi­tionen auf dem Prüfstand, Hamburg: EB Verlag, pp. 215–224.

2007c: “Upayoga, according to Kundakunda and Umāsvāti” in Journal of Indian Philo­sophy, 2007, 35: 299–311.

2007d: Edited together with Dalsukh Malvania: Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume X. Jain Philosophy (Part I).Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications. My own contribution: “Introduction”, pp. 3–34 and “Devasena, Tattvasāra Summary”, pp. 527–532.

2006 – Co-translator: Die Heiligen-Hetäre (Bhagavadajjukam). Eine indische Yoga-Komödie, München: Kirchheim Verlag.

2004a: edited together with Ulrike Roesler: Aspects of the Female in Indian Culture. Proceedings of the Symposium in Marburg, Germany, July 7–8, 2000. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica 43 (vii +187pp.).

2004b: Mahāvīra’s Words by Walther Schubring, translated from the German with much added material by W. Bollée and J. Soni, Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology (L. D. Series 139), XIV +297 pages. German title: Worte Mahāvīras. Kritische Übersetzung aus dem Kanon der Jaina, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1926, 152 pp. See the reviews by Klaus Bruhn: Bulletin D' Études Indiennes, 2004–2005, pp. 539–546 and Kornelius Krümpelmann, Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques, LXI, 4, 2007, pp. 1201–1203.

2003a “Vidyānandin’s Satyaśāsanaparīkṣā and his Examination of the Buddhist Vijñānavāda” in Olle Qvarnström (ed.) Jainism and Early Buddhism: Essays in Honor of Padmanabh S. Jaini, Fremont California: Asian Humanities Press, pp. 677–688. Proceedings of the conference held in the Department of History of Religions, Lund University, Sweden, 4–7 June 1998.

2003b: “Kundakunda and Umāsvāti on Anekāntavāda” in Piotr Balcerowicz (ed.): Caturaranayacakram. Essays in Jaina Philosophy and Religion. Warsaw Indological Studies (ed. P. Balcerowicz and M. Mejor) Volume XX, 2002, pp. 25–35. Printed in Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (Lala Sundarlal Jain Research Series, general editor: Professor Satya Ranjan Banerjee). Proceedings of the international seminar ‘Aspects of Jainism’ at the University of Warsaw, Poland, 8–9 September 2000.

2003c: “On the Origin and Development of Epistemology in Indian Philo­sophy” in Polylog 2003 (polylog/themes/focus/Jayandra Soni: On the Origin and Development…). Also in the internet: http://them.polylog.org/4/fsj-en.htm

2002a: Epistemological Categories in the “Akalaṅkagranthatrayam” in Dragomir Dimitrov et al. (eds): Śikhisamuccayaḥ, Indian and Tibetan Studies, Wien: Arbeitskreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, pp. 185–191.

2002b: Together with Roland Steiner: “Das religiös-philosophische Schrift­tum Indiens” in Neues Handbuch der Literaturwissenschaft, Bd. 24, Wiebels­heim: Aula-Verlag, pp. 25–113.

2001a: edited Vasantagauravam. Essays in Jainism. Felicitating Professor M. D. Vasantha Raj of Mysore on the Occasion of his Seventy-Fifth Birthday. Mumbai: Vakils, Feffer and Simons Ltd. My article in it: “A Note on the Jaina tattva/padārtha”, pp. 135–140.

2001b: Trustworthiness. Universals and Particulars. Two Essays in Jaina Philosophy (75 page booklet). Ed. S. P. Patil, Dhawad: Karnatak University.

2000: “Basic Jaina Epistemology” in Philosophy East and West, Vol. 50, No. 3. pp. 367–377. Republished 2018b.

1999a: “Aspects of Jaina Epistemology with Special Reference to Vidyānandin”. Paper presented at the conference ‘Approaches to Jain Studies’, Toronto March 31–April 2, 1995. Published in N.K. Wagle and Olle Qvarnsröm (eds), Approaches to Jain Studies: Philosophy, Logic, Rituals and Symbols.Toronto: University of Toronto, Centre for South Asian Studies, in the series South Asian Studies Papers, no. 11, pp. 138–168.

1999b: “Mahāvīra” (approx. 1000 words) in “The Blackwell Companions to Philosophy”. A Companion to the Philosophers, ed. Robert L. Arrington, pp. 595–597.

1999c: Review of Ranajit Guha’s Dominance without Hegemony. History and Power in Colonial India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998 in International Journal of Hindu Studies, 3, 2, pp. 211–213.

1998a: Three articles on Jaina Philosophy in Edward Craig (ed.): Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. The titles are: ‘Mahāvīra’ (1000 words); ‘Mani­foldness, Jaina Theory of (Anekāntavāda)’ (3000 words); ‘Jaina Philosophy, Issues in’ (6000 words).

1998b: “Intercultural Relevance of Some Moments in the History of Indian Philo­sophy”, ed. Franz Wimmer, Topoi. An International Review of Philosophy Dord­recht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, vol. 17, no. 1 pp. 49–55.

1998c:“Meditation und Mystik im Jainismus” in Christian Scharfetter and Christian Rätsch (eds): Religion: Mystik:Schamanismus, vol. 9 Europäisches Collegium für Bewusst­seinsstudien, Berlin: VWB (Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung), pp. 15–27.

1998d: “Stufen der klassischen Yoga-Meditation”, Vortrag am 8. Symposium des Europäischen Collegium für Bewußtseinsstudien, publiziert in Yearbook (Jahrbuch) 1997, Berlin: VWB (Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung), 1998, pp. 47–59, ed. H. Leuner and M. Schlichting.

1998e: “Einheit und Vielfalt aus der Sicht der Siebenstufigen Prädikations­logik der Jainas” in Philosophie aus interkultureller Sicht/Philosophy from an Intercultural Perspective, ed. N. Schneider, et al. in der Reihe “Studien zur Interkulturellen Philo­sophie/ Studies in Intercultural Philosophy”, ed. H. Kimmerle and R. A. Mall, no. 9, Amsterdam/ Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, pp. 99–110.

1997a: “Philosophical Significance of the Jaina Theory of Manifoldness” in Philosophie aus interkultureller Sicht/Philosophy from an Intercultural Perspective, ed. N. Scneider, et al. in the series “Studien zur Interkulturellen Philosophie/Studies in Intercultural Philosophy”, ed. H. Kimmerle and R.A. Mall, no. 7, Amsterdam/Atlanta,GA: Rodopi, 277–287.

1997b: “Jaina Dharma as the Law of Beings and Things” in Journal of Dharma, XXII/4, pp. 441–459.

1996a: Aspects of Jaina Philosophy. Three lectures on Jainism published on behalf of the University of Madras, Department of Jainism, by the Research Foundation for Jainology, Madras. Annual Lecture Series 1994–95. Contents: The Karma Theory and Jaina Ethics; Syādvāda is not Samśayavāda; and Vidyānandin on Umāsvāti’s pramāṇa-nayair adhigamaḥ, (Tattvārthasūtra 1, 6), 60 pp.

1996b: The Notion of Āpta in Jaina Philosophy, the 1995 Roop Lal Jain Annual Lecture, Toronto, 25 November 1995.Toronto: University of Toronto, Centre for South Asia Studies, 20 pp.  Also published in: Joseph T. O'Connell (ed.), Jain Doctrine and Practice: Academic Perspectives. Toronto: University of Toronto, Centre for South Asian Studies, 2000, pp. 50ff.

1996c: Review of: Yoshitsugu Sawai: The Faith of Ascetics and Lay Smārtas, A Study of the Śaṅkaran Tradition of Sṛṅgeri. Vienna: Publications of the De Nobili Research Library, 1992, 199 pp., in Zeitschrift für Missions­wissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft (ZMR) Vol. 2, 1996, pp. 170–171.

1995: “Die Karma- und Wiedergeburtstheorie im indischen Denken” in Spirita, Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft , Marburg, Germany, pp. 27–35.

1994a: Translation from the German: Erich Frauwallner’s Posthumous Essays, Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 143pp. Deutscher Titel: Erich Frauwallner: Nachgelassene Werke I: Aufsätze, Beiträge, Skizzen. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1984, 144 pp.

1994b: Review of: Roque Mesquita: Yāmunaācāryas Philosophie der Erkenntnis. Eine Studie zu seiner Saṃvatsiddhi. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1990, 314 pp. Published in Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft (ZMR), Germany, St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, pp.51–56.

1993a: Co-editor (together with L. Soni and G. Boner): Alice Boner Diaries: India 1934–1967, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993.

1993b: Review of: Paul Dundas: The Jains. London: Routledge, 1992, 276 pp., in Anthropos, Sankt Augustin, Germany, Nr. 88, 1993, pp. 579–581.

1991a: “Dravya, Guṇa and Paryāya in Jaina Thought” in Journal of Indian Philosophy, Netherlands: Kluwer, Vol. 19, 1991 pp. 75–88.

1991b: “Das Selbst in der Yoga-Philosophie” in Conceptus (Zeitschrift für Philosophie), Jahrgang XXV, Nr. 65, pp. 39–46.

1990a: “Śaiva Siddhānta With Reference to Śivāgrayogin’s Commentaries on the Śivajñānabodham” in Werner Diem und Abdoldjavad Falaturi (Hrsg.): XXIV. Deutscher Orientalistentag, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1990, pp. 450–458.

1990b: Translation (together with Luitgard Soni): Georgette Boner and Eberhard Fischer (eds.): Alice Boner: Artist and Scholar, Varanasi: Bharat Kala Bhavan, 1990 (Deutscher Titel: Alice Boner und die Kunst Indiens, Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1982, 126 pp.).

1990c: “Madhva’s Divine Mission” in Vaṅmaya, Vol. II, pp. 13–28. Journal published by the Gujarat Sahitya Academy, Gandhinagar.

1989a: Philosophical Anthropology in Śaiva Siddhānta with Special Reference to Śivāgrayogin, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (pp. xviii–242). Republished 2018.

1989b: “Erkenntnistheorie in der indischen Philosophie mit Bezug of Śaṅ­kara’s radikalen Monismus an Hand seiner Theorie der Überlagerung”, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Wissenschaft und Kunst (IWK), Wien, 44.Jg./Nr. 4 1989, pp. 24–30.

1988a: Review of: Kapil N. Tiwari, Suffering: Indian Perspectives. Delhi: Motilal Banarsi­dass, 1986 in Anthropos, Sankt Augustin, Germany, Nr. 83 (4–6) 1988, pp. 648–650.

1988b: “Das Menschenbild im Śaiva Siddhānta” in Conceptus, Zeitschrift für Philosophie, Wien, Jahr–gang XXII, Nr.56,1988, pp. 65–76.

1986: “The Arguments for Mala according to Śivāgrayogin” in Śaiva Siddhānta Perumaṇṛam: Muttu-Vilā Malar (80th Anniversary Volume). Ed. P. Thirugnana­sambandhan. Madras: Śaiva Siddhānta Perumaṇṛam, 1986, pp. 30–36.