Editing Balarama (section)

===Jainism===

The [[Jain]] [[Puranas]], notably, the ''Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacarita'' of [[Hemachandra]], narrate hagiographical accounts of nine Baladevas or [[Balabhadra]]s who are believed to be [[śalākāpuruṣa]]s (literally torch-bearers, great personalities). Balarama was the ninth one.<ref>{{cite book | title=Iconography of Balarāma | publisher=Abhinav Publications | author=Joshi, Nilakanth Purushottam | year=1979 | location=New Delhi | isbn=81-7017-107-5}}, p. 5</ref> Balarama along with Krishna are considered as cousins of the revered [[Tirthankara]] [[Neminatha]] (Aristanemi) by Jains.<ref>{{cite book|author= Umakant Premanand Shah|title=Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fETebHcHKogC |year =1995|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-316-8|pages=75–76}}, Quote: "Krsna (Vasudeva) and Baladeva or Balarama are regarded as cousin brothers of Neminatha".</ref>

The Jainism tradition lists 63 ''Śalākāpuruṣa'' or notable figures which, amongst others, includes the twenty-four ''Tirthankaras'' and nine sets of triads. One of these triads is Krishna as the ''Vasudeva'', Balarama as the ''Baladeva'', and [[Jarasandha]] as the ''Prati-Vasudeva''. In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a ''Vasudeva'' with an elder brother termed the ''Baladeva''.  Between the triads, ''Baladeva'' upholds the principle of non-violence, a central idea of Jainism. The villain is the ''Prati-vasudeva'', who attempts to destroy the world. To save the world, ''Vasudeva-Krishna'' has to forsake the non-violence principle and kill the ''Prati-Vasudeva''.<ref>{{citation|last=Jaini|first=P. S.|author-link=Padmanabh Jaini|date=1993|title=Jaina Puranas: A Puranic Counter Tradition|publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-1381-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kZFzHCuiFAC&pg=PA207}}</ref> The stories of these triads can be found in the ''[[Harivamsa Purana]]'' (8th{{nbsp}}century CE) of [[Jinasena]] (not be confused with its namesake, the addendum to ''Mahābhārata'') and the ''Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita'' of Hemachandra.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2016|p=26}}<ref name = Jer>See Jerome H. Bauer "Hero of Wonders, Hero in Deeds: [https://books.google.com/books?id=0SJ73GHSCF8C&pg=PA151 "Vasudeva Krishna in Jaina Cosmohistory]" in {{Harvnb|Beck|2005|pp=167–169}}</ref>

[[File:Khajuraho22.jpg|thumb|Balarama with a plough in his left hand, at the [[Khajuraho Group of Monuments|Khajuraho]] Parsvnatha Jain Temple.<ref>{{cite book|author=Devangana Desai|title=Khajuraho|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amPqAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-565391-5|page=73}}</ref>]]
The story of Krishna's life in the ''Puranas'' of Jainism follows the same general outline as those in the Hindu texts, but in details, they are very different: they include Jain ''Tirthankaras'' as characters in the story, and generally are polemically critical of Krishna, unlike the versions found in the ''Mahabharata'', the ''Bhagavata Purana'', and the ''Vishnu Purana''.<ref>{{citation|last=Cort| first=J. E.|date=1993|editor=Wendy Doniger|title=An Overview of the Jaina Puranas, in Purana Perennis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kZFzHCuiFAC&pg=PA191 |pages=220–233 | publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9781438401362}}</ref> For example, Krishna loses battles in the Jain versions, and his ''gopis'' and his clan of Yadavas die in a fire created by an ascetic named Dvaipayana. Similarly, after dying from the hunter Jara's arrow, the Jaina texts state Krishna goes to the [[Naraka (Jainism)|third hell]] in [[Jain cosmology]], while Balarama is said to go to the [[Svarga (Jainism)|sixth heaven]].<ref name="Glasenapp1999p317">{{cite book|author=Helmuth von Glasenapp|title=Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzEzXDk0v6sC&pg=PA317 |year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1376-2|pages=316–318}}</ref>

In other Jain texts, Krishna and Baladeva are stated to be a cousin of the twenty-second ''Tirthankara'', Neminatha. The Jain texts state that Naminatha taught Krishna all the wisdom that he later gave to Arjuna in the ''Bhagavad Gita''. According to [[Jeffery D. Long]], a professor of Religion known for his publications on Jainism, this connection between Krishna and Neminatha has been a historic reason for Jains to accept, read, and cite the ''Bhagavad Gita'' as a spiritually important text, celebrate Krishna-related festivals, and intermingle with Hindus as spiritual cousins.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffery D. Long|title=Jainism: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmRlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |year= 2009|publisher =I. B. Tauris|isbn= 978-1-84511-625-5|page=42}}</ref>

Evidence related to early Jainism, states [[Patrick Olivelle]] and other scholars, suggests Balarama had been a significant farmer deity in Jain tradition in parts of the Indian subcontinent such as near the Mathura region.<ref name=olivelle391/> Jain texts such as the ''[[Kalpa Sūtra|Kalpasutra]]'' describe the same idea of embryo transfer, as in Hindu texts for Balarama, for the 24th Tirthankara [[Mahavira]]; in the latter case, the embryo of a Brahmin woman is moved into the womb of a Kshatriya woman.<ref name="Pal1997p25"/> Balarama, states [[Pratapaditya Pal]], was one of the historic deities revered in Jainism along with Ambika, Lakshmi and others.<ref name="Pal1997p25">{{cite book|author=Pratapaditya Pal|title=Divine Images, Human Visions: The Max Tanenbaum Collection of South Asian and Himalayan Art in the National Gallery of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PMUp4nxAqwwC&pg=PA25 |year=1997 |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |isbn=978-1-896209-05-0| pages=25–26}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=MNP Tiwari|editor=Umakant Premanand Shah|title=Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fETebHcHKogC |year=1995|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-316-8|pages=17–19}}</ref> As with the Hindu farmers, state [[Paul Dundas]] and other scholars, it is likely that Balarama was the patron deity of Jain farmers in the early centuries of the common era, because a large number of Balarama images have been found in early Jain arts.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Dundas|title=The Jains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ |year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-134-50165-X|pages=298 note 17}}</ref><ref>MNP Tiwari and K Giri (1985), Balarama – The Deity of Krsikarman in Jaina Art, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, Volume 60, Issue 1, pages 122-125</ref>