Jainism

Jainism is India's sixth-largest religion and is practiced throughout India. There are 4,451,753 Jains in the 1.21 billion population of India, the majority living in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, however, the influence of Jainism has been far greater on the Indian population than these numbers suggest.

Jainism has its roots from the Indus Valley Civilization, reflecting native spirituality prior to the Indo-Aryan migration into India. Jains trace their spiritual ideas and history through a succession of twenty-four leaders or tirthankaras, with the first being Rishabhanatha, who according to Jain tradition lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third tirthankara Parshvanatha in 900 BCE, and the twenty-fourth tirthankara the Mahāvīra around 500 BCE. They believe that Jainism is an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every cycle of the Jain cosmology. 

Facts about Jainism:

• In Jainism all life has a soul, from bacteria to plants, to animals and to humans. Because they all have souls they all have the ability to reach nirvana. 
• Jains do not worship a god or saint, and instead work to attain nirvana as they believe other liberated souls have attained.
• The belief is that karma is actually matter that attaches to the soul as a result of thoughts, actions, and words, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. 
• In Jainism there is the belief that there are multiple universes. This is Bharat Kshetra, one of three universes that we may be reborn into.