This development was a particular characteristic of the age which marked
the composition of the Brahmanas. The growth of ritualism led to the
increase of the priestly class, and since the priestly class was the
beneficiary of the performance of these rituals and sacrifices it was in
its interest to develop ritualism still further. It became a vicious
circle. The earlier sacrifices used to occupy one day, now they began to
last for weeks, months and even years. The earlier sacrifices used to
require as the most seven priests, hotri, potri, naishtri, Anidhr,
Prshastri, Advaryu and brhamn; now the sacrifices required seventeen.
1. Hotri with
maitravarunr, achhavak, and gravrutut
2. Udgatri with prstot,
pratihartri, subrhanyi
3. Adhvryu with
pratiprasthapu, naishtri and unaitri
4. Brahman with
brahmanrhachhansin, agneedhr and potri
On its part, the priestly class directed all its energies to the further
development of ceremonial side, which they worked out in endless detail
and to which they attached the most fanciful and mystic significance. The
elaboration of the technical part of the sacrifice and the growth of a
special class of experts who make a monopoly often art became so marked
that intellectualism of this kind began to be confused with morality, and
virtue became a by-word for fineness and fussiness over little things.
This state of things was very disconcerting to the serious-minded section
of society, and many people took recourse to meditation and contemplation
of the truth. They discarded the rituals and the pantheistic worship of
the priests, and developed what is known as the way of knowledge(gyanmarg)
distinguished from the way of ritualism (karmmarg) of the Brahmana.
From out of their philosophical and metaphysical speculation there
developed the six famous schools of Indian philosophy- the Samkhya
school of a Kapila, the Yoga school of Patanjali, the Nyaya
school of Kapila, the Yoga school of Patanjali, the Nyaya
school of Gautama, the Vaisesika school of Kanada, the purva-Mimamsa
of Jaimini, and the Uttara-Mimamsa or Vedanta of Vyasa.
These Upanisadic philosophers concerned themselves with the
problems of the origin of the world, the nature of godhood and the
creative process in general; and in seeking to solve these problems they
expounded in fact a new religion which aimed at the achievement of
deliverance from mundane existence by the absorption of the individual
soul (atma) in the world-soul (Brahma) by virtue of correct
knowledge. The underlying principles of this new religion upon which all
philosophers were agreed were, first, that all reality in the ultimate
issue must be reduced to one, called variously the holy power or the soul;
and secondly, that a man may die repeated deaths in the next world, the
doctrine, that is to say, of transmigration of soul, first mentioned in an
outline form in the Chhandogya Upanisad and then involved in
the form of the gospel of karma or action which determines on a
man�s death the nature of his next birth in the Vrihdaranryak
Upanishad. But these philosophers disagreed on many other points.
Pantheistic ritualism was producing its parallel in the world of thought,
a philosophical pantheism. The excessive devotion of the priest to the
ritual had thus produced a reaction, but the reaction was proving as
confused as the stimulus itself. Neither ritualism nor philosophy really
succeeded in restoring to religion that element of ethical values which it
had possessed in an eminent degree in the early Vedic period but which had
inevitably got eroded from it during its progress from Kuru-Panchala
country to Kosala-Videha and the country to the further east. The
prevailing religion in 6th century B.C., therefore, when Mahavira was
born, was significantly unsatisfying and in a chaotic state.
Economic Conditions:
From the point of view of economic structure, Indian society in 6th
century B.C. was passing through a transition from a cultivating and
handicraft to a cottage industry stage. Early Aryans were a pastoral
people, their chief occupations being cultivation and cattle -rearing. The
land was ploughed, the plough was drawn by oxen. Cattle consisted of kine
and sheep. Weaving in cotton and wool was done but of industries very
little was known. As the Aryans spread towards the east and the south and
occupied the fertile plains of the Ganges and the Yamuna, their material
prosperity considerably increased. The plough gradually assumed a large
and heavy form; there is mention at one place of twenty-four oxen being
harnessed to one plough. Irrigation also improved, and along with it the
quality and variety of grains raised from the ground. At this time the
society got divided into a number of classes and castes; and among the
servile castes we find mention of such as fishermen, shepherds,
fire-rangers, charioteers, workers in jewelry, basket-makers, washer-men,
rope-makers, dyers, chariot-makers, weavers, slaughters, cooks,
professional acrobats, musicians, etc. In the literature collectively
known as the later Samhitas there is frequent mention of merchant and also
users. The knowledge and use of metals had become quite extensive; besides
gold, we find mention of tin, lead and silver, and possibly copper and
iron. But during this period Indian economy remained on the whole a purely
rural economy, with arts and crafts only incidentally developed.
In the 6th century B.C., however, and about this period our information is
both large and accurate, the structure of economy began to get
fundamentally transformed. (1) The gram was still the unit of
administration and the center of all activities; but the grama was
apparently a generic term, meaning almost anything from a group of two or
three houses to an indefinite number. In the Buddhist texts there is also
an occasional mention of cities in northern India, about twenty such
having been recounted, six of which are reckoned as sufficiently important
ones. (2) Further, rural economy was based upon a system of village
communities of land-owners and marked by instances of collectivist
initiative. The peasant proprietors had a nominal head in the bhojak
(or headman) who, as their representative at political headquarters and
municipal head, was paid by certain dues and fines. (3) Above all in the
arts and crafts considerable proficiency and specialization of industry
had been reached. �A list of callings given in the Milindapanho
reveals three separate industries in the manufacture of bows and arrows,
apart from any ornamental work on the same. In the same work, the allusion
to a professional winnower of grain indicates a similar division of labor
to our own threshing-machinists and steam plough-owners who tour in rural
districts.� Important handicrafts were organized into guilds, and at the
head of each guild as a president (prmukh) or elder man (jaithak),
and these leaders were often important ministers in attendance upon and in
favor with the King. There is evidence that regulation of industrial life
was on a corporate basis; not only individual but families were often
referred to in terms of traditional calling. (4) The age was marked by
freedom of initiative and a high degree of mobility in labor. This finds
exemplification in stories like those of enterprising woodworkers who,
failing to carry out the orders for which prepayment had been made, were
summoned to fulfill their contract and, instead of abiding in their lot,
secretly made a mighty ship and emigrated with their families shipping
down the Ganges by night and so out to sea till they reached a fertile
island. (5) Trade and commerce was fast developing. Partnership in
commerce either permanent or on specified occasions only, are frequently
mentioned in Buddhist and Jaina texts. The overland caravans are sometimes
represented as going �east and west� and across deserts that took days and
nights to cross. They may have gone from Benares, the chief commercial and
industrial center in early Buddhist and Jaina age, across the deserts of
Rajputana to the seaport of modern Broach or the seaboard of Sovira and
its capital Roruka. Westward of these ports there was traffic with
Babylon. The nature of exports and imports is not always specified, but
they would seem to include such articles as �silks, muslin, the finer
sorts of cloth, cutlery and armor, brocades, embroideries and rugs,
perfumes and drugs, ivory and ivory work, jewelry and gold.� It appears
that trade was free, in the sense that it was determined solely by supply
and demand and unhampered by any system of statutory fixed prices. The use
of standard currency and of substitutes for money, like instruments of
credit, also appear to have become common. The taking of interest was
considered legitimate and the payment of debts an honorable obligation.
Of this developing capitalist economy the natural need was that there
should be a theory of economic individualism to support it. This found its
echo in spiritual doctrines like Jainism and Buddhism, which placed their
emphasis upon the individual rather than upon a World-Soul. The prevailing
Brahamnic religion with its traditional restrictions, its caste system,
and its expensive sacrifices had begun to collide at an ever-increasing
number of points with the existing economic ethics, and this made the
growth of �heretical� sects inevitable which, originating outside heiratic
circles, would offer a philosophic justification for a concept of
individualism and a development of individual personality.
Political Conditions
The economic changes leading to the growth of capitalism in society caused
corresponding changes in the political constitution of the country. The
power of the tribal chieftain of old increased and he became more or less
a real king, with power to deprive any commoner of his private property.
The nobles obtained the position of landlords or intermediaries between
the cultivators and the king. Slaves and serfs also increased in number.
Within the framework of autocracy, there were still operative certain
democratic elements, e.g. (1) the people�s voice in choosing the king; (2)
the promises made by the king at his coronation; (3) the king�s dependence
on the ministry; (4) the popular assemblies the Sabha and the
Samiti; but these democratic limitations upon the powers of the king were
becoming increasingly obsolete. The territorial concept of the state was
becoming more pronounced.
In the 6th century B.C. northern India seems to have been divided into the
following sixteen states: (1) Anga, covering possibly the Patna and
Monghyr districts, (2) Magadha, covering the Patna and Gaya, (3)
Kasi, covering Benares, Ghazipur and Mirzapur districts, (4) Vajji,
covering Muzaffarpur, Saran and Champaran districts of north Bihar, (5)
Kosala, possibly covering the Gorakhpur district, (7) Vamsa,
covering the modern Allahabad and Banda districts, (8) Cheti,
possibly the present Kanpur and Unnao districts, (9) Panchala,
which may by identified with modern Rohilkhand, (10) Kuru, covering
the Aligarh, Meerut, Delhi and Karnal districts, (11) Matsya,
possibly covering the present Gurgaon district along with portions of
Alwar and Jaipur states, (12) Surasena, possibly covering the
Muttra district and portions of Bharatpore and Jaipur states, (13)
Asuraka, on the Godavari, (14) Avanti, which seems to be just
another name for Malwa, (15) Gandhara, presumably covering the
northwest districts of the Punjab as far as Peshawar and adjoining
districts, and (16) Kamboja, which may possibly be identified with
the modern districts of Kabul and Jalalabad. These sixteen names are given
in several places in the Buddhist text, Anguttara-Nikaya and
partially repeated in the Sanskrit work Mahavastu. The Jaina text
Bhagavati, which also enumerates sixteen names, described the
delimitation of states at a somewhat later period; the geographical
margins of states mentioned there is much wider.
Among these states four seem to have been particularly powerful Kosala
with its capital at Sravasti, Avanti with its capital at Ujjaini, Vamsa
(or Vatsa) with its capital at Kausambi, and Magadha with its capital at
Fajgriha; and the period was marked by perpetual military contests between
them. Ultimately Magadha, under its king Bimbisara (or Srenika), rose to
the position of paramountcy. It is possible that the big states included
certain more or less autonomous clan or tribal areas, which enjoyed a form
of home rule. The Sakyas, for instance, were a tribe of the Kosalas, but
held an autonomous tenure.
Besides kingdoms, republic states also existed. Among the republics the
following names were prominent:
The Sakyas, with their capital at Kapilvastu;
The Bulis, with their capital at Amalkappa;
The Kalamas, with their capital Kesaputta;
The Bhaggas, with their capital at Sumsumara;
The Koliyas, with their capital at Ramagama;
The Mallas, with their capital at Pava;
The Mallas, with their capital at Kusinara;
The Moriyas, with their capital at Pipphalivana;
The Videhas, with their capital at Mithila; and
the Licchavis, with their capital at Vaisali.
These tribal republics seem to have occupied in 6th century B.C. the whole
country east of Kosala between the mountains and the Ganges. Each one of
them included several big towns besides the capital. In the territory of
the Sakyas, which covered the lower slopes of the Himalayas, there is
mention of a number of towns like Catuma, Samagama, Khomadussa, Silavati,
Medalumpa, Negaraka, Ulumpa, Devadaha, and Sakkara. The administrative
business of these tribal republics and the more important judicial work
was carried out in public assembly at which the young and old were alike
present. The meetings were held in motehalls, i.e. roofy structure
supported by pillars without walls, and the procedure adopted in these
meetings seems to have been as in modern parliaments. A single chief was
elected as office-holder; he bore the title of raja, although the
term did not mean king. He was something like the Roman consul. There were
tribal confederacies also, a classical example of which was the Vijjian
confederacy, comprising the Licchavis, the Videhas and other clans.
