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austerities, as means of attaining religious Summum Bonum.. (Jainism by

Indologist of modern times, in his celebrated posthumous work, The

Philosophies of India, conceded that there is truth in the Jain idea that their

In the Buddhist scripture Majjhima Nikaya, Buddha himself tells us about his

of conduct. He says, "Thus far, SariPutta, did I go in my penance. I went without

observed that Buddha found his two teachers Alara and Uddaka at Vaisali and

In Dighanikaya.s Samanna Phal Sutta, the four vows of Lord Parshvanath (who

Attakatha of Anguttara Nikaya has reference to Boppa Sakya a resident of

Nigganathas i.e. Jains.

Critical and comparative study has brought to light several words like .Asrava.,

"Samvara. etc., which have been used by Jains in the original sense but which

historians, both right and left are not immune. As noted pertinently by the Aims

thought and practice.. I think this has a vital bearing on the devastatingly

little.. P.i-ii (Early History of the Dekkan Down to the Mahomedan Conquest,

2nd Ed. 1983)

as are left by Megasthenes.s Ta Indika.

out on the occasion of 2500th Anniversary of the Mahaparinirvana of the

Buddha in 1956: 2500 Years of Buddhism (published by the Ministry of

history. I am quoting below an excerpt from The Age of Mauryas by the

Jaina. This interest may be excused as originating in the fact that he was of

the higher caste nobility. Since the teachings of Mahavira were at this period,

Indian ancient history have progressed from her A History of India (Pelican

1966) to Early India :From the Origins to A.D. 1300 , Allen Lane, 2002)

In her A History of India (Vol.I) Thapar has perceptively noted that .much of

the early history of India was reconstructed almost entirely from Sanskrit

I am quoting once again the particular sentence: .This interest may be

by accepting Jainism he eluded the contempt of the higher caste nobility.. I

Vaisya and even more questionable presumption that he did so to elude the

Chandragupta in his Chandragupta Maurya and His Times (1943):

derivation which a commentator was at pains to find for the epithet Maurya as

applied to Chandragupta by the Puranas.. Further after explaining how the

commentator on Purana was wrong in explaining grammatically Maurya from

Mura and how it is impossible to .to derive by any grammar Maurya as a direct

formation from Mura. Dr.Mookerji states : .The derivative from Mura is Maureya.

The term Maureya can be derived only from masculine Mura which is

mentioned as a name of a gotra in a Ganapatha in Panini.s Sutra (IV. I, 151).

he has not stated that Mura, the supposed mother of Chandragupta was a Sudra

Purana cannot be held responsible for the theory of Chandragupta.s low origin..

humble effort to trace the evolution of the Sramanic religious tradition of Jainism

Dr.Mookerji notes that the .Mahavamsa (a Ceylones Buddhist account of about

5th century AD) states that Chandragupta was .born of a family of Kshatriyas

called Moriyas. .(Moriyanam khattiyanam vamse jatam)., and the Buddhist

canonical work Digha Nikaya (II, 167) mentions the Kshatriya clan known as

Moriyas of Pippalivana.

historical fragments as are left by Megasthenes.s Ta Indika. Chandragupta

remarkable monograph Jainism or the Early Faith of Asoka with Illustrations

Scythians with A Notice on Bactrian Coins and Indian Dates by Edward

Thomas F.R.S., read at the Meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, Feb.26, 1877

submitted to the devotional teachings of the sermanas as opposed to the

dotrine of the Brahmans. The passage in Strabo runs as follows: .That

When Bhadrabahu,, the last of the Sruta Kevali Jain Acharyas met

B.Sheshgiri Rao in their Studies in South Indian Jainism (1922):

.That Chandragupta, the Mauryan king, was a Jain and attended on Bhadrabahu

during his last days and died twelve years after, doing penance on Chandragiri

overwhelming.To discredit the Sravana Belgola inscriptions discovered by

Jains enshrined in Rajavalikathe, and it is highly hazardous for the historian to

dissipated before Asoka.s own words, which he or his advisers took such infinite

rocks and big stones, and more elaborately prepared Indian Lats or monoliths..

Thomas also quotes Abul Fazl, the .accomplished minister of Akbar. known to

chronicles. from his Ain-i-Akbari .three very important entries, exhibited in the

and (3)that Brahmanism superseded Buddhism under Raja Sachinara.. which

in the Brahmanical pages of the Rajatarangini.

about historical facts in his classic What Is History? Carr says that .the facts of

write history if there are no written records, or only myths, puranas and traditions

mouth like the Vedic srutis.

paradigmatic shift in historical interpretation notably in Interpreting Early India

wherein a radically fresh framework of historical assumptions based on Itihasa-

Purana as well as Vamsavalis and geneologies is resorted to albeit not as

E.H. CARR: WHAT IS HISTORY?

two.. (What is History? pp. 20,31,62) Perhaps Carr could be quoted for a fitting

Interpreting Early India that .the picture which emerges of the indigenous view

Jain sangha) which motivated the increasing interest in an itihasa-purana. Both

together in the Sramanic term Jainism and Buddhism-particularly with the term

Sramanic culture or its anti-Brahmanic evolution began in pre-Buddhist ancient

India co-eval with the evolution of Vedic Brahmanism as recorded in the Vedas,

Puranas and the geneologies as well as the vamsavalis etc. which record

interpretation of certain key concepts of the Sramanic culture as distinctly anti-

Brahmanic, or anti-Vedic such as ahimsa is evident in Thapar.s criticism of the

Hindu hegemonic encroachment of the essentially Sramanic values of nonviolence

and tolerance. That .ahimsa as an absolute value is characteristic of

certain Sramanic sects . Yet ahimsa as an absolute value is characteristic of

Upanishads but it was the Budddhists and the Jains (emphasis supplied) who

were recognized as distinct after the period of the Upanishads further underlines

the significance of ahimsa to Sramanic thinking.. (p.72, ibid) As is clear there is

no attempt here to trace the conceptual evolution of ahimsa as a characteristic of

the Sramanic-Jain culture in pre-Buddhist India as noted by eminent Indologists

theme which I am concerned to develop in my paper is the Religions in the

Indic Civilisation particularly on the topic of historical and contemporary

studies: the Rise, Decline and Renewals of Shramanic Religious Traditions

Within Indic Civilisation with particular reference to the evolution of Jain

Sramanic culture and its impact on the Indic civilization.

paper as a reconstruction of Sramanic Jain culture from references to it in

Vedic, Puranic as well as non-Brahmanical sources. But before doing that it

Michael Witzel in his paper On Indian Historical Writing presented to the

absent until fairly recent times. except in Rajatarangini (History of Kashmir)

Witzel is sceptical of the the legendary history .composed by Brahmins. (Purana)

historians such as R. Thapar representing . a patchwork of data gleaned from

identifications of particular pre-historic cultures.. Then considering the .idea of

Ancient Indian Historical Tradition maintaining that the superiority of the

"ksatriya tradition" (preserved, according to him, more or less, in the

Mahabharata and Ramayana) above the Vedic evidence and has failed to

recognize that much of the genealogies of the Puranas were extracted from the

Vedas. Consequently, he maintains that the Puranic accounts are proved by

Literature. in his Ancient Indian Historical Tradition:

.improved. or tampered with .the idea of geneology is important..

Witzel concedes .that the historical material in the Rigveda does not consist of

themselves. According to him the evidence of the Rigveda is as solid as the

the words of the ancient poets. As a result, the Rigveda still has the exact same

classics. We can actually regard present-day Rgveda-recitation as a tape

recording of what was first composed and recited some 3000 years ago. In

addition, unlike the constantly reformulated Epics and Puranas, the Vedic texts

contain contemporary materials. They can serve as snapshots of the political

composed. As they are contemporary, and faithfully preserved, these texts are

in the Mahabharata and the Puranas was prone to constant re-creation by the

known that I merely mention the category here. To them, of course, applies the

the heavens".(Italics supplied)

Rigvedic text he makes an about-turn when responding to an allegation than

states quite confidently that .This again, is a rather limited view, instigated by the

Brahmanical interest in the unchangeability (aksara) of Sanskrit. Sanskrit as the

Hindi. Panini, when using chandas, thus refers to the sacred language, not to the

laukika.. One wonders whether he took a pause to consider whether the same

instigation in the .Brahmanical interest in the unchangeability (aksara) of

the Vedas cannot be one in Vedas and other in Puranas and the construction of

It must be pointed out that even in Rajatarangini Witzel has misgivings about

monarch. Nor are the poetic or Buddhist works like Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa

and Gopalarajvamsavali likely to be exceptions on the historical criteria Witzel

is keen to apply to the Itihasa-Purana tradition and thus to disqualify them as

continuous historical tradition was disrupted because of Muslim domination .the

disruptions by Muslim domination.. (Italics supplied, Ibid.)

R.C. Majumdar who did not hesitate to discover in Shankaracharya.s advaitamonotheism

- Islamic influence which was prevalent on the Malabar coast in 8th

and Labbes of South India.. ( p.228, Readings in Political History of India,

arrival of the Mahomedans comes to very little.. R.G. Bhandarkar, P.i-ii (Early

History of the Dekkan Down to the Mahomedan Conquest, 2nd Ed. 1983).

Ain-e-Akbari which narrates how Asoka sent an ambassador to Kashmir to

have received royal patronage.. (The Influence of Islam on Indian Culture, I,

only to the Puranas and Epics, but also to the Vedic literature which constitutes

the .bulk of the post-Rigvedic texts., since .the later Vedic texts contain stanzas

his basic principle that .Clearly, Rigvedic history will have to be

reconstructed principally from the Rigveda itself.., and as noted in a

his The Rigveda A Historical Analysis Aditya Prakashan, 1997 Delhi) : .But,

AmAvasava (group)... (Emphasis supplied)

and historians. Most serious is the acceptance of much later materials as

authoritative sources for the Vedic period.. because Witzel, on the one hand,

Talgeri who concedes that .Witzel.s basic approach to the Rigveda closely

Rigveda.., is constrained to indict Witzel stating that he .violates every single

yet, he manages to get nowhere. The Rigveda, basically, refuses to yield to his

That Witzel.s Rigvedic historiography is fraught with internal contradictions is

Nepalese Gopalarajavamsavali, Kalhana.s Rajatarangini, and Ceylonese

Buddhist chronicles of 4th and 5th century A.D. Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa

Wetzel has mentioned that H.Bechert.s article on the Beginnings of Indian

Historical Writing was not available to him. However I have come across a

rejoinder by Prof. H. Bechert as Response to Venerable Professor

Journal of Buddhist Studies . Commenting on Mahavamsa Prof.Bechert says

.The later classical chronicle of ancient Sri Lanka, viz, the Mahavamsa, is a

down for the edification of its readers, (2) a work of artificial poetry (kavya) in the

who ruled from 161-137 B.C.E (Italics supplied)

of Vedic tradition, Ajivikas, Jains etc. (Italics supplied throughout)

Finally Witzel concludes: .In short, the lack of historical writings and the

of Indian civilization.. It would be difficult to make any logically intelligible

One suspects that his failure to sustain his Rigvedic historiographical model with

minds about it. If Itihasa-Purana have been tampered with by Brahmanical bias

the same charge can be levelled against the Rigvedic sources transmitted in

Sramanic culture right from the inception of the Vedas and even in pre-Vedic

times and through the Itihasa-Purana religious tradition and the geneologies.

This is because of certain uncertainties in the Vedic lore as also in the Puranic

and mythic chronicles: To recall Witzel once again .Rigveda does not consist of

and have it too because then Epic and Puranic sources too can come to my

rescue to prove my Sramanic hypothesis. Whichever way one looks at the Vedic,

Epic and Puranic ancient chronicles, in lieu of the proper history in the Western

sense if the balance of evidence is in favour of the Sramanic evolution as I

What is most significant is that Jainism has succeeded in its history of Three

The designation .Jain. is applied to approximately four million members of India.s

most ancient sramana or non-Vedic religion traditions. It is really difficult, nay,

impossible to fix a particular date for the origin of Jainism. To the Jainas,

Jainism has been revealed again and again in the eternity of time by

innumerable Tirthamkars.

Of the present age, the first Tirthamkars was Rishabha and the last two were

Parsvanatha and Mahavira. Mahavira is the twenty fourth Tirthamkar in the

present half of the Avasarpini . descending or regressive-half of the Jain

cosmic time cycle. According to Jain cosmological tradition ther will be twenty

four Jinas or Tirthamkars in each half-cycle.

These cosmic half-cycles of the Jain universe are two, the Avasarpinidescending

.and the Utsarpini- ascending each with six sub-divisions. Together

these two half .cycles constitute a cosmic time unit know as Kalpa. The

Utsarpini half-cycle of time marks a period of gradual evolution and the

Life in the other three ages is described as being that of a Karmabhumi based

that produces a numbers of Tirthamkars and other great personages.

The Jain universe is without a beginning or an end, being everlasting and

eternal. The Utsarpini and Avasarpini follow directly upon one another,

Karma-bhumis increases with each stage of the Utsarpini, and correspondingly

decreases with each stage of Avasarpini.

The first Tirthamkar of the Avasarpini time cycle was Rishabha. Rishabha is

said to be the harbinger of human civilization. He inaugurated the Karmabhumi

built villages, towns and cities. In short, Rishabha pioneered the framework for

Rishabhadeva or Rishabhanatha is also known as Iksvaku, Swayambhu and

Mahadev. He had two daughters and a hundred sons. After having renounced

worldly possession he took to Sramanic asceticism and did severe penance.

He attained Kaivalya jnana (Supreme enlightenment) and became an Arhat or

Jina at what is a now Prayaga (Allahabad).

Rishabha.s antiquity may be guessed from the historical and archaeological

sources, The yogic, Sramanic and anti-Vedic and Pre-Aryan aspects of the

Jain tradition can be traced to Indus Valley civilization which flourished six to

eight thousand years ago. Nude standing images found in the Indus Valley

ruins bear a striking resemblance to the oldest Jain sculpture. There may be a

link in the bullseals of Indus and the bull .insignia-lancchana congizant .sign,

characteristic of Rishabhanatha.

Prof. Ram Prasad Chanda, who supervised Indus Valley excavations, states in

his article Mohen-jo-Daro (Sindh, Five Thousand years ago) in Modern

Review August, 1932..Not only the seated deities on some of the Indus seals

are in Yoga posture and bear witness to the prevalence of Yoga in the Indus

Valley in that remote age, the standing deities on the seals also show

Kayotsarga (abandonment of the body, a standing or sitting posture of

meditation) of Yoga . The Kayotsarga posture is peculiarly Jain. It is a posture

not of sitting but of standing , In the Adi Purana Book XV III, Kayotsarga

posture is described in connection with the penance of Rishabha or

Vrashabha,.

In his Indus Civilization and Hindu Culture, the eminent scholar,

P.R.Deshmukh says:.The first Jain Tirthamkar belonged to Indus civilization.

The Indus Valley deities were nude. The Jains subtained that culture and

worshipped nude Tirthamkars..

Dr.S.Radhakrishnan affirms that .The Bhagavata Purana endorses the view that

Rishabha was the founder of Jainism. There is evidence to show that so far

Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthamkar. There is no doubt that Jainism prevailed

even before Vardhamana Mahavira, or Parsvanatha. The Yajurveda mentions

the names of three Tirthamkars-Rishabha. Ajitnatha and Aristanemi. ( Indian

Another scholar P.C.Roy Choudhury states in his Jainism in Bihar; .Not much

story of Jainism. But some of the ancient Jain scriptures mention that Jainism

had been preached in Magadha (Bihar) by Lord Rishabha at the end of stone

age and the beginning of the agricultural age. At the remote period Magadha

was separated from the rest of India by Ganga-sagar. The ancient history of

As the Vedas are believed to have been composed in c.1500 B.C., and as the

Rigveda is considered to be the oldest Vedic scripture , one can fairly maintain

that Jainism was prevalent in 1500 B.C. So much so that the Hindu text

Bhagavata Purana included Rishabha as the amsavatara (minor incarnation of

Vishnu).

The yogic posture, kayotsarga-sitting or standing, adopted by Jain Tirthamkar

shows the most fundamental feature of Jain path of liberation and its ancient

evidence to suppose that the philosophical speculations of the Upanishadic

As already explained the Upanishadic impulse to give up all worldly ties and

As M. N. Deshpande, a former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey

of India, states,. .This extract helps in satisfactorily understanding the

distinctive nature and origin of Jain asceticism which was distinct from

Brahmanic asceticism. This path of the sramanas inculcates complete

nivratti (turning away completely from worldly life) and pravrajya (renunciation),

enjoining total anagaratva (the state of homelessness) together with the vow of

non-willing, truthfulness, non-stealing and celibacy. The concept of .Trigupti or

the total abstinence by mind (manas), body (kaya)and speech (vacha), further

fast (sallekhana) is recommended and no other religious order. Among other

distinctive practices of the Jain faith mention may be made of alochana or

confession of sin.s and the daily ceremony of pratikramana or expiation of

sins.(Pp.20-21, The Background and Tradition , Ch-2 in The Jain Art and

asceticism in India has a great antiquity and Jain ascetic practices as

exemplified by Rishabhadeva were strikingly different from the Brahmanical

Jain Acharya Tulsi in his Pre-Vedic Existence of Sramanic Culture find.s

confirmation in the four Puranas of his opinion that the Asuras, were not only

non-Vedic i.e.non-Aryan people, but they were the priests of the Jain religion.

He also considers that the pose of Yogasana, in which several human figures

are drawn on the seals of Indus Valley, was widely known in pre-Aryan India

and was borrowed much later by the Hindu asceties.

As noted by Dr.Natalya Guseva, Russian scholar in her book Jainism

(1971)Translation by Y.S.Redkar, if one juxtaposes the yogic posture on Indus

seals .with the fact that the most ancient philosophical work of the Jains , the

.Book of Wisdom of Arahatas. ascribed to Rishabha himself was also called

.Yogi.(Benjamin Rowland. The Art and Architecture of India, Plate 81a), and

also that this posture is the classical echelon of the posture of Tirthamkar for 25

thought that there is possibly ancient connection between Jainism and the

Indus civilization. It is possible that the teaching of Yoga and this posture

connected with it penetrated in the faiths of later period and Buddha and many

Hindu gods were portrayed in this posture..(P.91-92)

observed that .The Jain movement presents evidence that it is of great interest

Containing very ancient material, more ancient than that of Buddhism and yet

It is interesting to note that the Swastika signs seen in Mohen Jo Daro and

Harappa culture are also common in the symbols of Jainism. Swastika is the

symbolic sign of the seventh Tirthamkar , Suparsva and the middle part forms

the sign of the 18th Tirthamkar Ara. This sign is always drawn in manuscripts,

in miniatures and in the ornaments in Jain temples.

Swastika, basically means and denotes well-being. It forms one of the eight

auspicious emblems found on the Ayagapatas. These eight auspicious signs

are known as ashtamangalas, and Ayagapatas are among the earliest and

most distinctive Jain sculpture.

The universe according to Jainism is uncreated by any divinity and is without a

half-circles, one ascending and the other descending-Utsarpini and Avasarpini

as noted above-and the unit of such cosmic time is known as a Kalpa.

A Kalpa, meaning an era, eon or age, is a unique concept in Jain metaphysics

substances, pudgala, dharma, adharma and akasa, and is known as kala

which are called dravyas. The practical dimensions of time, like the second,

the Kala is .

counting is believed by many scholars arose before the Vedic culture. And the

Jains are the pioneers also in starting the first modern Samvat (era) beginning

with the Nirvana of Mahavira, known as Vir Nirvana Samvat which is the most

ancient one. It is 605 years previous to Shaka, 479 years to Vikrama and 527

years to the Christian era.

The idea of Rishabha, the first Jain Tirthamkar being an epoch-making man is

deeprooted in the Jain religions tradition. It is well corroborated in Hindu

puranas, Vedas and scriptures.

knowledge..

What is even more significant as established from these puranas is that this

country has become well known as Bharata-Varsha after the eldest of the

hundred sons of Rishabha, known as Bharata.

That this country is known as BharataVarsha after Bharata is as much a matter

of pride for Jainism as for the history of India. In the Vedic scriptural tradition

this fact has been accepted unanimously. In Vishnu Purana (2,1,31), Vayu

Purana,(33,52), Linga Purana(1,47,23), Brahmanda Purana(14,5,62), Agni

Purana( 107,11-12), Skanda Purana ,Khanda((37,57) and Markandaya

Purana(50,41) it is clearly stated that this country is known as Bharata Varsha.

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himself on the magnificent Kailas (Ashtapad) mountain.

Kshatriyas and the first ancestor of all Kshatriyas.

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Mahadeo Rishabhdeo was born to Nabhiraja and Marudevi, in the Ikshvaku

dynasty, assumed the ten kinds of Dharma, and after attaining kevalajnana

.The year known as Hima was known after Nabhi and Rishabha was born as the

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became the Jina in the beginning of the yuga..

As clarified authoritatively by the eminent Jain Scholar, Dr. Hiralal Jain in his

Jainism Through the Ages (Translated from Hindi Yugon Yugon men Jaina

Dharma, by Bal Patil, unpublished) the name Bharata is not that of Dushyant-

Shakuntala.s son .

known as Bharatvarsha after this Bharata, on the basis of. Agni,Vayu and

As stated by Dr. Hiralal Jain; .But they have ignored other mentions in the same

Puranas and elsewhere about Rishabha.s son Bharata..For this opinion the

anything else than the Slokas quoted above. But the fact that in the same

puranas it is clearly mentioned elsewhere that the name Bharatvarsha was

given by Rishabha.s son Bharat, and that the word . Desha. or . Varsha. does

not occur with Dushyanta.s son Bharata ,does not appear to have been

the observation; .The first impulse of progress came when the Vedic Aryans

came into contact with native tribes.. (The Hindu View of Life P.18). And this

to Jainism.

In the words of the eminent Prakrit Scholar and former General Editor with Dr.

Hiralal Jain of the Moortidevi Granthmala of Bharatiya Jnanapitha, Dr. A.N.

Upadhye .a great Magadham religion, indigenous in its essential traits , that

advent of the Aryan into Central India.. (quoted in Jainism and Buddhism by

This observation is a clear indication of the pre-historic origins of Jainism. But as

the genesis of the historical Jain tradition as it is practised today can be traced

fairly clearly from the advent of Bhagwan Mahavir, the 24th Tirthamkar, it is not

surprising that he is assumed to be the founder of Jainism which of course is

It would be a mistake to suppose that Jainism originated in sixth centry B.C. with

Mahavira. That the genesis of Jainism can be traced to deepest antiquity, and

literature of Vedas, and particularly Rigveda. The geneology, life and ascetic

practices of Rishabhadeva, the first Jain Tirthamkar, are described in details in

the first six adhyayas of the fifth skandha of Bhagvat Purana, Rishabhadeva is

described as the incarnation of Vishnu for the establishment of the religion of

Vatarashana Munis.. Who were these Vatarashana Munis? As the following

sukta in Rigveda says; .These Munis appeared pisanga (Pingalavarna)

because they were indifferent to bathing , even though they were Maladhari,

pranayama) they used to attain to godhood. The mortal world could only see

As explained by Dr. Hiralal Jain in Jainism Through the Ages (English

Translation of Yugon Yugon men Jain Dharma by Bal Patil unpublished) .

They are Munis and their ways of renunciation, silence and non- attachment

distinguish them from the Rishi tradition. But a new word Vatarashana is

connected with them. Vata means air and rashana means girdle or waistband.

This is not a new term for the Jain tradition, and it occurs in Jina sahasranama

. Thousand names for Jina- Thus:-

.According to this Vatarashana, Digvasa, Nirgrantha and Nirambara, all these

concluded that at the time of the Rigvedic composition such munis were in

Rishi tradition and were eulogised and worshipped by Rishis who were like

Indra,etc gods-

In Atharva Veda 15th chapter there is a description of Vratyas who are said to

be unversed in Vedic tradition and ritual and belonging to Licchavi, Natha and

Malla clans. As they were anti-Vedic they incurred the wrath of Vedic adherents.

The etymological meaning of the word Vratya appears to have been derived

from the laying down of the five vratas (vows) such as ahimsa etc. in

Jainism.Those who do not ceremonially adopt vratas and yet observe them in

religious faith may have been called Vratyas.

This is corroborated by Dr. Guseva, the Russian scholar in her ethnological

monograph Jainism; . Ancient Indian literature contains indications of the deep

antiquity of the sources of Jainism and it also indicates that the Ksatriyas and

ascetics from Vratyas i.e. non-Aryans played noticeable role in establishing nonvedic

teachings.several authors contend that during the time when Vedas

Jain religion were already known. This is confirmed by the fact that monks are

called arahans or arahatas in Rigveda and Atharva Veda. i.e. by the word

which is invariably applied in Jain tradition for the designation of great teachers

The non-Aryan origins of Jain culture are also confirmed by H.T. Colebrooke.

He observes in his Observation on the Sect of Jains that the Greek Authors of

the third Century B.C. divided all philosophers into two groups sramanas and

brahmans so greatly differentiated that they considered them as belonging to

different races. From this Dr.Guseva concludes: .Only one interpretation can be

given to this, and that is, in those times followers of Jainism were, in the main,

representatives of pre-Aryan population of the country. This means that there is

That the concept of ahimsa in the Jain religious and ethical teaching was foreign

to Vedic culture is shown by the eminent indologist Prof. W. Norman Brown in

his Tagore Memorial Lectures, 1964-65 published in the book Man in the

Universe. His observations deserve to be quoted in full;

.Though the Upanishadas contain the first literary references to the idea of

rebirth and to the notion that one.s action (karma) determines the conditions of

nothing about the precept of ahimsa. Yet that precept is later associated with the

Brahmanical literature is conspicuously silent about ahimsa. The early Vedic

texts do not even record the noun ahimsa-.non injury., nor know the ethical

Sanskrit literature is in the Upanishads, but there it occures only once (CU

3.17.4) and in a context that has nothing to do with transmigation. It is merely

virtues are austerity (tapas), almsgiving (dana), rectitude (arjava), ahimsa (noninjury)

and truthfulness(satya vachana) It is evident that these are prized

Virtues. but ahimsa stands here isolated and unexplained. Nor is an

explanation of ahimsa deducible from other parts of Vedic literature. The ethical

concept it embodies was entirely foreign to the thinking of the early Vedic

Aryans, who recognized no kinship between human and animal creation, but

Therefore Prof. Brown concludes; .The double doctrine of ahimsa and

among Hindus, and should not be considered to have arisen in Brahmanical

order. It seems more probable that it originated in a non-Brahmanical

environment , was promoted in historic India by the Jains and the Buddhists,

and was adopted by Brahmanic Hinduism after it began to win its way in North

India where Brahmanic Hinduism was developed.. (P.56)

the concept of ahimsa and the concept of rebirth. A belief in the doctrine of

depending upon one.s karma, it created a humanitarian sentiment of kinship

human history. The great contribution of Jain culture to this evolution in human

as we know, this is for the first time clearly expressed by Jainism..(Indian

The Doctrine of the Jainas states that .The reverence towards life. (as Albert

permeates the discipline of Mahavira.s order in a way no other ethical

Indian metaphysical thought constituted by the concepts of rebirth, karma and

Indologist, Prof. Hermann Jacobi when comparing Jainism with Buddhism and

Brahmanism. Jacobi observed in Jaina Sutras, Part I,(Introduction) that there

him: (i) faith in rebirth of spirit, ii) Karma theory, (iii) salvation from rebirth and (iv)

and hence they could not arise in the Aryan culture consistent with its

sacrificial cult and that is why they are apparently borrowed from non-Aryan

faiths, that is, Jainism and Buddhism.

It must be noted, however, that Buddhism has not been as thoroughgoing as

Jainism in its observance of ahimsa. Buddhism justifies meat-eating so long as

Buddha advised against meat when (1) it is seen (dittha), (2) heard (suta) or (3)

suspected (parisankita) that an animal was killed on purpose for a monk. But

But in Jainism holding the principle of ahimsa paramo dharmah- non violence

is the greatest religion- vegetarianism is strictly observed. The Jains have been

the primary exponents of vegetarianism in India. The Jains have taken

Since Gautam Buddha, founder of Buddhism, belonged to the same region of

Magadha as Mahavira, the 24th Tirthamkar of Jainism and both were

contemporaries it was assumed erroneously that Jainism is an offshoot of

Buddhism. It is now accepted that Jainism is not only older than Buddhism but

pre-Aryan and pre-Vedic times.

Mahavira was an elder contemporary of Buddha. As a matter of a fact,

Buddhist literature and history establish that after he had renounced the world

Buddha was for some time an ascetic following the Jain cult of Parsvanatha,

the 23rd Tirthamkar whose death took place 250 Years before Mahavira.

In the Buddhist scripture Majjhimnikaya Mahasihanada Sutta 12 Buddha

asceticism at the hands of Muni Pihitasrava who was a follower of

Parsvanatha. Buddha has narrated how he went naked, took food in his own

palms and followed various other rigorous restrictions expected of a Sramana

ascetic. Buddha followed this practice for some time when he felt it was too

rigorous, and therefore gave up Jain ascetic practice, wore saffron-coloured

cloth and founded his own middle-path which became known as Buddhism.

Modern Buddhist scholar and Buddhist Bhikshu Dharmananda Kosambi has

said; . In Tripitakas , there is a mention in several places about Nirgrantha-

Jainas. From this it is clear that the Nirgrantha tradition was in existence many

years before Buddha. It is mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya that one .

Bappa. named Shakya (belonging to the clan of Shakyas in which Buddha

was born) was a lay follower (Sravaka) of the Nirgranthas (Jain). In the same

Sutta.s Atthahatha it is also said that this .Bappa. was an uncle of Buddha.

It may be mentioned here that Nirgrantha means unattached, without

possessions, an ancient name for the Jain community. It should be noted that

both Siddhartha and Trishala, parents of Mahavira, are described in the

Acharanga-Sutra,- Jain scripture

as followers of Parsva.

University of California, in his book The Jain Path of Purification :.Buddhist

texts refer to the existence of large numbers of Niganthas (unattached ones)

who followed the Catuyama Samvara, the fourfold restraint that Jacobi and

others have convincingly identified with the teaching of Parsva. Such references,

moreover, suggest a Jain community older than that of the Buddhists, hence

predating Mahavira himself.. (P.10)

As Prof. Jacobi notes; . The Nirgranthas are frequently mentioned by the

Buddhists, even in the oldest part of the Pitakas. But I have not yet met with a

distinct mention of the Buddha in any of the old Jain Sutras. As it is

are driven to the conclusion that the Nirgranthas were not a newly founded sect

of Buddha.s time. This seems to have been the opinion of the Pitakas too, for

we find no indication to the contrary in them.. (.On Mahavira and His

Predecessors. in The Indian Antiquary , IX,1880 158-163)

Again as Herman Jacobi, states in his article on Jainism in Encyclopaedia of

Religion and Ethics (Vol II, pp465-74).. .Notwithstanding the radical difference

in their philosophical notions, Jainism and Buddhism being outside the place of

Brahmanism, present resemblances in outward appearance, so that even Indian

that some European scholars who became acquainted with Jainism through

inadequate samples of Jain literature easily persuaded themselves that it was an

offshoot of Buddhism. But it has since been proved that their theory is wrong..

separate identity of Jainism from Vedic Brahmanic-Hinduism. However, it will

noted by Dr. Guseva in her scholarly study Jainism.

distinguish Jainism from Vedic religion and Brahmanism which are so

substantial that they do not afford any possibility of regarding Jainism as a sect

of Brahmanism or its some other products. These features are:

1. Jainism rejects holiness of Vedas,

3. Rejects bloody sacrifices and a number of other Brahminic rituals,

4. Does not recognize caste systems of the Brahmanic society.

I would add one most important additional feature and that is Jainism does not

believe in any divinity as the creator of this universe because according to Jain

human being, by the dint of his own ethical discipline as laid down in Jainism,

that is, Ratnatraya Dharma-Samyak Darshana, Samyag Jnana, Samyak

Charitra .Right perception, Right knowledge and Right conduct- can attain

Thus, one may sum up, the originality of Jainism in the words of Hermann

The etymological basis of a Tirtha as a holy place of worship can be properly

traced to the term Tirthamkar which signifies a liberated soul according to Jain

religions tradition. A Tirthamkar is one who has eliminated the last vestiges of

Karmic pollution attaching to the soul through a rigorous ascetic regimen

prescribed in Jain religious canon, known as agamas and has attained

He thus becomes a creator of a Tirtha or a Tirthamkar, a fordmaker. It is by

means of this Tirtha , or ford , a worldly being can cross this life and attain

moksa. It is in this context of the unique Jain connection of the term Tirtha a

Jain religious practices since prehistoric times.

As Ghosh, a former Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India and

editor of the monumental survey of Jain Art and Architechture published by

Bharatiya Jnana Pitha, on the occasion of the 2500th Nirvana aniversary of

Mahavira(1974) observes:

.Leaving the standing figures on a mohenjo-daro seal out of consideration, the

Lohanipura Tirthamkar images of the Mauryan age show that in all probability

Jainism had the lead in carving of images for veneration over Buddhism and

Brahmanism. No images of Buddha or any Brahmanic deity of that antiquity

have been found, though there are contemporary Yaksa statutes after the

stylistic models of which the Lohanipur images are carved.

The iconograpy of the Jinas, without the paraphernalia of the later period, are

standardized though distinguishing lancchanas are yet to be evolved with the

result that unless the names of Tirthamkars are mentioned in dedicatory

inscriptions, it is not possible to differentiate the individual Tirthamkar, except

Parsvanatha who is marked by a canopy of snakehood and Rishabhanatha

with the Sri-vatsa mark on the chest and with circular haloes, scalloped in some

cases, are either seated cross-legged with hands in dhyana-mudra or standing

in kayotsarga- pose.

Vedas. The Vedas do not have the word Puja. It is originally not a word of Aryan

or European languages. The Vedic ritual of the propitiation of the natural

elements is known as Yajna in which the gods were offered ghee, honey,

purodasa (a sacrificial offering made of ground rice) soma- (wine)-and meat of

animals. That is why it was called balikriya (oblation- offering) or pashukarma.

As a matter of fact , the word Puja belongs to the Dravidian linguistic group.

.Pu. means flower (Puspa) and .Ja . means Karma (act). In Tamil and Telugu

the verb meaning to do is . ce. , and in Kannada it is .ge. and thus .Puce.

Puge . , Puje. and .Puja. means puspa-karma (floral act) just as sacrificial fire

and offering (homa, yajna) used to be called pashu-karma.

prototype of temple culture which was inspired by the ethnico-religious Jain

traditions weaving a matrix of karma rebirth and liberation.

It is noteworthy that there is uniformity in the ritual of worship among the Jains

and the Shaivas. Water, incense, rice, flowers, lamp, perfume, offering of

evidence it becomes clear that Jainism initiated idol worship in India. Hardly

there exists any Jain holy book or an epic which does not exalt idol- worshiping.

structure of Jainism to such an extent that it is impossible to separate this

aspect of worship from Jainism at all.

Afterwards the word puja was admitted into Sanskrit and the root word Puja was

adopted . Another scholar Charles Charpentier traces the etymology of Puja to

the Dravidian root word . Pusu. which means to anoint. Its propriety is in the

tradition of anointing the image of siva with sandal paste etc. when

therefore, siva became known as Lohita whose synonyms rudhira and rudra

finally merged in the form of rudra.

The difference between the rituals of sacrificial fire ( yajna) and worship with

flowers (puja) and direction to synthesize them is clearly mentioned in Bhagvat

Gita wherein Krishna says (9,24-26) that even though the doer of Yajna, Rishi,

and worshipper of siva by non violent means are friends there is difference in

Rudra, one ferocious and another tranquil in Vishnu Purana. According to Dr.

Suniti Kumar Chatterjee there was a god by the name . civan. and . campu. in

Tamil Language different from the ferocious god in the Vedas, who was the

presiding deity in the Dravidian society before the advent of the Aryans. The

same was pronounced as .siva. and .sambhu. by the Aryans.

The tradition as the Siva being a originally related to the Dravidian culture is

very much strengthened by archaeological explorations. In the Indus Valley

Padmasana. The hands are on the knee cups and there are horns on the head .

It is the definite opinion of Sir John Marshall that the Vedic Aryans adopted

Siva worship (siva pasupati-Rudra) from this Indus Valley culture. It is

the Indus Valley in a typical Jain ascetic Yogic pose Kayotsarga bear a striking

resemblance to the oldest Jaina sculptures, and further that there is a link

between the Indus bull-seals and the bull insignia (lancchan) of Rishabha.

The point to be noted is that there is a consistent tradition found in the Jain

religious literature and also in Hindu puranas from earliest times of eulogizing

the arch-Tirthankara Rishbhadeva as Rudra or Siva as Dr. Hiralal Jain, an

eminent Jain scholar, notes in his carefully adduced evidence from Jain and

Hindu scriptures (Jainism through the Ages, translated from Hindi by Bal

Patil, Unpublished )

Generally ancient Saiva and Jain temples are found in the vicinity of each other.

The cave temples of Ellora are a good example. So much so that a big cave

temple is called great Kailasa, and the Jain cave temple is called small Kailasa.

The following stanza in Shiv Purana bring out this association clearly.

Rishabhadeva, Jineshwara, the omniscient and the all pervasive incarnated

himself on the magnificent Kailas, (Ashtapad Mountain)

The idea of Rishabha Tirthamkara being an epoch-making man is deep-rooted

in the Jaina scriptures. He was the son of the fourteenth Kulakara or Manu

karmabhumi and pioneered human civilisation and culture.

Rishabha was the first preacher of of the ahimsa dharma, the first Tirthamkara

or ford-maker to the path of libertion according to Jain Sramanic path of

purification and liberation. He attained nirvana on the summit of Mount Kailasa in

Jaina religious literature and also in the Itihasa-Purana Brahmanic lore from

earliest time of invoking Rishbhadeo as Rudra or shiva.The above stanza in the

Shiva Purana brings out clearly this association.

Marshall that the Vedic aryans adopted shiva worship (Shiva, Pashupati, Rudra)

that the nude standing images in the Indus Valley in a typicaly Jain Sramanic

yogic pose-Kayotsarga- abandonment of the body in meditation- bears a striking

the Indus bull seals and the bull insignia (lancchana) of Rishabha.

From Vedic times to the present Rudra or shiva and Rishabha have been

considered usually as alternative names or designations which are :Digambara,

Kapardi, Jati. These are such attributes as become perfectly applicable in their

meaning to Rishabha Tirthamkara. The characteristic mark of Shankara as

found in Jaina creations and images known as Triratna which is found clearly

marked in the cave of Sarata Kharavela at Udaigiri in Orissa. It is found marked

in the ancient images of Rishabha and other Tirthamkaras.

phase of moon, Om, svastika and the cross of Christianity as well as the mood

The disciples of Shiva are collectively called Gana, whose leader is called

Ganapati and Ganesh . The group of munis or disciples established by Rishbha

is also called Gana and its leader , the chief disciple, is called Ganadhara. The

tradition of Gana and Ganadhara is found unbroken till the last Tirthamkara,

have been the precursor of the later shaiva doctrine.

is found in the great Himalayan centre of pilgrimage, Badrinatha or Badri

Vishala. In the Badri Vishala temple the following stotra is recited in the daily

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Meaning: .One who is revered as Shiva by the Shaivas, as Brahma by the

Vedantins,as Buddha by the Buddhists, as the Cause by the Naiyayikas,

Arahan by the Jains, Karma by the Mimamsakas, such god of the three worlds

It is a mistake to term the Jainas as Nasitkas. The word nasitka has been

differently interpreted. According to the grammarian Panini Sutra it is explained

as one who does not accept paraloka or life after death. According to

Nyayakosha, a nastika is a person who does not accept the existence of

Isvara. Manu has said that he who derides the authority of the Vedas is a

But acceptance of the authority of Vedas which are essentially Brahminic

Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Vol-II Editor, James Hastings, explains,

But Jainism does not recognize that the universe was created by any God or

The Jains do not regard God as necessary to explain the universe. The number

Thus Jainism places a great responsibility on the frail human shoulders and

The essence of Jaina teaching is that a man or a woman is truly the architect of

one.s own destiny and that the liberation of soul from the last vestige of karmic

particle is synonymous with supreme bliss or salvation or moksa commensurate

Why do the Jainas worship the Tirthamkars? Umaswami, a great Jaina

Acharya has expressed the object of Jain worship of Tirthamkar in precise

according to Jainism in Tattvartha sutra;

of Karmas and the knower of the whole of reality, so that I may realise these

qualities.. The object of Jain worship is therefore not to seek favours but to

as taught by the Tirthamkars.

As noted by Dr. A.N. Upadhye, a great Prakrit scholar of Jainism, . By God

Jainism understands a liberated soul as well as a Tirthamkar, who is the

inspire and guide. Thus the basis of the Jain conception is different from

Hinduism . Though the God is not a creator, the Jain religion neither lacks

devotional fervour nor ceremonial rituals. Jains offer prayers to him, worship him

offered to the Tirthamkaras, liberated soul, preceptor, preacher and monk

depend on oneself to destroy the Karmas. Jainism is thus a religion of self help

and can be practised by the self reliant, strong and brave.. (Jainism by Colette

Caillat, Dr. A.N. Upadhye, Bal Patil , Macmillan, 1974)

The Sanskrit words mandira and alaya , both denoting something like a

shelter, specify a temple particularly in Jain references. The terms ayatana- a

Mahavira who often used to stay in Yaksayatana in the course of his Vihara.

Later it coined the word Jinayatana and still later was replaced by the words

mandira, alaya, geha, griha etc.

Chaitya from very ancient times. From the Uvasaga-Dasao Upasaka Dasa, a

Jain scripture, we come to know that the Jnatrikas, being the clan of Jnatri

Putras to which Mahavira belonged, possessed a Jain temple outside their

settlement at kollaga which bore the name Duipalasa.

The term ceiya used here has been interpreted by Dr. Hoernle to mean .

properly the name of a Jain temple or sacred shrine, but commonly applied to

the whole sacred enclosure containing a garden, grove or park (Ujjana, Vana-

Sanda or Vana-Khanda, a shrine and attendants houses,. ( Uvasaga .

Dasao,P.2) After Mahavira.s assuming the vocation of a monk he used this

ceiya for his accommodation whenever he visted the place of his birth.

It is significant to note as stated by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy that the word

chaitya is derived from a root Chi meaning to build or heap up, but as used in

the Epic and early Buddhist and Jain literature, it means any holystead, altar

Chit, with the sense therefore of an object to be meditated upon or attended to? .

This interpretation is definitely a pointer to the Jain concept of ritual meditation

of perfected beings. Chaityas have been from very ancient times the legendary

abodes of the Yaksas, Shasan Devatas or tutelary deities. Every Jain

Tirthamkar has a pair of tutelary deities of Yaksa and Yakshini.

It is pertinent to note that a Chaitya is often termed as Chaityavriksha or

Chaitya-tree. The earliest reference to the chaitya-tree of Mahavira. Mahavira

was sitting under shala tree when he attained enlightenment .

The Kalpa Sutra, which speaks of the lives of the twenty four Tirthamkars only

mentions the Chaitya-trees of Rishabha, Nemi,Parsva and Mahavira. It does

not mention the chaitya-tree of the remaining twenty Jinas.

The Samavayanga .sutra gives a list of the Chaitya-vriksha of all twenty four

Tirthamkars of the present age. This last list, being common to both the

Digambara and the Svetambara sects was evolved before the Digambara-

Swetambara division in the fifth century.

The Jainas have assigned the spirits connected with the tree-worship to the

Vyantara gods. The Vyantaras are sub-divided into eight groups, Pishachas,

and Gandharvas, Each group has on its crest the symbol of a tree in the

following order the Kadamba, sulasa, vata, khatvanga, ashoka, champaka,

naga and tumbara, according to Swetambara tradition. In the Digambara list

the badri-tree is substituted for the Khatvanga.

The chaitya-tree worship, with which Yakshas are associated and the cultdeities

antiquity and pre-Vedic existence of Jaina iconic and worshipping tradition. The

gradual and late assimilation of the ideas of samsara- cycle of birth and death,

Karma, religious asceticism and Yoga by the Brahmanas ,the Upanishads and

later in the Epics shows the unmistakeable influence of the ancient and

indigenous Sramanic current as exemplified in Jainism.

It is in this context that Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy finds substance in

Fergusson.s view in Tree and Serpant Worship (p.244) that the worship of

Yakshas and Nagas, powers of fertility and rainfall .was the primitive faith of the

aboriginal casteless Dasyus who inhabited northern India before the advent of

the Aryans..

religious traditions which must be spoken of as Agamic in contradistinction to

Vedic, are abundant and must reach far back into the past. This past, moreover,

formerly recognized. . (p.3) Yakshas, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1973)

In the Jain Bhagavati Sutra Punnabhadda and Manibhadda are called

powerful Devas, and they appear together to those who practise certain

austerities. Yakkhas or Yakshas are often called Devas in Jain literature where

as Shasan Devatas they are usually guardian angels.

As pertinently suggested by Dr. Coomaraswamy,. the doctrine of reincarnation

is not Vedic, and in view of the suggestions of indigenous origins that have been

connected with the Yaksha mythology in which a Yaksha may have been and

Hodson T.C. in his The Primitive Culture of India shows that a belief in

reincarnation is widely spread amongst the primitive tribes of India, Khonds,

Bhuias, Garos etc. The Lushai desire to escape from the mortal coil of

reincarnation. Santals say that .Good men enter into fruit .trees. This reveals

again the very ancient origin of the Jain concept of Ahimsa and related causal

In the Jain Uttaradhyayana Sutra Ch. III, 14-18 it is stated as a general rule that

Yakshas are reborn as men when their stock of merit (acquired, of course, in a

may be reborn as tutelarly Yakshas. The following story of the Jain saint Jivaka

is related in the Tamil Classic, the Jivaka-chintamani; Jivaka rescues a

drowning dog, or to be more exact, recites to it the mantras of five Namaskaras-

Namsakar Mantra- whereby it is reborn as deity, a chief of the Yakshas.

The haunt or abode (Bhavanam) of a Yaksha, often referred to as chaitya

(Pali,cetiya, Prakrit,Cheiya) or ayatana (Prakrit ayayana) may be outside a

city , in a grove, on a mountain or at a ghat. Such Yaksa shrines are constantly

spoken of in Jain and Buddhist literature as ancient, magnificent, famous or