 Section number 32 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Shashank Jagmola, Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch, Volume 1. Religious Life in Pre-Buddhist India In reading the Brahminas in older Upanishads, we often wish we knew more of the writers and their lives. Rarely can so many representative men have bequeathed so much literature and yet left so dim a sketch of their times. Thought was their real life. Of that they have given a full record, imperfect only in chronology, for though their speculations are often set forth in a narrative form, we hear surprisingly little about contemporary events. The territory familiar to these works is the western part of the modern United provinces with the neighbouring districts of the Punjab, the lands of the Kurus, Panchalas and Matsyas all in the region of Agra and Delhi and further east Kashi, Banaras, Vidvideha and Tirhat. Gandhara was known but Magadha and Bengal are not mentioned. Footnote 201, Chandogya Upanishad, 6th, 14, 1, Sat Bra, 8, 1, 4, 10. End footnote. Even in the Buddha's lifetime they were still imperfectly Brahminized. What we know of the period 800 to 600 BC is mostly due to the Brahmins and mainly Indianists have accepted their view that they were then socially the highest class and the repository of religion and culture. But it is clear from Buddha's writings which however are somewhat later that this preeminence was not unchallenged and many admissions in the Brahminas and Upanishads indicate that some centuries before the Buddha, the Shatriyas held socially the first rank and shared intellectual honours with the Brahmins. Footnote 202, the Brahmins are even called low-born as compared with Shatriyas and in Ambattha Sutta, the Gumbara Nikaya, 3rd. The Buddha demonstrates to a Brahmin who boasts of his caste that the usage of Hindu society proves that the Shatriyas are higher and Brahmins lower. Seeing that the child of a mixed union between the castes is accepted by the Brahmins as one of themselves but not by Shatriyas because he is not of pure descent. End footnote. Janaka, King of Videha and Yajnavalkya, the Brahmin meet on terms of mutual respect in other Shatriyas such as Sajaj Shatru of Kashi and Pravahana, Jayavali are represented as instructing Brahmins and the latter in doing so says, this knowledge did not go to any Brahmin before but belong to the Shatriyas alone. Footnote 203, he had learned to Vida and Upanishads. Brr, 4th, 2, 1. Footnote 204, Chandogya Upanishad, 5th, 3, 7. Kosh, Upanishad, 4th. Brr, Upanishad, 2nd, 1. The Shatriyas seem to have regarded the doctrine of the two parts which can be taken by the soul after death. Devayana and Pitriayana, the latter involving return to earth and transmigration as their special property. End footnote. But as a profession theology, both practical and speculative was left to the Brahmins. The proper relation between the nobles and Brahmins finds expression in the office of Purohita or domestic chaplain which is as old as the Vedas and has lasted to the present day. Footnote 205, literally set in front, prefectus. End footnote. In early times he was not merely a spiritual guide but also a counsellor expected to advise the king as to his enterprises and secure their success by appropriate rites. By king we should understand a tribal chief interested with considerable powers in the not infrequent times of war but in peace obliged to consult the clan or at least the aristocratic part of it on all matters of importance. A Purohita might attain a very high position like Devabhag, priest of both the Kurus and Shrinjayas. Footnote 206, Sat Bra, 2nd, 4, 4, 5. End footnote. The Brahmins did not attempt to become kings but the secret books insist that though a Brahmin can do without a king yet a king cannot do without a Brahmin. The two castes are compared to their deities Mitra and Varuna typifying intelligence and will. When they are united deeds can be done. Footnote 207, Sat Bra, 4th, 1, 4, 1, 2, 6. End footnote. But the gods do not eat the food of a king who is without a Purohita. Other castes can offer sacrifices only by the mediation of Brahmins and it does not appear that kings disputed this though they claim the right to think for themselves and may have denied the utility of sacrifice. Footnote 208, the legends of Veena, Parashurama and other indicate the prevalence of considerable hostility between Brahmins and Shatriyas at some period. End footnote. Apart from kings the duties and claims of Brahmin extended to the people at large he has four virtues, birth, deportment, fame and the perfecting of the people and in return the people owe him respect, liberality, security against oppression and against capital punishment. Towns in this period must have been few and those few essentially forts not collections of palaces and temples. We hear of Kashi, Banaras but the name may signify a district. People are said to go to the Kurus or Panchalas, not to Mithila or any other city. It was in village life which is still the life of the greater part of India that Brahmanism grew up. Probably then as now Brahmin families occupy separate villages or at least quarters and were allowed to hold the land rent free as a reward for rendering religious services to the king. They followed various professions but the life which was most respected and also most lucrative was that devoted to the study and practice of sacred science that is the learning and recitation of sacred texts, performance of ceremonies and theological discussion. The later law books divide Brahman's life into four stages or ashramas in which he was successively a student, a householder, a hermit and an ascetic. Footnote 209 Brahmacharan Grehastha Vanaprastha Sannyasana End footnote The third and fourth stages are not very clearly distinguished. A hermit is supposed to renounce family life and live in the forest but still to perform sacrifices whereas the sannyasi or perfect ascetic in many ways the ideal of India subsists on arms freed alike from duties and passions and absorbed in meditation. In the older Upanishads three stages are indicated as part of contemporary practice. Footnote 210 Thus in the Briha Aranyaka Yajnavalkya retires to the forest but even the theory of three stages was at this time only in the making for the last section of the Chandogya Upanishad expressly authorizes a religious man to spend all his life as a householder after completing his student's ship and the account given to the stages in Chandogya second 21 is not very clear. End footnote For a period of from 9 to 36 years a Brahmin dwelled with the teacher while his state of pupillage lasted he lived on arms and was bound by the severest valves of obedience and chastity. The instruction given consisted in imparting secret texts which could be acquired only by hearing them recited for writing though it may have been known in India as early as the 7th century BC was not used for literature. The Shatapatha Brahmana recommends the study not only of the four Vedas but of the precepts perhaps grammar, etymology etc. the sciences, perhaps philosophy, dialogues no doubt such as those found in the Upanishads traditions and ancient legends stanzas and tales of heroes showing that, beside the scriptures more popular compositions which doubtless contain the germs of the later epics and Puranas were held in esteem. Footnote 211 Sat Bra 11 568 The Lists in Chandogya Upanishad 7 Sections 12 and 7 End footnote On terminating his apprentice Shib the young Brahmin became a householder and married moderate polygamy being usual to some extent he followed the occupations of an ordinary man of business and father of a family but the most important point in establishing a home of his own was the kindling of his own sacred fire and the householder's life was regarded as a series of rites such as the daily offering of milk the new and full ceremonies seasonal sacrifices every four months and the soma sacrifice once a year besides oblations to ancestors and other domestic observances Footnote 212 In southern India at the present day it is the custom for Brahmins to live as Agnihotris and maintain sacred fire for a few days after their marriage End footnote The third stage of life should begin when a householder sees that his hair is turning grey and a grandson has been born he should then abandon his home and live in the forest the tradition that it is justifiable and even commendable for men and women to abandon their families and take to the religious life has at all times been strong in India and public opinion has never considered that the deserted party had a grievance No doubt comfortable householders were in no hurry to take to the woods and many must always have shirked the duty But on the other hand the very pious of whom India has always produced a super abundance were not willing to bear the cares of domestic life and renounced the world before the prescribed time On the whole, Brahmanic as opposed to Buddhist literature is occupied and insisting not so much that the devout should abandon the world as that they must perform the ritual observances prescribed for householders before doing so The Brahman's existence as drawn in the law books is a description of what the writers thought ought to be done rather than of the general practice Still it cannot be dismissed as imaginary for the Nambutri Brahman's of Travancore have not yet abandoned a mode of life which is in a sensual start prescribed by Manu and probably that led by Brahman's in the 7th century BC or earlier Footnote 213 BC Thurston casts in tribes of southern India volume 5 SV Footnote 214 The Emperor Jahangir writing about 1660 implies the ashramas which he describes were observed by the Brahman's of that time See his memoirs edited by Pevrich pages 357 to 359 and footnote for the most part landowners dwelling in large houses built to accommodate a patriarchal family and erected in spacious compounds In youth they spend about eight years in learning the Veda and in matured life religious ceremonies including such observances as bathing and the preparation of meals occupy about six hours of the day As a profession the performance of religious rites for others is most esteemed Food, drink and pleasures the Namboothi's are almost aesthetics their rectitude, punctualiousness and dignity still command exaggerated respect but they seem unproductive and petrified even in such matters as literature and scholarship and their inability to adapt themselves to changing conditions threatens them with impoverishment and deterioration Yet the ideal Brahmanic life which by no means excludes intellectual activity is laid out in severe and noble lines and though on its good side somewhat beyond the reach of human endeavour and on its bad side overloaded with pedantry and superstition it combines in a rare degree self-abnegation and independence It differs from the ideal set up by Buddhism and by many forms of Hinduism which preach the renunciation of family ties but it clearly lays down that it is a man's duty to continue his family and help his fellow men just as much as to engage in religious exercises Thus the Satapatha Brahmana teaches that man is born owing four depths one to the gods one to the rishis or the sages to whom the Vedic hymns were revealed one to his ancestors and one to men Footnote 215 Brahmana 1st 721 CF Tate Brahmana 6th 310 5 and footnote To discharge these obligations he must offer sacrifices study the Veda beget a son and practice hospitality The tranquil isolation of village life in ancient India has left its mark on literature though the names of teachers are handed down and the opinions cited with pious care yet for many centuries after the Veda cage we find no books attributed to human authors there was an indifference to literary fame among these early philosophers and a curious selflessness doctors disputed as elsewhere yet they were at no pains to couple their names with theories or sects like the Jewish rabbis they were content to go down to posterity as the authors of a few sayings and these are mostly contributions to a common stock with no pretension to be systems of philosophy the Upanishads leave an impression of a society which, if reposeful, was also mentally alert and tolerant to an unusual degree much was absent that occupied the intelligence of other countries painting, sculpture and architecture can have attained but modest proportions and the pure view of religion included neither temples nor images India was untroubled by foreign invasions and all classes seemed to have been content to let the Shatriyas look after such internal politics as there were trade too was on a small scale doubtless the Indian was then as now a good man of business and the western coast may have been affected by its relations with the Persian Gulf but the Brahmanic civilization was a thing of the midland and drew no inspiration from abroad the best minds were occupied with the leisurely elaboration and discussion of speculative ideas and self effacement was both practised and preached but movement and circulation prevented this calm rustic world from becoming stagnant though roads were few and dangerous a habit of travel was conspicuous among the religious and intellectual classes the Indian is by nature a pilgrim rather than a stationery monk and we often hear of Brahmins travelling in quest of knowledge alone or in companies and stopping in rest houses footnote 216 such as those built by Janashruti Potrayana see Chandogya Upanishad 4th 1 end footnote in the Satpatha Brahmana Uddalaka Aruni is represented as driving about and offering a piece of gold as a prize to those who could defeat him in argument footnote 217 Satpatha Brahmana 11th 4th 1 end footnote great sacrifices were often made the occasion of these discussions we must not think of them as mere religious ceremonies as a sort of high mass extending over several days the fact that they lasted so long and involved operations like building sheds and altars made them unlike our church services and gave opportunities for debate and criticism of what was done such competition and publicity were good for the width the man who cut the best figure in argument was in greatest demand as a sacrifiser and obtained the highest fees but these stories of prizes and fees emphasise a feature which has characterised the brahmins from Vedic times to the present day namely their shameless love of money the severest critic cannot deny them a disinterested taste for intellectual, religious and spiritual things but their own books often use language which shows them as professional men merely anxious to make a fortune by the altar the sacrifices to fold says the Satpatha Brahmana oblations to the gods and gifts to the priests but the oblations men gratify the gods and with gifts the human gods these two kinds of gods when gratified convey the worshipper to the heavenly world footnote 2, 1, 8 Satpatha Brahmana 2, 2, 6 and 4, 3, 4, 4 end footnote without a fee the sacrifice is as dead as the victim it is the fee which makes it living and successful footnote 2, 1, 9 Satpatha Brahmana 4, 3, 4, 2 end footnote tradition has preserved the names of many of these acute, argumentative, fee-loving priests but a few can reform any clear picture the most distinguished is Yajnia Valkia who, though seen through a mist of myths and trivial stories about the miniature eye of ritual appears as a personality with certain traits that are probably historical many remarks attributed to him are abrupt and scornful and the legend indicates dimly that he was once thought a dangerous innovator but as has happened so often since this early heretic became the cornerstone of later orthodoxy he belonged to the school of the Yajurveda and was apparently the main author of the new or white recension in which the prayers and directions are more or less separate whereas in the old or black recension they are mixed together according to the legend he vomited forth the texts which he had learned calling his fellow pupils miserable and inefficient Brahmans and then received a new revelation from the sun footnote 220 Vishnu Puran third fifth and footnote the quarrel was probably violent for the Satapata Brahmana mentions that he was cursed by priests of the other party nor does this work while recognising him as the principal teacher endorse all his sayings thus it forbids the eating of beef but adds the curious remarks nevertheless Yajnavalkya said I for one eat it provided it is tender footnote 2201 Satapata Brahmana third 8 to 24 Yajnavalkya is the principal authority cited in books from first to fifth and from 10th to 14th of this Brahmana but not in books 6 to 9 which perhaps represents an earlier treatises incorporated in the text and footnote Remarkable too is his answer to the question what would happen if all the ordinary materials for sacrifices were absent then indeed nothing would be offered here but there would be offered the truth in faith footnote 222 or in confidence Brahmana 11th 314 end footnote it is probable that the black Yajurveda represents the more western scholars and that the native land of the white recension and of Yajnavalkya lay further east perhaps in Videha but his chief interest for us is not the reforms in text and ritual which we may have made but his philosophic doctrines of which I have already spoken the authority for them is the Brihad Arunanka Upanishad of which he is the protagonist Marja Socrates is of the Platonic dialogues unfortunately the striking picture which it gives of Yajnavalkya cannot be accepted as historical he is a prominent figure in the Satapata Brahmana which is older than the Upanishad and represents an earlier stage of speculation the sketch of his doctrines which it contains is clearly a preliminary study elaborated and amplified in the Upanishad but if a person age is introduced in early works as expounding a rudimentary form of certain doctrines and in later works is credited with a matured philosophy there can be little doubt that he has become a great name whose authority is invoked by later thought much as Solomon was made the author of the proverbs and slessiasities and the songs which bears his name Yajnavalkya appears in the Brihad Arunanka as the respected friend but apparently not the chaplain of King Janaka this monarch celebrated a great sacrifice and offered a thousand cows with the present of money to him who should prove himself wisest Yajnavalkya rather arrogantly made his pupil drive off the beasts but his claim was challenged seven Brahmins and one woman Gargi Vakaknavi disputed with him at length but had to admit his superiority a point of special interest is raised by the question what happens after death Yajnavalkya said to his questioner take my hand my friend we too shall alone know of this let this question of ours not be discussed in public then these two went out and argued and what they said was karma and what they praised was karma footnote 2 2 3 Brihad Arunanka 3rd 2 13 and footnote the doctrine that a man's deeds cause his future existence and determines its character was apparently not popular among the priesthood who claimed that by their rights they could manufacture heavenly bodies for their clients part 2 this imperfect and sketchy picture of the religious life in India so far as it can be gathered from the older Brahmanic books has reference mainly to the kingdoms of Kuru Panchalas and Videha in 800 to 600 BC another picture somewhat fuller is found in ancient literature of the Buddhist and Jains which depicts the kingdoms of Magda, Bihar and Kosala, Oud in the time of the Buddha Mahavira the founder of Jainism that is about 500 BC or rather earlier it is probable that the picture is substantially true for this period or even for a period considerably earlier for Mahavira was supposed to have revived with modifications the doctrines of Parśvarnatha and some of the Buddhas mentioned as preceding Gautama were probably historical personages but the Brahmanic and Buddhist accounts do not give two successive phases of thought in the same people for the locality is not quite the same both pictures include the territory of Kashi and Videha but the Brahmanic landscape lies mainly to the west and the Buddhist mainly to the east of this region in the Buddhist sphere it is clear that in the youth of Gautama doctrines and ritual were well known but not predominant it is hardly demonstrable from literature but still probable that the ideas and usages which found expression and Jainism and Buddhism existed in the western districts though less powerful there than in the east footnote 2 to 4 in the Pali pitak the Buddha is represented as preaching in the land of the youth and footnote a striking feature of the world in which Jainism and Buddhism arose was the prevalence of confraternities or religious orders they were the recognized form of expression not only for piety but for the germs of theology, metaphysics and science the ordinary man of the world kept on good terms with such gods as came his way those who craved for some higher interest often separated themselves from the body of citizens and followed some special rule of life in one sense the Brahmans were the greatest of such communities but they were a hereditary corporation and though they were not averse to new ideas this special stock in trade was in acquaintance with traditional formulae and rites they were also in the main territory and householders somewhat opposed to them were the companies described collectively as Paribhajikas or Samanas footnote 2-5 these are the Pali forms the Sanskrit equivalents are Parivrajaka and Shamana end footnote these though offering many differences among themselves were clearly distinguished from the Brahmans it is probable that they usually belong to the warrior caste but they did not maintain that religious knowledge was the exclusive privilege of any caste they were not householders but wanderers and celibates often they were ascetics and addicted to extreme form of self-mortification they did not study the Vedas or perform sacrifices and their speculations were often revolutionary and as a rule not theistic is not easy to find an English word which describes these people on the Buddhist bhikkhus monk is perhaps the best the winaticate pilgrim and friar give the idea of wandering but otherwise suggest wrong associations but in calling them monks we must remember that those celibates and to some extent recluses for they mixed with the world only in a limited degree they were not confined in cloisters the more stationary lived in woods either in huts or the open air but many spend the greater part of the year in wandering the practice of adopting a wandering religious life was frequent among the upper classes and must have been a characteristic feature of society no blame attached to the man who abruptly left his family though well-to-do people are represented as dissuading their children from the step the interest in philosophical and theological questions was perhaps even greater than among the Brahmans and they were recognized not as Parerga to a life of business or amusement but as occupations in themselves material civilization had not kept pace with the growth of thought and speculation the stress less and inquisitive minds found little to satisfy them in villages or small towns and the wanderers instead of being a useless rolling stone was likely not only to have a more interesting life but to meet with sympathy and respect ideas and discussion were plentiful but there were no books and hardly any centres of learning yet there was even more movement than among the travelling priests of the Kurus and Panchalas are coming and going are trafficking in ideas knowledge was to be picked up in the marketplaces and highways around the main road circulated crowds of highly intelligent men they lived upon arms that is to say they were fed by the citizens who favoured their opinions or by those good souls who gave indiscriminately to all holy men and in the larger places rest houses were erected for the comfort it was natural that the more commanding and original spirits should collect others round them and form bands for though there was public discussion writing was not used for religious purposes and he who would study any doctrine had to become the pupil of a master the doctrine too involved a discipline or mode of life best led in common hence these bands easily grew into communities which we may call order or sects if we recognise that their constitution was more fluid and less formal than is implied by those words it is not easy to say how much organisations such communities possessed before the time of the Buddha his Sangha was the most successful of them all and doubtless surpassed the others in this as in other respects yet it was modelled on existing institutions and the Vinaya Pitakh itself represents him as prescribing the observances of times and seasons not so much because he thought it necessary as because the light he suggested that he would do well to follow the practice of the Tithya schools footnote 2 2 6 see for instance Mahav 2 1 and 3 1 end footnote by this phrase we have to understand the adherents of Makhali Ghoshha Sanjaya Bellatiputta and others we know less about these sects than we could wish but two lists of schools that theories are preserved one in the Brahmajala Sutta where the Buddha himself criticises 62 erroneous views and other in journal literature which enumerates no fewer than 3 6 3 footnote 2 2 7 Digambra Nikaya 1 footnote 2 2 8 see Osha Radar Indition philosophizer Zait Mahavira's Aund Buddha's 1902 see also Anga Nikaya volume 3rd page 2 7 6 and Riz David's dialogues of the Buddha first pages 220 ff but these passages give one an impression of the multitude of ascetic fraternities rather than a clear idea of their different views and footnote both catalogues are somewhat artificial and it is clear that many views are mentioned not because they represent the tenets of real schools but from a desire to condemn all possible errors but the list of topics discussed is interesting from the Brahmajala Sutta we learn that the problems which agitated ancient Magadha were such as the following is the world eternal or not is it infinite or finite is there a cause for the origin of things or is it without cause does the soul exist after death if so is its existence conscious or unconscious is it eternal or does it cease to exist not necessarily at the end of its present life but after a certain number of lives can it enjoy perfect bliss here or elsewhere theories on these and other points are commonly called Vada or talk and those who hold them Vadans thus there is the Kaal Vada which makes time the origin and principle of the universe and Swabhava Vada which teaches that things come into being of their own accord footnote 229 it finds expression in two hymns of the Arthava Veda 1953 and 54 Cf 2 Gaurdap Kaur 8 Kaalat Prasutim Bhutanam Manyate Kaalaseen Thaka this seems crude when stated with archaic frankness but becomes plausible if paraphrased in modern language as discontinuous variation and the spontaneous origin of definite species there were also the Niyativaadans who believed that all that happens is the result of Niyati or fixed order and the Yadritya Vadans who on the contrary ascribed everything to chance and apparently denied causation because the same result follows from different antecedents it is noticeable that none of these views imply theism or pantheism but the Buddha directed so persistent a polemic against the doctrine of the Atman that it must have been known in the Magdha the fundamental principles of the Sankhya were also known though perhaps not by that name it is probably correct to say not that the Buddha borrowed some from the Sankhya but that both he and the Sankhya accepted and elaborated in different ways certain current views the Pali Suttas mentioned six agnostic or materialist teachers and give a brief but perhaps not very just compendium of the doctrines footnote 230 Digha Nikaya 2nd the opinions of the six teachers are quoted as being answers to a question put to them by King Ajat Sattu namely what is gained by renouncing the world judged as search they are irrevolent but they probably represent current statements as to the doctrine of each sect the six teachers are also mentioned in several other passages of the Digha and Majnikayas and also in the Sutta Nipata it is clear that at a very early period the list of their names had become the usual formula for summarizing the teaching prevalent in the time of Gotama which was neither Brahmanic nor Buddhist and footnote one of them was the founder of the Jainsu as a sect that has lasted to the present day for a considerable record and not in literature merit a separate chapter of the remaining five one Sanjya of the Bellattha clan was an agnostic similar to the people described elsewhere as eel-riglers who in answer to such question as is there a result of good and bad actions declined to say either A. there is B. there is not D. there both is and is not D. there neither is nor is not footnote 231 Digambra Nikaya first 23 to 28 and footnote this form of argument has been adopted by Buddhism for some important questions but Sanjya and his disciples appear to have applied it indiscriminately and to have concluded that positive assertion is impossible the other four were in many respects what we should call fatalists and materialists or in the language of the time akriyavadins denying that is free will responsibility and the merit or demerit of good or bad actions footnote 232 a rather defined materialism preaching let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die crops up in India in various ages though never very prominent and footnote they nevertheless believed in madam psychosis and practiced asceticism apparently they held that beings are born again and again according to a natural law but not according to their deeds and that though asceticism cannot accelerate the soul's journey yet at a certain stage it is a foreordained and indispensable preliminary to emancipation the doctrines attributed to all four are crude and startling perhaps they are exaggerated by the buddhist narrator but they also reflect the irrevolent exuberance of young thought purana kasaba denies that there is any merit in virtue or harm in murder another ascetic called Ajita of the garment of hair teaches that nothing exists only for elements and that fools and wise alike are annihilated on the dissolution of the body and after death they are not then why one asks was he an ascetic similarly pakuda kasayana states that when a sharp sword cleaves a head in twain the soul and pain play a part similar to that played by the component elements of the sword and head the most important of these teachers was makhali goshala his doctrine comprises a denial of causation and free will and an assertion that fools and wise alike will make an end of pain after wandering through 84 of 100,000 birds the followers of this teacher were called Anjivikas they were a distinct body in the time of Ashoka and the name occurs as late as the 13th century in south Indian inscriptions footnote 233 but possibly the ascetics described by it were only the gambra jains and footnote several accounts of the founder are extant but all were compiled by bitter opponents for he was hated by jains and buddhist alike footnote 234 see especially the articles by Hornley in Hastings dictionary of religion also Hornley Ovasa Gadasav appendix pages 1 to 29 Rockhill life of the buddha pages 249 ff Schrader stand their indition philosophy Zerzait Mahaviras and buddhas page 32 sutra kritanga and footnote his doctrine was closely allied to journalism especially the the gambra sect but was probably more extravagant and antisocial he appears to have objected to confraternities to have enjoyed a solitary life absolute nudity and extreme forms of self-motification such as eating filth the jains accused his followers of immorality and perhaps they were ancient prototypes of the lower class of religious mendicans who have brought discredit on Hinduism footnote 235 makhali lived sometime with Mahavira but they quarrelled but his followers though they may not have been a united body so much as other sects had definite characteristics and footnote page 3 none of the phases of religious life described above can be called popular the religion of the brahmans was the thought and science of a class the various unbrahmanic confraternities usually required their members to be wandering aesthetics they had little to say to village householders who must have constituted the great majority of the population also there are signs that priests and nobles as much they quarrelled combined to keep the lower caste in subjugation footnote 236 example given sattvatabrahman 5th 4 4 13 he thus encloses the vashya and shudra on both sides by the priesthood and nobility and makes them submissive and footnote yet we can hardly doubt that then as now all classes were profoundly religious and that just as today villages deities unknown to the Vedas or even to the Puranas received the worship of millions so then there were gods and rites that did not lack popular attention though unnoticed in the scriptures of brahmans and buddhists we know little of this popular religion by direct description before or even during the buddhist period but we have fragmentary indications of its character firstly several incongruous observances have obtruded themselves into the brahmanic ritual thus in the course of the mahabrata ceremony the hotri priests sits in a swing and maidens carrying pictures of water on their heads and singing dance round and all two while drums are beaten footnote 237 see shankhyana aranyaka translation keet pages 8-9 78-85 also etreya aran book fifth end footnote paddlers to this may be found today the image of krishna or even a priest who represents krishna is long to and fro in many temples the use of drums in worship is distressingly common and during the pongal festivities in southern India people dance round or leap over a fire other remarkable features in the mahabrata are the shooting of arrows into a target of skin the use of obscene language such as is still used at holy festival and even obscene acts footnote 238 see if the ritual for the horse sacrifice sattvata brahmana 13-2-8 and hilebrandt it is shei of fer page 152 end footnote we must not assume that popular religion in ancient India was specially indecent but it probably included ceremonies analogous to the luparkalia and thesmophobia in which license and words and deeds was supposed to promote fertility and prosperity we are also justified in supposing that offerings to ancestors in many ceremonies mentioned in the grihaya sutra or handbooks of domestic ritual were performed by far larger classes of the population than the greater sacrifices but we have no safe criteria for distinguishing between priestly injuctions and the real practice of ancient times secondly in the spells and charms of the atharva which received the brahmanic imperator later than the other three vedas we find this outlook differing from that of the other vedas and resembling the popular religion of china footnote 239 supplemented by the kaushika sutra which whatever its age may be has preserved a record of very ancient usages and footnote mankind are persecuted by a host of evil spirits and protect themselves by charms addressed directly to the tormentors or by invoking the aid of beneficent powers all nature is animated by God and evil spirits to be dealt with like other natural advantages or difficulties but not thought of as the model or spiritual guides it is true that the atharva often rises above this phase for it consists not of simple folklore but of folklore modified under-secret dhotal influence the protecting powers invoked are often the gods of the rigveda but prayers and incantations are also addressed directly to diseases and demons or on the other hand to healing plants and amulets footnote 240 example given first 10 this hymn like many others seems to combine several moral and intellectual stages the level at which the combination was possibly not being very high on the other hand Varuna is the lord of law and of truth who punishes moral offenses with dropsy on the other the sorcerer releases the patient from Varuna by charms without imposing any moral penance and offers the god a thousand other men provided that this particular victim is released footnote 240 example given 7 116 6 105 6 83 footnote 240 example given 5 7 11 9 footnote 240 example given 5 4 19 39 4 37 2 8 19 34 8 7 and footnotes we can hardly be wrong in supposing that in such invocations the Atharva reflects the popular practice of its time but it prefers the invocations of counter-reacting forces whether Vedic deities or magical plans to the perpetuation of malignant spirits such as the worship of the goddesses presiding over smallpox and cholera which is still prevalent in India. In this there is probably a contrast between the ideas of the Aryan and non-Aryan races the latter propitiate the demon or disease the Aryans invoke a beneficent and healing power but though on the whole the Atharva is inclined to banish the black specters of popular demonology with the help of luminous Aryan gods still we find invoked in it and in its subsidiary literature a multitude of spirits good and bad known by little except their names which however often suffice to indicate their functions such as Ashaapati lord of the region Kshitrapati lord of the field both invoked in ceremonies for destroying locusts and other noxious insects Shakambara and Upva deities of diarrhea and Arati the goddess of avarice and grudge in one hymn the poet invokes together with many Vedic deities all manner of nature spirits demons, animals healing plants seasons and ghosts footnote 244 Atharva Veda 11th 6th end footnote a similar collection of queer and vague personalities is found in the popular pantheon of China today footnote 245 see for instance the dragon, image and demon 1887 pages 320-344 end footnote thirdly various deities who are evidently considered to be well known play some part in the Pali pitaks those most frequently mentioned are Mahabrahma or Brahma Sahampati and Sakka or Indra but not quite the same as the Vedic Indra and less in need of libations of Soma in two curious sutras deputations of deities clearly intended to include all the important gods worshipped at the time are represented as visiting the Buddha footnote 246 Atana Tayya and Mahasamaya Digambra Nikaya 20th and 32nd end footnote in both lists a prominent position is given to the four great kings or drooling spirits of the four quarters accompanied by retinues called Gandhabbas, Kumbhandas Nagas and Yakkas respectively and similar to the Nats of Burma the Gandhabbas or Gandharvas are heavenly musicians and mostly benevolent but are mentioned in the Brahmanas as taking possession of women who then deliver oracles the Nagas are serpents sometimes represented as cobras with one or more heads and sometimes as half human sometimes they live in palaces under the water or in the depths of the earth and sometimes they are tutelary deities of trees serpent worship has undoubtedly been prevalent in India in all ages indication of it are found in the earliest Buddhist scriptures and it still survives footnote 247 Sikruks popular religion of northern India volume 2nd chapter 2nd end footnote the Yakkas or Yakshas though hardly demons as the name is often rendered are mostly ill-disposed to the human race sometimes man-eaters and often of unedifying conduct the Mahasamaya Sutta also mentions mountain spirits from the Himalaya, Satgiri and Mount Vipulla of the devas or chiefs of the Yakshas in this catalog only a few are known to Brahmanic work such as Soma, Varna Venu, Vishnu the Yamas Pajapati, Inda Indra, Sanan Kumar all these deities are enumerated together with little regard to the positions they occupy in the sacerdotal pantheon the inquirer finds a similar difficulty when he tries in the 20th century to identify rural deities or even the tutelaries of many great temples with any personages recognised by the canonical literature in several discourses attributed to the Buddha is incorporated a tract called of practices of which he disapproved such as divination and the use of spells and drugs footnote 248 in the Brahmajala and subsequent suttas of the Dighanikaya and footnote among special observances censured the following out of interest a. burnt offerings and offerings of blood drawn from the right knee b. the worship of the sun c. the goddess of luck and of the great one meaning perhaps the earth c. oracles obtained from a mirror or from a girl possessed by a spirit or from a god we also find allusions in Buddhist and Jain works as well as in the inscriptions of Ashoka to popular festivals or fairs called Samajyas which were held on the tops of hills and seemed to have included citations, dancing and perhaps dramatic performance footnote 249 Siris David's dialogues of the Buddha volume 1, page 7 note 4 and authorities there quoted and footnote these meetings were probably like the modern Mela half religion and half entertainment and it was in such surroundings that the legends and mythology in full bloom first grew and birded thus we have evidence of the existence in pre-Buddhist India of rights and beliefs, the latter chiefly of the kind called animistic disowned for the most part by the Buddhists and only tolerated by the Brahmans no elaborate explanation of this popular religion or of its relation to more intellectual and sacri-dotal cults is necessary for the same thing exists at the present today and the best commentary on the Silavagga is crooks popular religion and folklore of northern India in themselves such popular superstitions may seem despicable and repulsive as the Buddha found them but when they are numerous and vigorous as in India they have a real importance for they provide a matrix and nursery in which the beginnings of great religions may be reared Saktism and the worship of Rama Krishna together with many less conspicuous cults all entered Brahmanism in this way whenever a popular cult grew important or whenever Brahmanic influence spread to a new district possessing such a cult the popular cult was recognized and Brahmanized this policy can be abundantly illustrated for the last four or five centuries for instance in Assam and it was in operation two and a half millennium ago or earlier it explains the low and magical character of the residue of popular religion every ceremony and deity of importance being put under Brahmanic patronage and it also explains the sudden appearance of new deities we can safely assert that in the time of the Buddha and a fortiori in the time of the older Upanishads and Brahmanas, Krishna's and Rama were not prominent as deity in Hindustan but it may well be that they had a considerable position as heroes whose exploits were recited at popular festivals and that Krishna was growing into a god in other regions which have left no literature footnote 250 Krishna is perhaps mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad 3rd 176 but in any case not as a deity end footnote end of section number 32 section 33 of Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Shashank Jagmola Hinduism and Buddhism in historical sketch volume 1 by Charles Iliad the Jains footnote 251 see besides the translations mentioned below Bueller Euber the Indice sect either Jainas 1887 Hornley metaphysics and ethics of the Jainas 1908 and Querenaut the Epigraphy Jaina Jagmandarlal Jaini outlines of Jainism Jacoby's article Jainism in ERE much information may also be found in Mrs. Stevenson's Heart of Jainism Vinternet's Ghashishti the Indician Literature volume 2 part 2 1920 Treats of Jain Literature we see it end footnote part 1 before leaving pre-Buddhist India it may be well to say something of the Jains many of the doctrines especially their disregard not only of priests but of gods which seem to us so strange in any system which can be called a religion are closely analogous to Buddhism and from one point of view Jainism is part of the Buddhist movement but more accurately it may be called an early specialized form of the general movement which culminated in Buddhism its founder Mahavira was an earlier contemporary of the Buddha and not a pupil or a meditator footnote 252 in J.R.A.S. 1917 pages 122 to 123 SV Jain Kateshwara argues that Vardhaman died about 437 B.C. and that the Nigathas of the Pitaks were follower of Parsva his arguments deserve consideration but he seems not to lay sufficient emphasis on the facts that a. according to the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha and Gosala were contemporaries while according to the Jain scriptures Gosala and Vardhmana were contemporaries B. in the Buddhist scripture Nataputa is the representative of the Nagathas while according to the Jain scriptures Vardhmana was of the Nihatha clan and footnote even had its independence appearance been later we might still say that it represents an earlier stage of thought its skin shape to the theories mentioned in the last chapter is clear it denies responsibility and free will but its advocacy of extreme asceticism and death by starvation has a touch of the same extravagance and its list of elements in which physical substances and ideas are mixed together is curiously crude Jainism is atheistic and this atheism is as a rule neither apologetic nor polemical but is accepted as a natural religious attitude by atheism of course a denial of the existence of devas is not meant the Jains surpass if possible the exuberant fancy of the Brahmins and Buddhists in designing imaginary worlds and peopling them with angelic or diabolical inhabitants but as in Buddhism these beings are like mankind subject to transmigration and decay and are not the masters still less the creators of the universe there were two principle world theories in ancient India one which was systemised as the Vedanta teaches in its extreme form that the soul and the universal spirit are identical and the external world an illusion the other systemised as the Sankhya is dualistic and teaches that primordial matter and separate individual souls are both of them uncreated and indestructible both lines of thought look for salvation in the liberation of the soul to be attained by the suppression of the passions and the acquisition of true knowledge Jainism belongs to the second of these classes it teaches that the world is eternal self-existent and composed of six constituent substances souls, dharma, adharma space, time and particles of matter footnote 253 the atoms are either simple or compound and from their combinations are produced for elements earth, wind, fire and water and the whole material universe for a clear statement of the modern Jain doctrine about dharma and adharma see Jagmandar Lal Jaini as the pages 2-2-FF and footnote dharma and adharma are defined by modern Jains as subtle substances analogous to space which makes it possible for things to move or rest but Jacoby is probably right in supposing that in primitive speculation the words have their natural meaning and denoted subtle fluids which cause merit and demerit in any case the enumeration places in singular juxtaposition substances and activities the material and the immaterial the process of salvation and liberation is not distinguished from physical processes and we see how other sects may have drawn the conclusion which apparently the Jains did not draw that human action is necessitated and that there is no such thing as free will for journalism individual souls are free separate existences whose essence is pure intelligence but they have a tendency towards action and passion and are misled by false beliefs for this reason in the existence which we know they are chained to bodies and are found not only in devas and in human beings but in animals, plants and inanimate matter of the soul depends on the merit or demerit which it acquires and merit and demerit have respectively greater or less influence during immensely long periods called utsarpeni and of sarpeni ascending and descending in which human stature and the duration of life increase or decrease by a regular law merit secures birth among the gods or good men sin sends the soul to births even in inanimate substances on this downward path the intelligence is gradually dimmed till at last motion and consciousness are lost which is not however regarded as equivalent to annihilation another dogmatic exposition of the jain creed is based on seven principles called soul, non-soul influx imprisonment, exclusion dissipation and release footnote 254 jiva ajiva, asrava bandha, saavara nirjara, moksha the principles are sometimes made nine by the addition of punya merit and paap sin end footnote karma which in the ordinary language of indian philosophy means deeds and their effect on the soul is here regarded as a peculiarly subtle form of matter which enters the soul and by this influx or asrava a term well known in buddhism defiles and weighs it down footnote 255 potgalikam karma it would seem that all these ideas about karma should be taken in a literal and material sense karma which is a specially subtle form of matter able to enter pain and weigh down the soul is of eight kinds first and second jnana and darsana veranya impede knowledge and faith which the soul naturally possesses third mohania causes delusion fourth vedanya brings pleasure and pain ayushka fixes the length of life sixth nama furnishes individual characteristics and seventh gotra generic eight antaraya hinders the development of good qualities and footnote as food is transformed into flesh so the karma forms a subtle body which invests the soul and prevents it from being wholly isolated from matter at death the upward path and liberation of the soul are affected by stopping the entrance of karma that is by not performing actions which give occasion to the influx and by expelling it the most effective means to this end is self-mortification which not only prevents the entrance of new karma but annihilates what has accumulated like most Indian sex jnism considers the world of transmigration as a bondage or journey which the wise long to terminate but joyless as is its immediate outlook its ultimate ideas are not pessimistic even in the body the soul can attain a beatific state of perfect knowledge and above the highest heaven where the greatest gods live in bliss for immense periods though ultimately subject to transmigration is the paradise of blessed souls freed from transmigration footnote 2.5.6 kevilam also called jnana moksha nirvana the nirvana of the jains is clearly not incompatible with the continuance of intelligence and knowledge end footnote they have no visible form but consist of life throughout and enjoy happiness beyond compare with the materialism characteristics of jain theology the treatise from which this account is taken as that the dimensions of a perfected soul are two thirds of the height possessed in its last existence footnote 2.5.7 utradhyayana 36 64.68 in SBE 45 pages 2.1.2 to 2.1.3 end footnote how is this paradise to be reached by right faith, right knowledge right conduct called the three jewels a phrase familiar to buddhism the right faith is complete confidence in mahavira and his teaching right knowledge is correct theology as outlined above knowledge is of 5 degrees of which the highest is called kevilam or omniscience this sounds ambitious but the special method of reasoning favoured by the jains is the modest siadwada or doctrine of may be which holds that you can first affirm the existence of a thing from one point of view second deny it from another and third affirm both existence and non-existence with reference to it at different times if fourth you should think of affirming existence and non-existent at the same time and from the same point of view you must say that the thing cannot be spoken of footnote 2.5.8 SBE 45 page 27 bandarka report for 1883 to 1884 pages 95 and footnote the essence of the doctrine so far as one can disentangle it from the scholastic terminology seems just for it amounts to this that as to matters of experience it is possible to formulate the whole and complete truth and as to matters which transcend experience language is inadequate also that being is associated with production, continuation and destruction this doctrine is called anekantavada meaning that being is not one an absolute as the Upanishads assert matter is permanent but changes its shape and its other accidents thus in many points the gents adopt the common sense and prima facie point of view doctrines of madam psychoses and karma are also admitted as obvious propositions and though the fortunes and struggles of the embodied solar described in materialistic terms happiness is never placed in material well-being but in liberation from the material universe we cannot be sure that the existing gents scriptures present these doctrines in their original form but the full acceptance of madam psychoses the animistic belief that the plants, particles of earth and water have souls and the materialistic phraseology from which the widely different speculations of the Upanishads are by no means free agree with what we know of indian thought about 550 bc journalism like buddhism ignores the efficacy of ceremonies and the powers of priests but it bears even fewer signs than buddhism of being in its origin a protestant or hostile movement the intellectual atmosphere seems other than that of the Upanishads but it is very nearly that of the Sankhya philosophy which also recognizes an infinity of individual souls radically distinct from matter incapable of attaining bliss only by isolation from matter of the origin of that important school we know nothing but it differs from journalism chiefly in the greater elaboration of its psychological and evolutionary theories and in the elimination of some materialistic ideas possibly the same region and climate of opinion give birth to two doctrines one simple and practical in as much as it found its principal expression in a religious order the other more intellectual and scholastic and at least in the form in which we read it later footnote 259 somewhat similar seems to be the correlation of Jainism to the Vasheshika philosophy it accepted an early form of the atomic theory and this theory was subsequently elaborated in the philosophy whose founder Kanyada was according to Jains a pupil of a Jain aesthetic and footnote right conduct is based on the five values taken by every Jain aesthetic one not to kill two not to speak in truth three to take nothing that is not given four to observe chastity five to renounce all pleasure in external objects these vows receive an extensive and strict interpretation by means of five explanatory clauses applicable to each and to be constructed with reference to deed, word and thought to acting, commanding and consenting thus the vow not to kill forbids not only the destruction of the smallest insect but also all speech or thought which could bring about a quarrel and the doing, causing or permitting of any action which could bring even inadvertently injured living beings such as carelessness in walking naturally such rules can be kept only by an aesthetic and in addition to them aestheticism is expressly it is either internal or external the former takes such forms as repentance, humility meditation and suppression of all desires the latter compromises various forms of self-denial culminating in death by starvation this form of religious suicide is prescribed for those who have undergone 12 years penance and a ripe for nirvana but it is wrong if adopted as a means of shortening austerities footnote 260 example given see asaranga si7 6 end footnote numerous inscriptions record such deaths and the head teachers of the digambaras are said still to leave the world in this way important but not peculiar to jenism is the doctrine of the periodical appearance of great teachers who from time to time restore the true faith footnote 261 they seem to have authority to formulate it in a form suitable to the needs of the age thus we are told that parshwa enjoyed four vows but mahavira 5 end footnote the same idea meets us in the 14 manus the incarnations of vishnu and the series of buddhas who preceded gotama the jain saints are sometimes designated as buddha kevelin siddha and arhat all buddhist titles buddhya special appellation is jina or conqueror which is however also used by buddhists footnote 262 when gotama after retaining buddhahood was on his way to banaras he met upaka a naked ascetic to whom he declared that he was the supreme buddha then said upaka you profess to be the jina and gotama replied that he did tasma ham upaka jinoti mahavag 1610 end footnote it was clearly a common notion in India that great teachers appear at regular intervals and that one might reasonably be expected in the 6th century BC the jains gave preference or prominence to the titles jina or tirthankara the buddhists to buddha or taggagata part 2 according to the jain scriptures all jinas are born in the warrior caste never among brahmans the first called reshaba who was born an almost inexpressibly long time ago and lived 8,400,000 years was the son of a king of Ayodhya footnote 263 the exact period is 100 billion sagras of years a sagra is 100 billion palyas a palya is the period in which a well a mile deep filled with fine hairs can be emptied if one hair is withdrawn every 100 years end footnote but as ages elapsed the lives of his successors and the intervals which separated them became shorter parsva the 23rd jina must have some historical basis footnote 264 see emblem field life and stories of parsva vanatha 1919 footnote we are told that he lived 250 years before mahavira that his followers still existed in the time of the latter that he permitted the use of clothes and taught that 4 and not 5 vows were necessary footnote 265 see the discussions between followers of parsva and mahavira given in utradhyayana 24 and sutra krithanga 27 end footnote both jain and buddha scripture support the idea that mahavira was a reviver and reformer rather than an originator the former do not emphasize the novelty of his revelation and the later treat journalism as a well-known form of error without indicating that it was either new or attributable to one individual mahavira or the great hero is the common designation of the 24th jina but his personal name was vardhamana he was a contemporary of the buddha but somewhat older and belonged to a kshatriya clan variously called jiniyata, neyata or neaya his parents lived in a suburb of vaishali and were followers of parsva when he was in his 31st year they decided to die by voluntary salvation and after their death he renounced the world and started to wander naked in western Bengal enduring some persecution as well as self-inflicted penances after 13 years of this life he believed that he had attained enlightenment and appeared as the jina the head of a religious order called nirgantanas or negantas this word which means unfettered or free from bonds is the name by which the jens are generally known in buddhist literature and it occurs in their own scriptures though it gradually fell out of use possibly it was the designation of an order claiming to have been founded by parsva and accepted by mahavira the megan account of his life relate that he continued to travel for nearly 30 years and 11 principal disciples he apparently influenced much the same region as the buddha and came in contact with the same personalities such as king bimbisara ajatsattu he had relations with makhali ghosala and his disciples disputed with the buddhist but it does not appear that he himself ever met gothama footnote 266 there are many references to negantas in the buddhist scriptures and the buddha while by no means accepting their views treats them with tolerance thus he bates siha general of the lichchavis who became his disciple after being an adherent of nataputta to continue to give alms as before to negatha aesthetics mahavag 632 end footnote he died at the age of 72 at pava near rajgaha only one of his principal disciples sudharman survived him and his shesam broke out immediately after his death there had already been one in the 15th year of his teaching brought about by his son in law part 3 we have no information about the differences on which the shesams turned but journalism is still split into two sex which though following in most respects identical doctrines and customs refuse to intermarry or eat together the sacred literature is not the same and the evidence of inscriptions indicates that they were distinct at the beginning of the christian era and perhaps much earlier the digambara sect or those who are clothed in air maintain that absolute nudity is a necessary condition of saintship the other division which were tambaras those who are dressed in white admit that mahavira went about naked but hold that the use of clothes does not impede the highest sanctity and also that such sanctity can be attained by women which the digambaras deny nudity as a part of asceticism was practiced by several sex in the time of mahavira but it was also reprobated by others including all buddhists who wanted to be barbarous and unedifying footnote 267 especially among the ajivikas their leader Gosala had a personal quarrel with mahavira but his teaching was almost identical except that he was a fatalist and footnote it is therefore probable that buddhigambaras and swetambaras existed in the infancy of jenism and the latter may represent the oldest sect reformed or exaggerated by mahavira thus we are told that the law taught by vurdimana forbids clothes but that of the great sage parshwa allows an under and upper garment footnote 268 utradhyayana 23 29 and footnote but it was not until considerably later that the schism was completed by the constitution of two different canons footnote 269 according to swetambara tradition there was a great schism 609 years after mahavira's death the canon was not fixed until 904 or 454 AD of the same era the digambara traditions are different but appear to be later and footnote at the present day most digambaras wear the ordinary costume of the district and only the higher ascetics attempt to observe the rule of nudity when they go about they wrap themselves in a large cloth but lay it aside when eating the digambaras are divided into four principal sects and the swetambaras into no less than 84 which are said to date from the 10th century AD apart from these divisions all Jain communities are differentiated into laymen and members of the order or yatis literally strivers it is recognized that laymen cannot observe the five vows killing, lying and stealing are forbidden to them only in their obvious and gross forms chastity is replaced by conjugal fidelity and self-denial by the prohibition of covetousness they can also acquire merit by observing seven other miscellaneous vows whence we hear of the 12 fold law comprising rules as to residence, trade etc agriculture is forbidden since it involves tearing up the ground and the death of insects Mahavira was succeeded by a long line of teachers sometimes called patriarchs and it would seem that their names have been correctly preserved though the accounts of their doings are meager various notices in Buddhist literature confirm the idea that the Jains were active in the districts corresponding to Oud, Tirhat and Bihar in the period following Mahavira's death and we hear of them in Ceylon before our era further historical evidence is afforded by inscriptions footnote 270 see especially Guernot repertoire the epigraphy Jaina and footnote the earliest in which the Jains are mentioned are the edicts of Ashoka he directed the officials called superintendents of religion to concern themselves with the Nigantha footnote 271 so Bueller pillar edict number 8 Sennart inscription they Piyadasi 2 97 translates somewhat differently but the reference to the Jains is not disputed and footnote and when he describes how he has provided medicine useful plants and wells for both men and animal we are reminded of the hospitals for animals which are still maintained by the Jains footnote 272 edict 8 and footnote according to Jain tradition which however has not yet been verified by other evidence Samrapati the grandson of Ashoka was a devout patron of the faith more certain is the patronage according to it by King Kharvel of Odisha about 157 BC which is attested by inscriptions many dedicatory inscriptions prove that the Jains flourishing community at Mutra in the reigns of Kanishka Hovishka and Vasudeva and one inscription from the same locality seems as old as 150 BC we learn from these records that the sect comprised a great number of schools and subdivisions we need not suppose that the different teachers were necessarily hostile to one another but their existence testifies to an activity and freedom of interpretation which have left traces in the multitude of modern subjects Jainism also spread in the south of India and before Arreara it had a strong hold in Tamil lands but a knowledge of its early progress is defective according to Jain tradition there was a severe famine in northern India about 200 years after Mahavira's death and the patriarch Badrabahu led a band of the faithful to the south footnote 273 rise Mysore and Kurg from the inscriptions 1909 page 310 things that certain inscriptions at Shravana Belgola in Mysore established that this tradition is true and also that the expedition was accompanied by King Chandragupta who had abdicated and become a genocetic but this interpretation has been much criticized and probably true that a migration occurred and increased the differences which ultimately led to the division into Shwetambara's and the Gambara's and footnote in the 7th century AD we know from various records of the reign of Harsha and from Chinese pilgrims Swanshuang that it was nourishing in Vaishali and Bengal and also as far south as Conjiveram there was considerable progress in the southern Maratha country under the Chalukya dynasty at Watapi in the modern district of Bijapur 500 to 750 and under the Rashtrakuta sovereigns of the Deccan Amogavarsha of this line 815 to 877 patronized the the Gambara's and in his old age abdicated and became an ascetic the names of notable the Gambara leaders like Jena Sena and Gunabhadra dating from this period are preserved and Jainism must in some district have become the dominant religion Bijjala who acerbed the Chalukya throne 1156 to 1167 was a Jain and the holy Salah kings of Mysore though themselves Vaishnavas protected the religion inscriptions appear to attest the presence of Jainism at Girnar in the first century A.D. and subsequently Gujarat became a model Jain state after the conversion of king Kumarapal about 1160 footnote 274 where in not epic Jaina number 11 and footnote such success naturally incurred the enmity of the Brahmans and there is more evidence of systematic persecution directed against the Jains than against the Buddhists the Chola kings who ruled in the southeast of the Madras presidency were jealous worshippers of Shiva and the Jains suffered severely other hands in the 11th century and also under the Pandya kings of the extreme south King Sundara of the Lata dynasty is said to have impaled 8000 of them and pictures on the walls of the great temple at Madura represent their tortures a little later 1174 Ajaydeva a Shaiva king of Gujarat is said to have raged against them with equal fury the rise of the Lingayats in the Deccan must also have had an unfavorable effect on their numbers but in the 14th century greater tolerance prevailed perhaps in consequence of the common danger from Islam inscriptions found at Bhelgola and other places narrate an interesting event which occurred in 1368 footnote 275 rise Mysore and Kaur from the inscriptions 1909 pages 113 to 114 and 207 to 208 and footnote the Jains appeared to the king of Vijayanagar for protection from persecution and he affected a public reconciliation between them and the Vaishnavas holding the hands of both leaders in his own and declaring that equal protection would be given to both sects another inscription records an amicable agreement regulating the worship of a Lingam in a Jain temple at Halibut many others chiefly recording grants of land to the prosperity of Jainism in the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and in the region of Mount Abu in the 16th and 17th centuries footnote 276 similar tolerance is attested by inscriptions example given Guernot numbers 522 and 5776 recording donations to both Jain and Shaiva temples and footnote Emperor Akbar himself came under the influence of Jainism and received instructions from three Jain teachers from 1578 to 1597 persecution and still more the steady pressure and absorptive power of Hinduism have reduced the proportions of the sect and the last census estimated it at one million and a third it is probable however that many Jains return themselves to Hindus and that their numbers are really greater more than two-fifths of them are found in Bombay, Rajputana and Central India elsewhere they are generally distributed but only in small numbers they observe caste at least in some districts and generally belong to the Baniyas they include many wealthy merchants who expand large sums on the construction and maintenance of temples houses for wandering aesthetics and homes for cattle their respect and care for animal life are remarkable wherever Jains gain influence beasts are not slaughtered or sacrificed and when old or injured are often kept in hospitals or asylums has for instance at Ahmedabad Footnote 277 they also make a regular practice of collecting and rearing young animals which the owner throw away or wish to kill and footnote their aesthetics take stringent precautions to avoid killing the smallest creatures they strain their drinking water sweep the ground before them with the broom as they walk and wear a veil over their mouths even in the shops of the Liety lamps are carefully screened to prevent insects from burning themselves the principal divisions Adidigambra and Shwetambra as above described and an offshoot of the later call Dhundia who refused to use images and worship and are remarkable even among Jains for their aversion to taking life Footnote 278 or Sthanakavasi see for them Census of India 1911 page 127 and Baroda page 93 the sect was founded about AD 1653 end footnote in central India the Digambaras are about half the total number in Baroda and Bombay the Shwetambaras are stronger in central India the Jains are said to be sharply distinguished from Hindus but in other parts they intermarry the Vaishnavas and while respecting their own aesthetics as religious teachers employ the services of Brahmins in their ceremonies part 4 the Jains have a copious and impart ancient literature the oldest works are found in the Canon or Siddhanta of the Shwetambaras which is not accepted by the Digambaras in this Canon the highest rank is given to 11 works called Angas or limbs of the law but it also comprises many other esteemed treatises such as the Kalpasutra ascribed to Bhadrabahu footnote 279 their names are as follows in Jain prakrit the Sanskrit equivalent being given in Brachita 1. Ayaranga Suttam Akaranga 2. Suya Gadangam Sutra Kritangam 3. Thanangam Sutra 4. Samavayangam 5. Viyahapanyati Vyakhya Prajnapati this work is commonly known as Bhagavati 6. Nyaya Dhamma Kahau Jnata Dharma Katha 7. Uvasa Gadasao Uvasa Gadasao 8. Anta Gadasao Anta Kridad 9. Uvasa Gadasao 8. Anta Gadasao Anta Kridad 9. Anuta Rao Vavay Dasao Anuta Rao Papatikad 10. Panha Vagarnayam Prasna Vyakaranani 11. Vivaagay Suyam Vipakasrutham The books marked with an estrex have been translated by Jacobi SBE volumes 22 and 14 The books marked with an estrex have been translated by Jacobi SBE volumes 22 and 14 Haranle and Barnet C2, Weber, Indishi Studio BD 16 Pages to 11 to 479 and BD 18 Pages 1 to 90 End footnote 14 older books called Puvas The language of the Canaan is a variety of Prakrit fairly ancient, though more modern than Pali and remarkable for its habit of omitting or softening consonants coming between two vavals example given Suyam for Sutram Lu for Loko Fertner 280 It is called Arsha or Ardhamagadi and is the literary form of the vernacular of Birar in the early centuries of the Christian era See, at Jacobi Oskevalte Erzah Lungan in Maharashtri an introduction to edition of Ayuranga Sutta Footnote 280 The titles given in note 2 illustrate some of its peculiarities End footnote We cannot, however, conclude that it is the language in which the books were composed for it is probable that the early rejecting Brahmanical notions of a revealed text handed down their religious teachings in the vernacular and allowed its grammar and phonetics to follow the changes brought about by time According to a tradition which probably contains elements of truth the first collection of secret works was made about 200 years after Mahavira's death by a council which sat at Patliputra Just about the same time came the famine already mentioned and many Jains migrated to the south When they returned they found that their co-religionists had abandoned the obligation of nakedness and they consequently refused to recognize their secret books The Shwetambara canon was subsequently revised and written down by a council held at Valabi in Gujarat in the middle of the 5th century AD This is the edition which is still extant of the Digambaras which is less well known is said to be chiefly in Sanskrit and according to tradition was codified by Pushpadanta in the 2nd century AD but appears to be really posterior to the Shwetambara scriptures Footnote 282 When I visited Shavna Bel Gola in 1910 the head of the Jains there who professed to be a Digambara though dressed in purple raiment informed me that their secret works were partly in Sanskrit and partly in Prakrit He showed me a book called Trilokasara and footnote It is divided into four sections called Vedas and treating respectively of history, cosmology, philosophy and rules of life Footnote 283 But see Jagmandarlal Jaini as the appendix 5 and footnote Though the books of the Jain canon contain ancient matter yet they seem as compositions considerably later than the older parts of the Buddhist Tripitaka They do not claim to record recent events and teaching but are attempts at synthesis which assume that Jainism is well known and respected In style they offer some resemblance to the Pitakas There is the same inordinate love of repetition and in the more emotional passages great similarity of tone and metaphor Footnote 284 Compare for instance Uttaradhyayana 10 23 and 25 with the Sutta Nipata and Dhammapada End footnote Besides the two canons the Jains have considerable literature consisting both of commentaries and secular works The most imminent of their authors is Hemachandra born in 1088 who though a monk was an ornament of the court and rendered an important service to his sect by converting Kumarapala, king of Gujarat He composed numerous and valuable works on grammar lexicography, poetics and esyliastical biography Such subjects were congenial to the later Jain writers and they not only cultivated both Sanskrit and Prakrit but also had a vivifying effect on the vernaculars of the southern India Kanaris, Tamil and Telugu in the literary form omuch to the labours of Jain monks and the Jain works composed in these languages such as Jiva Kasin Tamani in Tamil if not of worldwide importance at least greatly influenced Dravidian civilization Though the Jains thus occupy an honourable and even distinguished place in the history of letters it must be confessed that it is hard to praise their older religious books This literature is of considerable scientific interest for it contains many data about ancient India as yet unsifted but it is tedious in style and rarely elevated in sentiment It has an added extravagance which merely piles one above the other interminable lists of names and computations of immensity in time and space Even more than in the Buddhist sutras there is a tendency to repetition which offends our sense of proportion and though the main idea to free the soul from the trammels of passion and matter is not inferior to any of the religious themes of India the treatment is not adequate to the subject and the councils of perfection are smothered under a mass of minute precepts about the most unsavory details of life and culminate in the recommendation of death by voluntary starvation Chapter 5 But observation of journalism as it exists today produces a quite different impression The gents are well-to-do industrious and practical Their schools and religious establishments are well-ordered The temples have a beauty cleanliness and cheerfulness unusual in India and due to the large use made of white marbles and brilliant colors The tenderness for animal life may degenerate into superstition though surely it is a fault on the right side and some observances of the ascetics such as pulling out the hair instead of shaving the head are severe but as a community the gents lead sane and serious lives hardly practising and certainly not parading the extravagances of self-torture which they theoretically commend Mahavira is said to have taught that place, time and occasion should be taken into consideration and his successors adapted their precepts to the age in which they lived Such monks as I have met maintain that extreme forms of tapas work good for the nerves of ancient saints but not for weaker natures of today but in avoiding rigorous severity they have not fallen into sloth or luxury Footnote 285 I have only visited establishments in towns possibly yattis who follow a severe rule may be found in the country especially among the gambras and footnote the beauty of jenism finds its best expression in architecture this reached its zenith both in style and quantity during the 11th and 12th centuries which accords with what we know of the growth of the sect after this period the Muhammadan's invasions were unfavorable to all forms of Hindu architecture but the taste for building remained and somewhat later pious chance again began to construct large edifices which are generally less degenerate than modern Hindu temples though they often show traces of Muhammadan influence Hathi Singh's temple at Ahimdabad completed in 1848 is a fine example of this modern style there is a considerable difference between jen and buddhist architecture both in intention and effect jen monks did not live together in large communities and there was no worship of relics hence the vihara and the stupa the two principal type of buddhist buildings are both absent yet there is some resemblance between jen temples for instance those at palitana and the larger Burmese sanctuaries such as the Shwedaagon pagoda it is partly due to the same conviction namely that the most meritorious work which a layman can perform is to multiply shrines and images in both localities the general plan is similar on the top of a hill or mound is a central building round which are grouped a multitude of other shrines the repetition of chapels and images is very remarkable in Burma they all represent gotama in jen temples the figures of the Tirtankaras are nominally different personalities but so alike in presentment that the laity rarely know them apart in both styles of art white and jewelled images are common as well as groups of four sitting figures set back to back and facing the four quarters footnote 286 in Gujarat they are called chomukhi and it is said when a Tirtankara preached in the midst of his audience each side saw him facing them in Burma the four figures are generally said to be the last four buddhas and footnote in both we meet with veritable cities of temples on the hill tops of Gujarat and in the plain of Pagan on the banks of the Irabadi as some figures of Burmese art are undoubtedly borrowed from India the above characteristics may be due to imitation of jen methods footnote 287 this seems clear from the presence in Burma of curvilinear Sikra and even of copies of Indian temples example given of both Gaya at Pagan Burmese pilgrims to Gaya might easily have visited Mount Parasnaat on their way and footnote it might be argued that the architectural style of late Indian Buddhism survives amongst the jens but there is no proof that the multiplication of temples and images was a feature of the style but in some points it is clear that the jens have followed the artistic conventions of the buddhists thus Parshvanatha is sheltered by a cobra's hood and though the buddhi tree plays no part in the legend of Tirthankaras they are represented as sitting under such trees and a living tree is venerated at Palitana as single edifices illustrating the beauty of Jain art both in grace of design and patient elaboration of workshop may be mentioned the towers of fame and victory at Chittor and the temples of Mount Abu some differences of style are visible in North and South India in the former the essential features are a shrine with a portico attached and surmounted by a conical tower the whole placed in a quadrangular court round which are a series of cells or chapels containing images seated on thrones these are the Tirthankaras almost exactly alike and of white marble though some of the later saints are represented as black the Gambaras represented their Tirthankaras as cloth but in the temples of the Gambaras the images are naked in the south are found religious monuments of two kinds known as bastis and bitus the bastis consist of pillared vestibules leading to a shrine over which rises a dome constructed in three or four stages the bitus are not temples in the ordinary sense there are surrounding gigantic images of a saint named Gometeshwara who is said to have been the son of the first Tirthankara footnote 288 I have this information from the Jain guru at Shravnabel Gulla he said that Gometeshwara who seems unknown to the Shwetambaras was a kavelin but not a Tirthankaras and footnote the largest of these is at Shravnabel Gulla it is 70 feet in height and carved out of a mass of granite standing on the top of a hill and represents a sage so sunk in meditation that anthills and creepers have grown round his feet without breaking his trance an inscription states that it was erected about 983 AD by the minister of a king of the Ganga dynasty footnote 289 two others rather smaller are known one at Karkal dated 1431 and one at Yannur these images are honored at occasional festivals one was held at Shravnabel Gulla in 1910 attended by a considerable concourse of Jains these type of statues is not Buddhist they are nude and represent sages meditating in a standing position as Buddhists prescribe a sitting posture for meditation and footnote but even more remarkable than these gigantic statues are the collection of temples found on several eminences such as Girnar and Satranjaya mountain masses which rise abruptly to a height of 3 or 4,000 feet out of level plains footnote 290 the mountain of Satranjaya rises above Palitana the capital of a native state in Gujarat other collections of temples are found on the hill of Parasnath in Bengal at Sonagir near Datia and Mukthagiri near Gwaligarh there are also a good many of the hills above Rajgir and footnote on the summit of Satranjaya are innumerable shrines arranged in marble coats paved streets in each enclosure is a central temple surrounded by others at the sides and all are dominated by one which in the proportions of its spire and courtyard surpasses the rest only a few Yatis are allowed to pass the night in the sacred precincts and it is a strange experience to enter the gates and dawn and wander through the interminable succession of white marble courts tenanted only by flocks and secret pigeons on every side sculptures, chapels gorgeous in golden colours stand silent and open within are saints sitting grave and passionless behind the lights that burn on their altars the multitude of calm stone vases the strange silence and emptiness unaccompanied by any sign of neglect or decay and bewildering repetition of shrines and Yatis in this serial castle suggest nothing built with human purpose but some petrified spirit world soon after dawn a string of devotees daily ascends the hill most are laymen but there is a considerable sprinkling of aesthetics especially nuns after joining the order both sexes wear yellowish white robes and carry long steaks they spend much of their time in visiting holy places and usually do not stop at one rest house for more than two months transformed in the temples consist of simple offerings of flowers, incense and lights made with little ceremony pilgrims go their rounds in small bands and kneeling together before the images sing the praises to the genus part 6 it is remarkable that jenisum is still a living sect whereas the Buddhists have disappeared from India its strength and persistence are centred in its power of enlisting the interest of the laity and of forming them into a corporation in theory the position of the jen and buddhist laymen is the same both revere and support a religious order for which they have not a vocation and are bound by minor vows less stringent than those of the monks but among the buddhists the members of the order came to be regarded more and more as the true church and the laity tended to become what they actually have become in China and Japan pious persons who revere that order as something extraneous to themselves and very often only as one among several religious organizations footnote 291 the strength of buddhism in Burma and Siam is no doubt largely due to the fact that custom obligees everyone to spend part of his life if only a few days as a member of the order and footnote hence when in Indian monasteries decayed or were destroyed little active buddhism was left outside them but the wandering ascetics of the jens never concentrated the strength of the religion in themselves to the same extent the severity of their rule limited their numbers the laity were wealthy and practically formed a caste persecution acted as a tonic as a result we have a sect analogous in some ways to Jews, Parsis and Quakers among all of whom we find the same features namely a wealthy laity little or no, secular totalism and endurance of persecution footnote 292 one might perhaps add to this list the scoped sea of Russia and the Armenian colonies European and Asiatic towns end footnote another question of some interest is how far jenism should be regarded as separate from buddhism historically the position seems clear both are offshoots of a movement which was active in India in the 6th century BC in certain districts and especially among the aristocracy of these offshoots the survivors among many which hardly outlived their birth buddhism was a trifle the earlier but buddhism was superior and more satisfying to the intellect and moral sense alike out of the theory and practice of religious life current in their time gotama fashioned a beautiful vase mahavira a homely but still durable pot the resemblances between the two systems are not merely obvious but fundamental both had their origin outside the priestly class and owed much protection of princes both preach a road to salvation open to man's unaided strength and needing neither sacrifice nor revealed lore both are universal for though buddhism set about its world mission with more knowledge and grasp of the task the jain sutras are addressed to Aryans and non-Aryans and it is said that in modern times Mohammedans have been received into the jain church neither is theistic both believe in some form of reincarnation in karma and in the periodical appearance of beings possessed of superhuman knowledge and called indifferently genus or buddhas the historian may therefore be disposed to regard the two religions as not differing much more than the varieties of protestant dissenters to be found in great Britain but the theologian will perceive real differences one of the most important doctrines of buddhism perhaps in the buddha's own esteem the central doctrine is the non-existence of the soul as a permanent entity in jainism on the contrary not only the human body but the whole world including inanimate matter is inhibited by individual souls who can also exist apart from matter in individual blessedness the jain theory of five-fold knowledge is known to the buddhists as is the theory of the skandhas to the jains secondly as to practice jainism teaches with some concessions in modern times that salvation is obtainable by self-motification but this is the method which the buddha condemned after prolonged trial it is clear that in his own opinion and that of his contemporaries the rule and ideal of life which he prescribed differed widely those of the jains, ajivikas and other wandering aesthetics end of section 33