Page Text
________________
...[7]...
and Buddhist Ethics have their roots in the Vedic Dharmasastras. To-day in its place the tendency is gaining ground to treat the Ethics presented in the Vedic Dharmasastras as borrowed from the non-Vedic tradition. That non-Vedic tradition could be termed as the Muni-, Yati- or Śramana tradition, the last term being frequently used in the later literature. In this connection we may term the Vedic tradition as the Brāhmaṇa tradition. So, in short we can well say that all the post-Vedic sastras of the Brahmana tradition evince ever greater influence of the Śramana tradition. The Brahmaṇas created the Vedas and the Vedic tradition, and the Śramanas developed their own originally Indian tradition. At the time of the advent of the Aryans these two traditions were clearly distinct, but even afterwards they preserved their individuality and developed along their respective lines, a mutual cultural exchange notwithstanding. There is no reason to cast doubt on the correctness of this view.
The Vedas contain the doctrine of Creation, while the scriptures of the Sramanas contain the theory of the cycle of births and deaths. According to the Vedic thought there is only one ultimate element which serves as the root cause of Creation, while, according to the Śramanas, the cycle of births and deaths (i. e. the mortal world) is a result of the connection of two ultimate elements-one living and the other non-living. The Śramanas do not maintain that Creation has started at a particular time; they consider this mortal worldthe cycle of births and deaths-to be beginningless.
We are disappointed when we study the Vedas with a view to discovering there the topic of the 'five great vows', vows that constitute the universal religion. The history of how the attitude of the Vedas which was originally hostile to Non-violence and Nonpossession gradually changed and also of how even in the Vedic tradition the five universal vows found a dignified place is very interesting. An impartial investigator cannot but hold that such a phenomenon could have occurred only through the influence of the Śramana tradition.3
3. "The Vedic people were self-centred and whenever and wherever they performed a sacrifice they were always actuated by the motive of self-interest and never of self-renunciation or self-denial as we notice in the post-Vedic times.
The offering of the domesticated and highly useful animal such as a horse, a cow, etc. as a gift to the God was done not with a view to do homage to the deity but to secure some immediate end through the agency of the deity. Killing of whatever kind was of very little consequence to the Vedic community when it suited their purpose."'Morals in the Brahmaņas': by Dr. H. R. Karnik-p. 97, Journal of the University of Bombay: Sept. 1958 (Arts Number-33). Further the same
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
| SR No. | 001062 |
| Book Title | Nandisutt and Anuogaddaraim |
| Original Sutra Author | Devvachak, Aryarakshit |
| Author | Punyavijay, Dalsukh Malvania, Amrutlal Bhojak |
| Publisher | Mahavir Jain Vidyalay |
| Publication Year | 1968 |
| Total Pages | 764 |
| Language | Prakrit |
| Classification | Book_Devnagari, Agam, Canon, Ethics, agam_nandisutra, & agam_anuyogdwar |
| File Size | 14 MB |