Nandisutt and Anuogaddaraim

SR No.: 001062
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

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The belief in rebirth as also in the cycle of births and deaths has a close connection with the vows, viz. non-violence, etc. And the concepts of rebirth and the cycle of births and deaths being absent in the Vedas, the topic of the universal vows could naturally be not found in it-this is an argument the scholars are now adducing to explain the fact of the absence of the topic of the five great vows in the Vedas. The view is a result of their impartial historical attitude and also of their sharp intellect. Again, the practice of idol-worship had its place in the religion of the indigenous people of India, while in the Vedas we find no reference to the same. Of course, afterwards when the Aryans came in contact with the aborigines the former borrowed from the latter the practice in question. Moreover, in the Vedic age the Aryans worshipped or adored the deities through some symbols, while in the religion of the aborigines the worship was addressed directly to the deties themselves. The tradition of yoga (spiritual discipline) and dhyāna (spiritual concentration) is conspicuous by its absence in the Vedas, while the fact that it had an honoured place in the religion of the aborigines stands corroborated by the remains and relics of of the Indus Culture. Thus the scholars have sought out many points that differentiate the Vedic religion from the religion of the
author observes : "On the other hand, however, it indicates that with the primitive Aryan, life-even human life--was of very little consequence. Living that he was in the environment of a warrior, shedding of blood and cutting of the throat were the order of the day and the Aryan was quite familiar with such horrid occurrences. He had, therefore, no scruples or hesitation in sacrificing any living being to gain some ephemeral or ethereal end.......... In the Brāhmaṇas we notice the beginning of a change. There seems to run by the side of the current of Himsā'an under-current of 'Ahimsa!." (p. 98)
We are constrained to believe that this suggested undercurrent of Ahimsā was the result of the influence of another culture, though the author has not clearly stated this. Moreover, the author has observed that the current of Ahimsā which was (originally) developed in the Brāhmaṇa tradition was further augmented and gained force in the Buddhist and Jaina Conduct (p. 101). Instead he should have said that the very current of Ahimsā which influenced the Vedic people and which morally forced them to accept the principle of Non-violence-we find in the Jaina and Buddhist scriptures in a more developed form.
"If Dr. Zimmer's view is correct, however, the Pre-Aryan, Dravidian religion was rigorously moral and systematically Dualistic years before the birth of Zoroaster. This would seem to suggest that in Zoroastrianism a resurgence of Pre-Aryan factors in Iran, following a period of Aryan supremacy, may be represented-something comparable to the Dravidian resurgence in India in the form of Jainism and Buddhism." Zimmer: Philosophies of India, p. 185. Note 6 by the Editor-Campbell.