Jainism the Oldest Living Religion

SR No.: 001195
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jyoti Prasad Jain, Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi
Publication Year: 1988
Total Pages: 66
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, History, Religion, E000, & E999
File Size: 3 MB

Page 31

24
Jainism
In is also quite independent of the Erahmanic version»1 says Dr. H. S. Bhattacharya. And further that “Thus the very fact that the Jainas have respectfully embodied the Rāma stoiy in their sacred lore is almost a proof conclusive that it is more than philosophical speculation in symbolic garb and that it may have a historical basis. Under the circumstances one would not be unjustified in holding that the Fāma story has at least a core of historical truth”. 2
In fact the oldest available Jaina version of this story, that is Pauma Cariu of Vimala Sūri, 3 belongs about to the same period as the oldest Brāhmanic version, the Fāmāyana of Vālmīki i.e. to the first century B.C. Moreover, the Jaina Samsksta Padma Purāna (7th century A. D.), Svayambhū Fāmāyaṇna of Apabhramśa (8th century A.D.), the Munisuvrata Kavya and Purānas did no less to preserve and popularise the story than the Brāhmanic Purāṇas and vernacular Rāmāyaṇas of comparatively much later dates.
But in what the Jaina version differs from the Brāhmanic Rāmāyaṇa, throws a very significant light on the position of Jainism. According to the Jaina version, lāvana and his Rākşasas were highly cultured people belonging to the race of Vidyadharas and were great devotees of Jina. Here unlike the Hindu epics they are not depicted as hideous looking, evil natured, irreligious demons, }ākşasas, Piśācas or Asuras, but certainly as antagonistic to the sacrificial cult of the Vedic sages. And it is why, as Dr. Ehattacharya observed that “Considering these two accounts together some of the present day scholars vehemently urge that the Vedic people denounced the Rākşasas because they were Jainas, and say that the descriptions of the Faksasas in Vālmiki's Fāmāyaṇa clearly show that they could not be other tban Jainas, and that the author of the Rāmāyaṇa presented them in hideous forms, simply
1 Heroes of the Jaina legends-J.A., XIII, 2, p. 21. 2 J.A., XIV, 1, p. 13. 3 An Advanced History of India, p. 142.