________________
The Oldest Living Religion
53
and my own belief is that Jainism was the religion of the Dravidian people who were the pre-Aryan inhabitants of India. The Aryans came with their own ideas based upon ritualism and animal sacrifice, and the promi. neace given to the revival in the time of Lord Mahāvīra is only an indication of that feeling of revolt which came amongst the vast masses of Jainas in this country against this new cult and the practices which were the antithesis of the principles that the Jainas believed in”.
The oldest mystic symbols of India, like the svastika, Tridanda (or Triśūla representing Tri-Ratna), Dharma Cakra (wheel of law and the time wheel), the Nandyā: varta aod Vardhamanakya (or the Nandipada), the tree, the stūpa, the crescent, lotus, animals like bull, elephant, lion, crab, serpent, and several others are found to have commonly used by the Jaioas from the earliest times, even before they were adopted by Brāhm anism and Buddhism, and also before icon making became a fashion. And there have been discovered certain prehistoric paintings in some Neolithic caves, tens of thousands years old, such as at Singanpur in Raigarh state which bear unmistakable traces of Jaina influence in these primitive times. Even the religious ideas of Palcolithic and Neolithic men in India, whatever little is known of them, bear close resemblance to the cardinal features of Jaina philosho phy, i.e. animism, life after death, existence and eternal nature of soul, the psychic phenomenon of cause and effect resembling the Jaina doctrine of Karma,
1 Jain Gazette, June 1943, p. 83-85.
2 Pre historic Jaina Paintings --JA, X, 2 and XI, 1, also see Pre-historic India by P. C. Mitra
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
