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Jainism
and so on. There is also sufficient evidence to show that there had always been non-violent Abimsite people depending solely on vegetable diet, side by side with meateating violent natures. The religion of very ancient pre-dynastic Egypt, supposed to be lacs of years old also appears to be quite akin to Jainism. In fact, in the words of Forlong "It is impossible to find the begioning of Jainism”. According to the Jainas themselves their religion is eternal, it existed even before Rşabha, and even the date of Rşa bha that they give is beyond computation.
But to come back to the hard facts of scientific history, according to the geologists, anrthopo-geographers and other pre-historicians, the last of the primeval ice age ended about eight to ten thousand years before Christ, and with it the Postglacial epoch commenced. This is also the time assigned to the closing period of the Neolithic age (the new stone age) of the Quartenary epoch. It was also near about this time that the so called Aryan people are said to have begun moving. out of their Arctic home. In India proper, soon after this time the Chalcolithic (Copperstone) age was about to commence, which marked the first beginnings of
1 Rargacharya-History of Pre-Musalman India, vol. 1, and Nava Jivan Gandhi number, Oct. 2, 1949.
2 S.P. Roy - Some Aspects of food question for manJ.G. April, 1911.
3 Compare Jainism with the religion of Ancient Egypt as described by Dr. Robert Churchwell in his “The origin and Evolution of Religion (London), 1924. . 4 Tilak - Arctic Home of the Aryans, also works of Mitra Rangacharya etc.
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