Bhagavana Mahavira and his Relevance in Modern Times

SR No.: 001595
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Narendra Bhanavat, Prem Suman Jain, V P Bhatt
Publisher: Akhil Bharat Varshiya Sadhumargi Jain Sangh
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 236
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Discourse, & Articles
File Size: 13 MB

Page 18

Mahāvira and His Philosophy of Life
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Licchavi Republics.' The working of the Vajjian Confederation so vividly described in the Dighanikāya, is an unique example of its kind and essentially contributed to the efficiency and solidarity of the Republic. Further Vaishali was a commercial capital where seals were issued by three classes of guilds, namely, Bankers, Traders and Artisans. When Fa-Hien visited India (A.D. 399-414). It was an important religious, political and commercial centre; but its fall began in the next three centuries, and what Hiuen-Tsang (A.D. 635) saw there was more or less in ruins. And to day it is a neglected village.
The Indian Republic of to-day has inherited a great deal from the spirit of Vaishali, and the Vajjian concord is the pedestal of our Democracy, apart from the fact that Ahimsā with its corollaries, viz-Pancasilās, is the bed-rock on which our policies are built. By adopting Hindi as the State Language, our Central Government is only carrying on the policy of Magadhan Governments which gave more importance to the language of the masses than to that of the classes. The inscriptions of Ashoka are all in Prakrit.
Through the ravages of time and tide, and due to political vicissitudes Vaishali fell into ruins, and we had nearly forgotten its identity. But you will be pleased to hear that Vaishali has not forgotten its worthy sons. Among the Jaina and Buddhist relics, the most important remnant is a plot of fertile land, owned by a local significant family of Simha or Nātha Kşatriyas, which is never cultivated, as far as the family memory goes, because for generations it is believed in the family that on that spot Mahāvīra was born and hence it is too sacred to be cultivated. It is remarkable event in the religious history of India that the memory of Mahāvira is so concretely kept at his birthplace by his kinsmen though 2500 years have quietly elapsed.
The period of which Mahāvira lived was undoubtedly an age of acute intellectual upheaval in the cultural history of India; and among his contemporaries there were such religious teachers as KeśaKambalin, MakkhaliGośāla, PakudhaKaccāyana, PurāņaKaśśapa, SañjayaBelatthiputta and Tathāgata Buddha. Mahāvīra inherited a good deal from earlier Tirtharkaras. He left behind not only a systematic religion and philosophy but also a well knit social order of ascetics and lay followers who earnestly followed and practised what he and his immediate disciples preached.
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