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The contribution of Jainas in the field of Art and... 105
around them evaporate into thin air, were disillusioned. The result was a loss of faith in their own religious practices and an attraction for a simpler mode of worship like that of the Muslim religion. As a consequence, there arose a feeling of revolt against idol-worship and rituals in Indian religions. Many saints such as Kabir, Dadu, Nanak and Raidas etc were blowing their bugle of revolution in Hindu religion. The support of rituals in the name of the religion started diminishing in the hearts of the people. This is the reason that many great men were born in Indian soil that liberated religion from rituals and gave a simple, natural unostentatious form to spiritual endeavour.
Jaina religion too, could not remain untouched by this development in the Indian social scene. From the Gupta period onwards, and from the beginning of Caityavāsa tradition ritualism was becoming predominant in Jaina religion and the essence of religion got lost in the plethora of rituals. Religion became an instrument used by the priests or purohitas for fleecing people. Ordinary people were rejecting expensive, ostentatious rituals without an iota of spiritual element. Under such conditions in both the main sects of Jaina religion three very special persons were born. These are Lokāśāha in the Svetāmbara sect and Banarasi Das and Tāraṇasvāmī in the Digambara sect.
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