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Jaina Religion: Its Historical Journey of Evolution 37
and passions and who has seen the fears of sufferings here itself, one who has rid himself of the pangs of birth and death who is totally detached, who is gifted, who is able to differentiate between right and wrong path and who has reached the highest state of Nirvāṇa is one whom I call a true Brāhmaṇa.” Thus, we see that both the Jaina and the Buddhist traditions have presented a new definition of the term “Brāhmaṇa' by accepting the superiority of Brahminhood, which is quite in accordance to the śramaņa tradition but even the great epic of Mahābhārata of Hindu tradition has also given this definition of Brāhmana. Uttarādhyayana of the Jainas, Dhammapada of the Buddhists, and Santiparva of Mahābhārata give a description of a true Brāhmaṇa, which is not only conceptually similar but also has great verbal similarity. It is very significant from the point of view of a comparative study and also clarifies their influences on each other. The spiritual meaning of Yajña
Just as the term Brāhmaṇa has been given a new definition, yajña' has also been defined with a new connotation. Mahāvīra not only expressed his views against yajñas involving violence but he also presented new spiritual and self-control based
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