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42 Jaina Religion: Its Historical journey of evolution
oneness of the spiritually dominated Śramaņa stream. This text was written around 4th century BC and is earlier than all Prakrit and Pāli literature but later than the first śrutaskandha of Acārānga. This text contains the teachings of forty-five Arhat sages such as Nirgranthas, Buddhist, Upanisadic seers, Ājīvakas etc. of different Śramaṇa traditions; Similarly, Theragatha of the Buddhists is a collection of the teachings and spiritual experiences of different sages of Śramanic stream. By studying it from a historical angle with unprejudiced approach it becomes clear that Rṣibhāṣita does not have the sages only of the Jaina tradition, nor does Theragāthā mentions the sages only of Buddhist tradition. In Rṣibhāṣita, the names of Sariputra, Vātsiputra and Mahākaśyapa are from Buddhist tradition, while Uddālaka, Yajnavalkya, Aruṇa, Asitadevala, Nārada, Dvaipayana, Angirasa, Bharadvaja etc. are from Upaniṣadic tradition, while still others such as Sañjaya Vellaṭṭhiputta, Makkhali Gośāla, Ramaputta etc. belong to other independent Śramanic traditions. Like-wise in Theragāthā the personal experiences of Vardhamana etc. from Jaina stream and Narada etc. from Upanisadic stream are contained. It is generally believed that the Śramanic stream is born as a reaction to the Vedic stream, but this is only
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