Mahavira and his Teaching

SR No.: 008019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 509
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Biography, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 12 MB

Page 380

ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM IN TAMILNĀD
369 another. But the Aryan Vedic Seers divided society into four classes based on birth and not on the basis of profession. Sri Krsna who was opposed to caste and class divisions has declared in the Gītā that Varna is based on “Varņa Karma Swabhāvaja”, on profession character and actions. The declartion of Krsna agrees with the dictim of Rsabha and Jaina interpertation of Arya and Anārya found in the scriptures. The Dravidian and Aryan conflict on the battlefield is completely absent in the history of Tamilnād.
The word Arya denoted a saintly person, an ideal man or an Uttama Purusa who led the virtuous way of life. Mahāvīra and the Buddha were called Aryans, the embodiments of unimpeachable and highest virtues. They were called Mahā Brāhmaņas of the 6th century B.C. Jaina nuns are described in the holy scriptures as Arya Anganās. Sri Pujya Pāda, in his Sarvārtha Siddhi, the oldest extant commentary on the Tattvārtha Sutra has classified mankind into two divisions: Aryans and Anāryans. The civilized and the cultured, were Aryanas and Anāryans were barbarians. The Buddha has named his four noble truths as the four Āryan truths. Ādi Bhagavān Rsabha was a son of the soil and not a foreigner. He was the son of King Nābhi, the 14th law-maker of India. The celebrated kings of ancient India Ikşvakus, Raghus and Yadus were descendants of Rsabha. They were not foreigners but sons of the soil. The words Ārya, Dāsa or Dasyu found in the Rig Veda do not mean two separate tribes or races. There is no such classification of Aryans as a distinctive community of invaders or foreign aggressors and Dasyus, the conquered aboriginals, the slaves of the conqueror. The classification is based on profession, learning and character of the person. The Gītā has explained Varņa in the right way. Śri Arabindo has declared that the Aryan invasion of India is a myth and has no foundation whatsoever in the Sanskrit classical literature,
A comparative study of Jaina, Vedic, Vaişņavaite and Saivaite scriptures in Sanskrit and Tamil will prove that many ethical
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