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FOREWORD
[ To the first edition) Lord Mabávira, like His contemporary Lord Buddha, was born at a time when Iadia was in & great ferment, The incorporation of the Vrātyas, or nomadio Aryans, into the orthodox fold, produced a revolution,-a revolution in ideas, speculations, language, dress, customs and manners --in short, everything connected with ancient Indian life. India at that time was thoroughly caste-ridden, the caste-system had become inflexibly rigid, Bacrifices were the order of the day, and these magical rites were accompanied by animal-slaughter on & large scale. The sacrifices, with their cooked meat, had become extremely popular, and the Brahmanas had become supreme.
Lord Mahavira, like Lord Buddha, the Vrátyas and the materialistic philosophers of that age, challenged Everything that Orthodoxy had set up in the name of religion; He challenged their caste-system, He challenged the superiority of the Brahmanas, He challenged their sacrifices, and he challenged their immolation of animals on a large scale.
In His time there were no less than sixty schools of thought, known, of course, by the Orthodoxy, as 'heretical schools, headed by sixty 'heretical' teachers, each with new dogmas, each having a large following, and each putting up a strong fight against the Orthodoxy, that is to say, Brahmanism. How, in the course of time, these schools became extinct, or merged in other more powerful religions, history does not tell,
Aho ! Shrugyanam
