Aspects of Brahmanical Influence On Jaina Mythology

Author(s): Shaktidhar Jha
Publisher: Bharat Bharti Bhandar

Page 93

The Manus and their Periods
cxclusive possession of the available materials This clash of interests must have been checked somehow or other cither by mutual compactal or by an arbiter. But that arbitration or code of conduct for each individual of the primitive society could no longer refrain the selfish people from appropriating "to themselves by force and violence rivers, fields, hills, trees, shrubs and plants and similar others”.42
The above statement is suggestive of the fact that the contcmporary people, impelled by necessity and aided by experience, opened fresh avenues of life-sustaining activities They learnt river-craft, constructed paths acıoss the forests and made hills and mountains accessible by rock-hewn steps, as it is obvious that the capture of rivers, fields, hills and trees could not have been possible without these devices. Thus, the abovementioned invention must have widened the field of activities and enabled the primitive men to traverse wider areas in search of food and other requirements
Now, after such a long period of strifeful life the prehistoric people discovered comparatively an easy, safe and civilized means of subsistence Somehow, they learnt the use of various cercals growing wild in the virgin soil now made fertile by rain-water 43 In the beginning men must have felt hesitant in utilizing those cereals, the effects of which were unknown to them as yet Naturally some enterprising member of the community must have come forward to put thosc cereals to the test, possibly by testing them And, finding at least some of them fit for human consumption, he would have prescribed their use for his fellowmen This discovery of their livelihood must have been solemnized as the greatest event in their life, for it brought them to the threshold of humen civilization and
41 The Mehābhārata says that in the ancient period people used to resolve
their disputes, cases of trespass and similar other social evils through
mutual agreement, but that could not hold for long 12 07 18-19 42 ततस्ता पर्यगहन्त नदीक्षेत्राणि पर्वतान् । वृक्षगल्मौपदीश्चैवमात्मन्यायाद् यथाबलम् ।।
-Mārka P 40 62, Váyu VIII 180-37. 43. Childe, A New Light on Most Ancient East, Chap. IV.