Aspects of Brahmanical Influence On Jaina Mythology

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

Page 95

The Manus and their periods
77
ready for harvest In growing them no human intervention was necded But owing to the prolonged use without compensatory fertilization of any kind the plot must have lost its original virtue essential for the germination and growth of cereals Under such a circumstance the people must have been forced to think of some device for conserving and improving the productivity of soil Eventually, some genius would have succeeded in inventing some enduring means of production, such as ploughing, Sallowing and irrigation of the land for making settled farming possible 48
This revolutionary invention in the field of food-production must have ushered in an era of high promise for humankind. For, that deliberate cultivation of cercals made men masters of their own destiny by emancipating them from the whims and caprices of Nature 49 As a matter of fact that agrarian revolution must have served as solid ground whereupon man's religious, cultural and social edifices would have been crected. It was just after that introduction of conscious agriculture that men began to expand the field of their material, moral, intellectual and spiritual activities Because, the discovery of the sure and secure means of food-production not only made the people selfsufficient in matters of primary needs but also conferred on them a life of peace and plenty
Thus, they were allowed a leisure which was essential both for making efforts towards better and more prosperous material life as also for meditating upon many a matter of extra-mundane nature already referred to
Thus the above Jaina account, though found in its sys. tematic form only in a single work of the faith, has, of course, a strong basis in the early unbroken tradition, represented by the Brahmanical epic-Purānic works and is also supported by the early texts of Buddhism 60 How similar is the version in spirit and form, with the Brahmanıcal accounts of the material
48 Childe, NLMAE, chaps 111-V 49 Ibid pp 1-9 60 Mahāvastu, 1 342-43, quoted in Aspects of Pohtical Ideas and
Institutions in Ancient India, pp 36 38, PP 49-54