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COMPARATIVE ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM
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COMPARATIVE ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM I proposo in this article to place before the world the result of investigation in comparative religion, in so far as it tends to fix the comparative ages of two of the world's oldest religions, namely. Janism and Hinduism, I am aware that my views are not very likely to be acceptable to the generality of the readers at present, but I am confident that they shall ultimately prevail. Such is always tho case with all new things.'
If I were not a Jaina, it would be casier for me to say what I have to say, for ia that case I should not be exposed to attacks, vicious and otherwiso, on the count of bias and bigotry, inasmuch as the result of the investigations made by me is the establishment of the greater antiquity of Jainism. Nevertheless, I give my reasons for this conclusion and leave the reader to say what he likes about me and my method.
It is now established as the result of recent research, especially of the finds at Mohenjo Daro, that Jainism flourished actually long, long before the time of the twenty third Tirthamkara, Paraska Nath. The age of the finds at Mohenjo Daro is probably 5000 7000 years ago in the past. Hinduism also flourished then side by side with Jainism. The question is, which of them is prior in time2
of the scriptures of Hinduism it is now recognized on all hands that the Rig Veda is the oldest, so that if we are to understand its origia we can only do so with the aid of the Rig Veda, which appears to be the oldest written scripture extant. The language of the Rig Veda is certainly older than the language of any of the Jaina Books, but this may be due to its expression being fixed up, by poetry, before that of any of the Jaina works, which are known to have existed in memory alone at one time. The test of language is therefore, unreliable in this case, though if there was nothing to contradict it, it would carry the point a long way in favour of Hinduism.
But we shall turn to the intrinsic evidence of the oldest Veda. The quostion is, what was the religion of the people who possessed only the Rig Veda and none of the subsequent accumulations and accretions of scriptural lorc now possessed by the Hindus ?
