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COMPARATIVE ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM
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down the creed of the Vedas as a form of idolatry and superstition. I shall not attempt in this article to demonstrate the truth of my interpretation, but am content to refer the reader to my books in which the subject has been dealt with at great longth and the legends and myths of different countries and creeds have been interpreted in a scientific way. Here it is sufficient to state that my interpretations are in full accord with the true spirit of Hinduism and the elucidation of the Hindu Scriptures themselves.
I take it, then, that instead of being a more ancient form of nature cult, the religion of the Rig Veda is revealed to be a scientific and systematic one, the most remarkable feature of which is its complete agreement with Jainism. In different language. Jainism ánd Hinduism are found to be teaching the same thing, though the one uses plain languages and the other is concealed in disguise and mystifying thought.
When did any of them really origninate we do not know, if we leave out of consideration the evidence to the contrary furnished by the Jaina Books. The only material from which a deduction for the greater anciency in favour of any one of them can be drawn thus is the fact that they tesch the same thing, and that the language of the Veda is allegorical while that of Jainism is plain.
But I think that this fact is quite sufficient to determine the comparative ages of the two Faiths. For it is clear to me that allegory must have had a basis of prior fact to fix itself upon. If the Teaching was not known before, how could it be allegorized ? In other words, whosoever allegorized the doctrines of the Science of Salvation must have known them, so that allegory is easily posterior to science or fact.
Shall we now try to seek a scientific basis for the allegories of the Rig Veda outside Jainism ? But such an aitempt is foredoomed to fail, for we have not the faintest trace of any such religion if Jainism is to be rejected. The best thing is to recognize that such a rejection will be simply the outsics of prejudice, and not an act prompted by good reason There has been no other scentific and scientifically expressed religion in the world, and certainly there was done beyond 7000 years ago in the past.
It is not necessary for the purposes of this article to insist upon the absolute accuracy of the Teaching of Religion, though I am
