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Gandhi's Teachers : Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta
and the religious practices. The pursuit of spiritual goals and achievement of moksha were left up to the individual, without help or mediation by a priest or a guru. Eventually the Jain and Buddhist traditions became a threat to the Hindu tradition and inspired changes in it. Current emphases on vegetarianism and nonviolence in the Hindu tradition are examples of such changes and there were many more. The Hindu tradition, in turn, impacted Jainism and Buddhism and made them look like itself over the centuries, in spite of the differences in beliefs, ideologies, and religious practices. Buddhism also impacted the shaping of Jainism in some significant ways.?
The term "Jain" means to conquer and it is derived from the Sanskrit root "ji." "Jina" is a conqueror. However, the conquering is not of other people or lands, but it is of inner ignorance, impurities, and passions. The tirthankars were such conquerers or Jinas and they are the ones who laid down the path of Jainism. The Jain tradition recognizes twenty-four tirthankars, among whom Rshabha was the first in the hoary past of India and he is regarded as the original founder of Jainism. The second and third tirthankars were Ajitanatha and Arishtanemi and they are mentioned in the Yajur Veda. Other tirthankars are mentioned in different Jain texts, leading up to Parshva and Mahavira, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth tirthankars. Parshva had died 250 years before Mahavira appeared. Mahavira' lived between 599-527 B. C. and he is the one who is credited with the organization and systematization of the Jain tradition by pulling together the doctrines and teachings of earlier tirthankars. Mahavira was born in Bihar and he was an older contemporary of Buddha. There were many similarities between Mahavira's and Buddha's lives and teachings. Both belonged to the warrior caste, were born in the same region, and both opposed Vedic ritualism, animal sacrifices, blind faith in religious practices, and control of people by the priests. Both were against caste system and preached that the primary goal of life was to escape the cycles of birth and death and attain moksha. One branch of the Jain tradition believes that Mahavira was
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