Idea of Ahimsa and Asceticism in Ancient Indian Tradition

Author(s): Bansidhar Bhatt
Publisher: B J Institute

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AHMSA, ASCETICISM
fire kindled in himself, that means, his sacrifice is an atmayajña a sacrifice in his self. Begging of alms is his food, his tapas. He is detached from the taste, he has compassion for the living beings (cf. BDS. 2.10.18.8-10). He sees all living beings in his self, and his self in all living beings (Is. Up. 6). He does not hurt any plants and trees and destructs no seeds. It suggests that the renouncer subsists on food devoid of life (i.e. food cooked by others), fruits fallen on the ground, etc. etc. (cf. GDS. 3.20: brahmacarin's rules for collecting the samidhs, etc. above 2.b). The MS (2.85) considers such manasa-yajñas (mental or spiritual sacrifices) thousand times more effective than the outward rituals.
It is thus clear that the absolute renunciatory mode of life which can be traced in the classical ritual texts is much more brahmanical in character. In this context one instance from the Buddha's life deserves our special attention. The Buddha's cousin-antagonist Devadatta insisted upon an ascetic practice by adherence to ahimsa, vegetarianism, and other strict rules of asceticism (cf. Alsdorf-1 p.6). Ruegg traces its reasons that he was a brahmin (Udana S 1.5, p.3) and in India" vegetarianism is of course characteristic of the classical concept of the Br ahmana as well as of the Renouncer (samnyasin)." (Ruegg. p.234 and p.241, fn.6; for a difference in such a view, see Olivelle-2 pp. 75-83)
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It is difficult to prove origins of asceticism from the non-Aryan cultures either. But it may be conceded that the renunciatory ideologies though similar in character but different in forms were prevalent in both cultures among the Aryans of the Brahmanical times and among their contemporary nonAryans or heterodox peoples. We can also say that the Aryans would have shaped their own ascetic way of life on the basis of the contemporary renunciatory beliefs and practices found among the non-Aryans or the heterodox circles. Such an influence, if any, on the existing Brahmanism, carries too minor an importance to bring about any revolutionary ideologies within the religious thinking of the Aryans (Heesterman2 pp. 24-27; cf. Wezler-1 p.110).
The problem of freeing oneself from the clutches of the punar-mṛtyu the recurring death which was closely connected with and originated in the ritualism of the Vedic India (see above 2.c) could not be solved easily by the rituals of the late Vedic period. The SB (6.2.2.27) thinks that a man is depen
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