Idea of Ahimsa and Asceticism in Ancient Indian Tradition

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

Page 67

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THE IDEA OF AHIMSA ....
(2) Viya hapannatti 15. satra 121 (JAgS. pp. 729-730)
earlier reading :...tattha nam Revaie ga havaiņie mamas atthae duve kavoyasarira uvakkhadiya, tehim no attho, atthi se anne pariyasie majjara-kadae kukkuda-mamsae, tam aharahi, eeņam attho. (Twice)
Viya hapannatti 15, sūtra 556 (S.I. pp. 731-732 sútra-numbering different)
changed text :...tattha nam Revale ga havainie maman atthae duve (kohamdaphala) uvakkhadiya tehim no attho, atthi se anne pariya sie (phasue biya-ūrae) tam ahara hi tenam attho ... (p.631, lines 2729) ... Maha virassa atthae duve (kohamda-phala) uvakkhadiya ... pariyasie (phasue biya-ūrae) tam ahara hi ... (p.632, lines 11-12)
The Sthanakavasis could not change vss.73 and 84-85 in Dasaveyaliya 5.1 (see above 4.e) only because it is difficult to take liberty with these metrical lines. As such, they added only a footnote and explained in their own way the relevant words (see S.II, p.957: footnotes 1-5).
I could have cited here a number of many vague statements regarding ahiņsa and asceticism from works or articles on Buddhist or Jaina Studies published by some scholars in India, but it would be tiresome to the reader on account of an age-old argumentation and lack of substantial matter found in them. Also, time and space in the present paper do not permit me to do so either. But such statements can easily be traced in these studies which are speculative and based on guess-work. Their authors are much inclined to make a statement, not consistently to their own (specialized field alone. They mostly deal with their field of interest together with a jumbled mixture of almost all fields of study - from A to Z, as if they are "masters" of all fields, Vedic, Indo-European, Brahmanical, Upanisadic, early Buddhism, early Jainism, Indus Culture, etc. They show least interest in relevant views of researches of modern specialists. Their studies are not markedly determinative. These scholars are requested, first to study carefully and to show systematically the inconsistancies, if any, traced in rival theories advanced by modern researchers, the subject-specialists.