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(vii)
Unfortunately, for the Indians a massive de-urbanization took place around 1600 BCE, and it is only around 1000 BCE that the second urbanization emerged in India. Archaeologists and Historians associate this period with the later Vedic literature that soon reaches its fulfillment in the form of Upanişads.
Some centuries after the commencement of second urbanization there was a wave of non-conformist sophists and thinkers that challenged the early Vedic religious tradition, at the core of which were the concept of sta and sacrificial religious practices. The Buddhist tradition records 63 religious thinkers who have turned their back from traditional philosophical thoughts and practices. Two or three main streams of this new wave are represented by Jainism, Buddhism and Ajivika philosophy that left a deep impress on Indian mind and conduct for a long time to come.
Buddhism and Jainism were revolutionary in the sense that . they neglected and set aside the monotheistic religious thought that dominated the urban society all over India, and the world. Buddha doubted whether one should seriously discuss if there is one single creator God who was responsible for sustenance and development of the world. Jainism outrightly neglected the existence of such an authority, whereas the Upnişadic thinkers believed in a principle that was the root cause of the world. All the three, however preached the path of renunciation for ultimate liberation from suffering in human life.
I am very glad that this year the Indian Society for Buddhist Studies is deliberating seriously on the philosophical, ethical and cultural contributions of the two important religious traditions of India namely, Buddhism and Jainism. I wish all the success to the organizers, their endeavor in bringing together serious minds and researchers to evaluate the contribution made by the two thinkers, Buddha and Mahavira who have contributed a lot to the world at large and especially moulded the Asian way of life.
(Arvind-P. Jhamkhedkar)
