Jain Journal 1972 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 35

JANUARY, 1972
113
pale of Brahmanism and Brahmanic society, and there is ample reason to believe that they were no other than the Jainas of those times. 22
An important result of the impact of the revival of Sramana Dharma under the leadership of Aristanemi was the development of the philosophy of the Upanişads within the bounds of Vedicism itself, but accepting many non-Brahmanic, and sometimes anti-Brahmanic ideas. With its proximity to the Ksatriya ideology, it had much in common with Jainism. At least, the concepts of ātmavidyā and mokşa-dharma, on which the philosophy of the Upanişads is based, are not in agreement with the Vedic or Brahmanical teaching, while they agree in full with the philosophy enunciated by the Jaina Tirthankaras, 23 including Aristanemi and his successor, Parsvanatha. It has also been suggested that in those times followers of Jainism were, in the main, representatives of preAryan population of the country, and that the chief components of this non-Vedic religion were engendered by non-Aryan ethnical environments. 24
To be continued
Ibid., p. 23; Jain Gazette, XXI, p. 6; Jain, J. P., of. cit., p. 53. 38 Guseva, op. cit., pp. 20-23; Munni, N, : Philosophy of Soul is the Gift of the
Ksatriyas to Indian Thought, pp. 180-181. 24 Guseva, op. cit., p. 24.