Jain Journal 1993 04

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

Page 47

206
JAIN JOURNAL
Secondly, when the foundation of a creator-God is questioned, the other elements based on it naturally dwindled down. The question about the validity of sacrifice is criticised, particularly the element of animal sacrifice. As the main object of Jainism is to establish the doctrine of ahissà ('non-violence'), sacrifice has no place in it. So the Jainas do not even believe in the authoritative character of the Vedas. They contend that these Vedas cannot be said to be eternally selfexistent. The fact of non-remembrance of any author (kartur asmaranāt) of the Vedas does not prove that they had not any author at any time. In order to justify their case, they have given an example : In the case of an ancient well, an ancicnt house, or an ancient garden people may not know who in olden times made it, the name of its maker may long have been forgotten, but nobody would be prepared to say that the well or the house or the garden is self-existent from the eternal past. So the doctrine of the eternal existence of the Vedas is thus untenable. The Jainas further point out that the very fact that the Vedas are a collection of words, so arranged as to carry an intelligible sense, shows that they were carefully made." In this way, the Jainas have refused to accept the validity of the Vedas as well as the sacrificial rites.
Thirdly, in Vedic literature self or Atman (or ultimate Being or Reality) is maintained as permanent, without beginning, change or end.
he Jainas oppose this view, and declare that Being or Sat (as it is called), is not persistent, unchangeable, or endless. Reality is permanent and changeable, there is a growth, development and destruction in it. So the Reality has two aspects, and this is what is known as anekāntavāda in Jaina philosophy.
Lastly, about the origin of the idea of ahińsä. The cult of ahińsă is very old in India. It is found in Vedic as well as in the Buddhist. But in Buddhism the doctrine of ahimsa is not as fully and rigorously stressed as it is done in Jainism. In a sense, the doctrine of ahiṁsā is mainly associated with Jainism. According to the Jaina tradition (also corroborated by the non-Jaina sources, such as, Bhagavata (skandha V), Väyupurāna, Visnupuräna), it is maintained that the ahiṁsā-cult was first preached by Rşabha, the first Tirthařkara of the Jainas. Rşabha was a hero of the Ikşvāku family. His periods represent a complete change of world conditions. Prior to this, the country was called bhoga-bhumi (land of enjoyment') where people were satisfied with all their wants by the mere wish through the help of the traditional kalpa-vrksa. During the time of Rşabha these happy conditions completely disappeared and the people were in a perplexity