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JAIN JOURNAL: VOL-XLII, NO.4 APRIL 2008
the care of his parents” (translated by Barnett, p29). In the Antakyt and Anuttara it is further stated that the princes used to receive their education in seventytwo arts which included, among other things, language, arithmetic, practical sciences, and phycical education.'”
The Jainas are fond of sending their children to the art school. Goyama, at the age of eight, was sent to an art school. It is again said in the Antakrt and Anuttara, “Then when his father and mother saw that their little Goyama was past eight years of age, during an auspicious tithi, karana day, star, and hour, they brought him to a teacher of the arts. The teacher trained little Goyama and taught him the seventytwo arts. And now the young Goyama should himself learned in the seventytwo arts with the slumbering nine organs awakened”. In a similar way, prince Meha was also sent to an art school by his parents on an auspicious tithi, And gradually he was also trained up in seventytwo arts. Mahāvīra himself was trained up in the Vedic lore, particularly in the Upanişads, as most of his philosophical discourses pointed towards the ideas of the Upanișads. When Goutama raised a doubt about the existence of ātmā (soul), Mahāvīra, citing a line from the Brhadāranyakopanişad (II. 4.12) - vijñānaghana evaitebhyo bhūtebhyaḥ samutthāya tānyevānu vinaśyati, na pretya samjñāstīti - explained the existence of soul (ātmā). It was, of course, true to say that at the time of Mahāvīra the Vedic eduction was prevalent.
From a careful perusal of the Jain canonical literature, it can be inferred that the general social condition of the Jains at the time of Mahāvīra were very much healthy and luxuriant.
At the time of Mahāvīra the languages were Sanskrit and Prakrit, Ardhamāgadhi in particular, and also the language of Buddha, commonly known as Pali. Mahāvīra used to preach his religious sermons in a spoken language, known as Ardhamāgadhi. It can be presumed that Sanskrit was probably used for all sorts of communication - be it a general conversation or an ecclesiastical one. Buddha used to preath in Pali. Both Mahāvīra and Buddha broke the tradition and realised the value of a spoken language as a vehicle of religious discourses.
See S.R. Banerjee's Foreword to Jaina System of Education, Motilal Banarsidass, 1999, p. xvi.
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