Book Title: Jain Philosophy
Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Agamoday Samiti

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Page 251
________________ 222 Neniveb and Babylon were founded. The Chinese too have a history which dates from about 2400 years B. C. The Hindus also have their own records. But there is a difference between the records of the Hindus and the records of other nations. The hiero glyphic records of ancient Egyptians yield little information beyond the names of kings and pyramid-builders and accounts of dynasties and wars. The cuneiform inscriptions of Assyria and Babylon tell us much the same story. And even ancient Chinese records shed little light on the gradual progress of human culture and civilization, Ancient Hind:1 works are of a different character. They are defective 09 doubt as accounts of dynasties, of wars, of so-called historical incidents, On the other !1171 they give 11s a f:111, corecord and clear account of the advance nent of civilization, of the process of t12 hiinan mini, such as we shall seek for in vain a'nong the records of any other equally ancient nation. T132 are the ancient Vedas of the Hills, Pitakas of the Buddhists and Sutras of the Jains. As to the Vedas Western scholars say that they are the infant outpourings of the simple minded Aryas of ancient times. They also think that they constituted the popular literature of the time. I differ from these views, The Vedic literature ir pre-eminently Sacerdotal and Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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