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JAINA BIBLIOGRAPHY
1881
2797
N. K. Venkatesam PANTULU- The story of the Asuras. (Q.J.M.S. Vol. 35 ; No. 3, 1945., Bangalore).
P. 132. Mount Ābū: The present three-storied temple dedicated to Rsabhanāth (Mahadeva or Sankara), the first of the 24 Teerthankaras, stands on the site of the temples dedicated to Siva and Visnu; the site was purchased for the Jain tmple.
2798
A. CHAKRAVARTI -The Apostles of Bloodless Altar, (Jain Ant., vol. XI; No. 1; Arrah; 1945. Pp. 14-19).
In the book 'Buddha and Buddhism' by Arthur Lillie, world's epoch makers series, there is a chapter on the Apostles of Bloodless Altar', in which he collects a number of interesting facts to show how the doctrine of Ahimsa was spread beyond India towards western Asia.
Zoroaster-There were two Zoroaster, one lived in 6000 B.C. and the other in 500 B.C. While the former was in favour of animal sacrifice and the latter proclaimed bloodless sacrifice,
Pythagorians and their religious practices—They abstained from taking meat and fish and were vegetarians,
Essenism, the mystical school of Israel-Some derive their name from a Greek term which means holiness, have shown themselves pre-eminent by devotion to the service of God, not in the sacrifice of living animals, Lillie adds that they are pronounced of the same faith as the Gymnosophists of India, who abstain from the bloody sacrifice, that is, the Buddhists. Lillie is of opinion that Christianity was very much influenced by the doctrine of Ahimsā which was propounded in India and thereby failed to differentiate between Buddhism and the Philosophy of the Gymnosophists. Gymnosophists mean : 'naked philosophers'. It is used by the Greeks to denote Nirgranthas, the Jaina ascetics of India.
The Pythagorians, the latter Zoroasters, and the Essenes, the apostles of bloodless, altar had their inspiration from the order of the Gymnosophists which had been in existence from the 8th century B. C. Hence, Lillie's thesis that Christianity was influenced by the Indian ideal of Ahimsa propounded by the Gymnosophists remain true.
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