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Non-absolutistic Heritage of Bhagavāna Mahāvīra
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Bhasyas (in poetry) and Churnis (in prose ). The Pūrvas were gradually lost but they were superseded by new canons compiled from time to time by the religious councils at Pāšaliputra ( 4th Century B. C. ) and Vallabhí ( 5th Century B. C. ) for issuing Siddhanta. According to Jacobi, the Pūrvas contained the dialogues between Mahavira and rival teachers. The Dşşțivada, which is said to have included the 14 Pūrvas, dealt chiefly with the philosophical standpoints ( dịştis ) of the Jainas and other schools. 1 Not withstanding the differences between the Digambars and the Svetā mbaras, the entire ancient written literature of the Jainas known as Āgamas, are ascribed to Mahāvīra. Hence it is important to study the philosophical attitude ( dịşți ) of Mahāvīra in the perspective of Indian thought and culture.
[ III ] Broadly, we can find four marked philosophical attitudes in ancient Indian thought and culture : The Brahman, the Buddhist, the Jaina and the last but not the least the Carvaka attitude towards life. The Cārvaka-attitude is out and out materialistic atheistic and hedonistic, The Brahman attitude is rooted in the Vedas and Upanişads and hence it is highly speculative and ultra-absolutistic.2 Ultimate reality is conceived as Truth, consciousness and Infinite ( Satyam, Jñanam and Anantam )3, called as Brahman or Ātman4 which is ultimately indefinable. The Buddhist
1. Bool Chand : Lord Mahāvīra (Varanasi : J. C. R. S.)
1948, p. 62. 2. Sveta śvatara Upanişad, VI. 11; Māņdūkya Upanişad, 6;
Taittirīya Upanişad, III. 1; Išāvāsya Upanişad, 1; Rg
veda, X. 129. 1, 1. 164. 46. 3. Taittiriya Upanişad, III. 1. 4. Chandogya Upanişad, VI. 8. 7, III. 14. 1; Brhadaranyak
Upanişad, II. 5. 19.
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