Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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52 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
institutions fighting for the cause of their survival and development and that some of the pre-Vedic ideas and practices were revived by the Buddha and Mahāvīra in the reformistic movements launched by them.
In 1934, R.P. Chanda, drew the attention of the scholars towards the pre-Vedic elements revived by the Buddha and Mahåvira in their own religious systems. In many of his works he has also pointed out that the practices of meditation and disciplining of the body and mind, by which Buddhism and Jainism are characterised and which have later become the basis of Yoga, are basically non-Vedic in character. As one of the sources of this understanding he has referred to the famous statuette from Mohenjodaro which is laid out in Yogic posture with half-shut eyes and also to the seals indicating the same practice. Long before Chanda, H. Jacobi came to the conclusion that 'the interest of Jainism to the student of religion consists in the fact that it goes back to a very early period, and to primitive currents of religious and metaphysical speculation which gave rise to the oldest Indian philosophies --Sāmkhya and Yoga--and to Buddhism. It shares in the theoretical pessimism of these systems as also in their practical ideal-liberation. Life in the world, perpetuated by the transmigration of the soul, is essentially bad and painful; therefore it must be our aim to put an end to the cycle of births, and this will be accomplished when we come into the possession of right knowledge. In this general principle Jainism agrees with Sāmkhya, Yoga and Buddhism; but they differ in their methods of realising it."
More interesting is, however, the evidence furnished by the elaborate mythology of the Buddhists and the Jains. The gods and goddesses by which it is characterised have practically nothing to do with the Vedic pantheon. Although the names of some of the Vedic gods occur in the Buddhist and Jain lists of divinities, their character and attributes are quite different. Whence have they come? Where their origin is to be traced? How were they able to make their way into such basically atheistic religions as Buddhism or Jainism? The obvious answer is that they belonged to a pre-Vedic system and survived in the bright days of Vedic religion as the suppressed divinities of the masses. With the growth of such anti-Vedic religions as Buddhism or Jainism, these suppressed deities came to the forefront once again, and they were given shelter and nourishment, for practical reasons,
1ERE, VII, p. 465.