Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

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

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The Incipient Stage 63
their own inner conflicts. We have seen that in Vedic society there was a conflict between the pre-pastoral and the advanced pastoral ideas. The Nature-gods of the pastoral religion were propitiated with prepastoral rituals of their hunting stage which demanded senseless destruction of cattle wealth. But within the tribal set up the protestants were not successful. The results of the conflict with the non-Vedic elements have been mentioned above.
In the second stage, the conflict was between tribal disintegration and the rise of state power. The inherent tendency of pastoral economy is to establish the basis of state-power, since accumulation of wealth and surplus in the hands of few become quickened by cattle-raids and wars. The conquered non-Vedic tribes, though some of their cultural features were adopted by the conquerers, formed the exploited working class and were called Dāsas, and later Sūdras, which led to a quick rise of class division. The principles of the newly evolved state powers had to come in a greater conflict with the
-existing ones. The primitive magicians on whose ritual performances rested the welfare of the tribe were organised into a solid priestly class and became a parallel institution in power and prestige. In many cases their power surpassed even that of the state. The simple rituals performed in the days of yore became complex, sophisticated and highly expensive with the growth of this organised priesthood. Thus, conflict between the priestly and royal power became inevitable.
At first the kings had to submit before the demands of the priestly class, but with the growth and consolidation of state power, for practical reasons, the ruling class thought it prudent to depend more on the wealth produced socially than on the magical powers of the Brāhmaṇas. The Upanişads contain evidence of this conflict. Here we find on the one hand the flattering glorification of the sacrificial cults, the supremacy of the Brāhmaṇas, and on the other, a consistent attempt, made mainly by the ruling class, to uphold the doctrine of one state, one god, one king. The brahman as the universal soul and its identification with atman, the individual soul, paved the way for the idea of a Supreme Being, the personal deity in the devotional religions. In fact, monotheism was the fulfilment of a process that began as early as the days of tribal disintegration. The idea of a supreme god ruling over the universe was based solely upon the newfangled principle of absolute monarchy. In pre-class societies men had control over the gods; they believed that they could bring the