Jaina Religion Historical Journey of Evolution

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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Jaina Religion: Its Historical Journey of Evolution 41
man who serves a good human being even for a short while is anytime better than the one who gives thousands in donations and performs yajñas every month and even for years. Thus, Jaina dharma gave a new vision to prevalent beliefs on performance of rituals and gave them a spiritual interpretation. Along with it, the outward approach to religious endeavour was made inward-looking by giving it a spiritual touch. And this led to a revolutionary change in the Vedic thought of that period. Thus the credit of changing Vedic culture goes to śramanic tradition in general and to Jaina tradition in particular. Respect for other faiths in Ārhat tradition
Rsibhāsita in Prakrit literature and Theragäthä in Pāli literature are those important texts that substantiate the fact that even in very ancient times in spite of the existence of differences in code of conduct and thought there was a rich tradition of Arhat rșis who had mutual respect and friendliness towards each other.
Rşibhāșita which is comparatively older among the Jaina Agamas and the Buddhist Pāli Pitakas and which was once accepted as a very significant scripture of Jaina tradition indicates the mutual friendliness and pleasant relationship of