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On the one hand spiritual endeavour, which was the lifeessence of Sramaņa culture, was not visible at all in the Yatis of those days. Religion was so much overloaded with rituals that its true essence got suppressed. The natural, simple essential form was getting lost and its place was taken over by religious rituals with increasing hold of affluent people on it. In the name of religion people started to expect mundane or worldly favours. On the other hand, as a result of establishment of Islam, the masses got introduced to a simple religion without any fanfare or pomp and show. On the third front, Muslim invaders were destroying temples and idols which were the supporting pillars of religion at that time. At such a time the need of the hour for the masses, whose beliefs had been shattered by the Muslim invaders, was a religion simple and unostentatious with tapas and renunciation as the guiding principle.
THE ORIGIN OF NON-BELIEVERS IN IDOL-WORSHIP
By the end of the first millennium of Vikrama, invasions by Muslims had already begun. At that time the aim of Muslim invaders was only to loot and take away India's wealth and riches; but slowly and gradually India's wealth and its fertile land became the centre of attraction and so they began trying to establish their power base in this country. With the establishment of power, Islam also started making in roads into this land. Ironically, Muslim rulers were also engaged in uprooting each other. For example, Humayun and Shershah Suri were in collision with each other. However, because of the hold of Muslim rulers over Delhi, Islam got firmly established. The aim of these rulers was also to establish Islam along with gaining power and wealth, as they knew that their empire could
111 Jainism and its History
