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Rsabha, Padma, Candraprabha, Puspadanta, Vimala, Dharma, Nami, Aristanemi and Mahāvīra also referred in Buddhist literature in the form of previous Buddhas, Bodhisattvas or Pratyeka-Buddhas. Thus, it can be said with a degree of certainty that all the Jaina Tīrthand karasare not legendary characters. Though it may be true that some legendary characteristics might have crept into the lifestories of Jaina Tīrthankaras presented in Jaina Puranas, yet their very existence cannot be challenged.
Whether we accept the historicity of Jaina Tīrthankaras or not, it is beyond doubt that the Jaina ideas of renunciation, austerity, penance, self-mortification, non-violence, celibacy, meditation etc. were prevalent in the pre-Vedic period. Sri Ramchandra observes that the Upanisadas which represent Brahmanical spiritual thought, borrowed spiritual thoughts from their pre-Aryan adversaries, now friends, in a perverted form. Sramanic culture was atheistic, ascetic, pluralistic and realistic in content. This comes out clearest from a consideration of the earliest faith of the Jainas represented by one of the oldest living surviving sects of the Munis.
The pre-Aupanisadika materialistic (Pravritti-dharma) Vedic thought later evolved pseudo-spiritual thought (Nivritti-dharma), mainly through the influences of the Muni or Áramana culture, in pre-Buddhistic times, within its fold (Jain Ramchandra: The Most Ancient Āryan Society, 1964, pp. 48-49). It is this semi-materialistic and semi-spiritualistic thought which gave birth to a new form of religion which is known as Hinduism. Hinduism is nothing but an assimilation of Vedic and Sramanic traditions.
JAINISM AND HINDUISM
These two distinct trends, Brahmanic as well as Sramanic, have been prevalent in Indian culture from its earliest days.
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