Jainism Some Essays

Author(s): A S Gopani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 43

Jaina Theory and Practice of Non-Violence
The Vedic tradition upto the Upanişadas did not bother about the theory and practice of non-violence (ahimsā). Even the word ahiṁsā is not found in the Vedas and the Brāhmaṇas; it is found, for the first time, in the Upanişada (Chā. 3.17.4). The religion of the Vedas mainly consisted of the sacrifices; and there were many types of the Vedic sacrifices which could not be performed without the killing of animals. Even the Smộtis enforce the householders to serve not only the animal-meat but the beaf to the guest. In such circumstances it would be proper to say that the theory and practice of ahiṁsā were not of the Vedic origin, but were propounded by the Jainas, the Buddhists and other Sramaņas. In his "Man in the Universe' Prof. W. Norman Brown rightly concludes that “The ideas Ahimsa and the unity of all life did not have their origin in Vedic Aryan thought, but entered it from outside. The environment in which those ideas were at home was that of Jainism and Buddhism. In them Ahimsā was a dominant and original, not supplemental, feature".2 Here in this short paper I want to discuss the Ahiṁsā doctrine of the Jainas in theory and practice.
As far as the literary evidence is concerned we can say that Lord Mahāvīra seems to be the first person who was convinced that not only the mankind but all the moving and non-moving living beings should be protected and should not be harmed because he was convinced that each of them, just like any human being, does not want any harm to be done to it. And not only this, Mahāvira is the first person who endeavoured to mould his life in such a way that he may not be willingly harmful to any one. This is quite clear when we read his life as is described in the Ācārānga, the oldeet Jaina text.
He preached to the people his conviction in these words : “All beings are fond of life, like pleasure, hate pain, shun destruction, like life, long to live. To all, life is dear.”In order to emphasize this conviction the
1. Brown W. Norman : Man in the Universe, Calcutta. Pub. Oxford and I
BH publishing company, 1966; p. 54. 2. Brown W. Norman : Man in the Universe, p 66.
SBE Vol. XXII, p. 19. Sambodhi 2, 1.