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HISTORY OF JAINISM PRIOR TO MAHĀVIRA
etc. These people were highly cultured and great devotee of Jina. In Hindu version of Rāmāyaṇa, they are depicted as hideous looking irregular demons- Rākṣasas, Piśācas or asurasetc; all of which they were not but certainly as antagonistic to the sacrificial cult of Vedic sages. Vedic people denounced the Rākṣasas because they were Jains and the author of Rāmāyaṇa, described those Rākṣasas in hideous forms, simply out of religious bigotry.94
In Vedic Purāņas, Rākşasas are depicted as a terrible being, embodiment of all evil, dangerous enemies and treated with much disgrace and insult. Actually the root raksa (raksa) from which the word rākṣasa is derived, denotes (means) a protector. Thus the Rākṣasa is one who protects. It seems that they were protectors of indigenous beliefs, cult and rituals from encroaching hands of an alien religious system. The most striking fact about activities of Rakşas is that they were opposed to the sacrificial religion of Vedas, destroying the Vedic sacrifices and creating havoc among participants, or killing the sages who were performing the sacrifices.
In Jaina version of Rāmāyaṇa, Rākṣasa and Vānaras have not been described as semi-human animals or demons but highly civilized and cultured human beings of Vidyādhara race, and mostly devotee of Jina. These early non-Aryan inhabitant of India are now generally termed as Dravidian stock."
King Dasaratha, the father of Rāma had entertained the Śramaņas"? which according to Bhūṣaṇa's commentary, were Digambara Jaina ascetics, 43 and thus in the time of Rāmāyaṇa, Jainism existed. Lord Muni Suvrata, **
irthankara of Jainas
44
34 Jaina Dharma kā Moulika Itihāsa. P-43 "Dr. N. N. Bhattacharya, “Jain Philosophy," Delhi, 1999, P-78 30Dr. Jyoti Prasad Jain, "Jainism, the oldest living Religion”, P-25
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