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TAINISM AND DEMOCRACY
The ninth lecture gives an account of a royal sage Nami, who lived an unattached life like Janaka of the Upanisads. Nami also ruled Mithila and showed his unconcern when the city was ablaze. The same incident is found with the name of Janaka in the Mahābhārata also.
In the tenth lecture life is compared with the leaf of a tree which can fall any moment.
The eleventh gives a true definition of the learned person (pandita). The twelfth is an account of Hari Kesi, a monk coming from Candāla family. He goes to a sacrificial performance, the Brahmins assembled there hate him and a discussion follows. It is a vivacious dialogue between a proud Brahmin and a despised ascetic. The contrast is set forth between the formalism and ceremonialism of the priestly class on the one hand and the self-control and the virtuous life of the pious monks on the other. In the splendid dialogue too, between the Purohits and his sons, the ascetic ideal is set forth against the Brahmanic ideal as the better and higher one. This conversation is found also in the Mahābhārata, the Purāņas, and in the Jātakas, in part even literally. This proves that it belonged to the general Indian ascetic poetry.
If I were asked to suggest a single work from the Jain canon to be included into the great scriptures of the world I would suggest Uttarādhyayana.
The second Mula Sūtra is Avassaya. It is an essential part of the daily rites of a monk who has to recite it every morning and evening for self-purification.
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