Jainism and Democracy

Author(s): Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: I A S S Jain Conference New Delhi

Page 50

PANCHA SILA
37
through the sacrifice. In Jainism also, when building of temples, pilgrimages with great pomp and show and such other works with the name of Prabhavana got more importance there arose a school which held that violence for religious acts was not a sin.
Anyhow the influence of the creed of non-violence was so strong that it changed fundamentally the Brahamanic notion of morality. The institution of animal sacrifice is now a thing of the past. Public opinion is deadly against it. Even the orthodox Brahmans do not follow it in practice.
The ascetic Hinduism, represented by the systems of Sankhya, Yoga, Pancharatra, Bhagawata etc., is totally against violence. The Yogasastra gives it a subjective consideration. Vyasa in his commentary on the aphorisms of Patanjali defines non-violence as freedom from malice.
While describing the influence of non-violence Patanjali says that even born enemies leave their enmity in the presence of a person who has inculcated the ideal of non-violence into his life. The followers of Yoga had a firm belief in the maxim that contempt breeds contempt and love breeds love.
The followers of Bhagavata cult emphasize love and devotion. They are strictly vegetarians and regard killing of animals as the greatest sin. The cult of Vaishnavism, spread along with Jainism in Gujarata and Rajasthana in the north and into the whole of south has exerted a great influence in creating a temperament of