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(7) did not give up the attempt, but determined, if possible, to seek his ideal in some other way,
Buddha had, thus, no manner of doubt about that separate and supreme vision of all-sufficing noble ( Aryan) koowledge passing human ken. It was a certainly for which he performed the severest austerities for years, and from the pursuit of which even enfeeblement, emaciation and repeated failure combined could not keep him away! Buddha must have actually seen the Thirthamkara himself to have acquire.l this certainly. It may be added that there was no one else whose example could have fired Buddha's imagination in this way, for none claimed to be omniscient then outside Jainism.
It is also interesting to note that in the Anguttara .Nikaya (iii, 74) Abhaya, a prince of the Lachchhavis of Vaisali refers to the Jaina affirmation of ability to attain to full knowledge and to annihilate karmas, old and new, by means of austerities (see the Outlines of Jainism p. xxxi).
I think this is sufficient to show the absurdity of the proposition that the Jainas borrowed their doctrines and religious practices from the Buddhists, that Jainism originated in the sixth century or that it is a compromise between Hinduism and Bud. dhism.
As for the dictum that the Jainas are Hindu dissenters, neither Dr. Gour nor any one else has a shred of evidence to adduce in support of it. It is a mere assumption grounded on the authority of early European enquirers who understood little if anything at all of religion and whose views about Indian religions including the Vedic Dharma are grotesquely childish and silly. It is true that in the absence of historical documents or inscrip. tions which do not generally run further back than the 3rd century B. C. no direct evidence can be had one way or the other, but the intrinsic evidence furnished by the real tencts and doctrines of the different faiths is conclusive on the point. This line of research the early investigators were not qualified to pursue, and was not taken up by them. Animistic belief is, however, regarded, by nearly all Orientalists, to be the most primitive form of beliel. Accordingly, Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids says of the Jains Scrip. ture (sec Buddhist ladia pp, 163-4) that ".............. they give
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