Jainism by Vividus

Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

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At the dawn of history, it appears that only those people residing in India near the banks of the Indus river in the north and the northwest, following Vedic traditions or other apparently similar and not easily distinguishable traditions, were known and to distinguish themselves, from others of mankind, in general spread over the world, the loose term "Indus" spoken "H-indus" people, came to be coined by Egyptians, Greeks, etc. and later throughout subsequent centuries, it came to be so much in use that it became a synonym for all people living all over India, Today, the evidence of pre-Aryan civilisations in India has been found, and though it is well known that different religious practices, institutions and orders from earliest times had existed in India in the different parts thereof, the word "Hindus" which later denoted only Vedic traditions and customs and literature came to be loosely used, because of sheer number of its followers, for all the people of India. A vast majority of the people in India, at present, follow Vedic traditions and believe in Vedas, Upanishadas, Geeta, Mahabharata, Bhagavata, Ramayana etc., as their standard religious texts, though they are divided under different labels such as Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, or Shaivaites, Vaishnavas, Pushtimargiya, Swaminarayans, etc., worshipping at the feet of idols or pictures of Rama, Krishna, Hanumana, Brahama, Vishnu, Mahadeva, Ganapati, Nara Narayana, Shri Nathji, Mahakali, Durga, Amba, etc., all these it is true, could be correctly described and bracketed together as "Vedantins" but certainly not as "Hindus," but those who are pre-Aryans or Jainas or Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parasis), Sikhs, Christians or Muslims and follow distinctly separate religions, customs and traditions cannot be so bracketed, very much less than as "Hindus."
In this connection, the following excerpt from the letter of the Secretary of the Bombay Hindu Provincial Mahasabha published in "Jaina Yuga," dated 1st September 1931, will be of some interest:
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