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expresses the Jain indignation over worship of the Hindu Trinity in his famous stotra to a Jina2.
The Jain could allow that the Puranic tales of the avataras were probably figurative and therefore their teaching should be tested against more difinitive texts like the Vedas, the Brahmanas or the Dharma-iästras, which claimed the prerogative to instruct on dharma and adharma. Even here the Jain was disappointed, for these texts bristled with self-contradictions and seemed to lack any universal ethic which could be applied at all times for all human beings. Having, for instance, enjoined that "Thou shall not injure any being" (na himsyāt sarvabhūtäni). the scriptures had no scruples whatsoever against openly prescribing killing of animals for the sacrifice to gods and also as offerings to the manes! Even more obnoxious to the Jain was the fact that such sacrificial hirpsä was not only declared to be without evil, but was even labelled as "dharma", a virtuous act ! Hemacandra (1088-1172) indignantly asks: If hurt, how cause of merit? If cause of merit, how hurt?" The Dharmalästras, having said "Let him not speak what is untrue" (nanṛtam brūyat), proceed to make an exception: "For the sake of a Brahmin he may speak what is not true" (Apastamba); they even list five occasions upon which speaking an untruth is not a lie when spoken in jest, when told in dealing with women, at the time of marriage, when in the peril of life, or in the complete loss of goods. (Vašista XVI 36). Having forbidden stealing and having repudiated taking what is not given, Manu has no hesitation in saying: "Even if a brahmin by violence appropriates another's goods, or by ruse, nevertheless there is on his part no taking of what is not given; for all this (world) was given to the Brahmins, but through the weakness of the Brahmins the outcasts enjoy it. And therefore a Brahmin, taking it away, appropriates his own, a Brahmin simply enjoys his own, he dresses himself in his own, he gives away his own" (Cf. Manusmrti I, 101).
Further, in examining the domestic rituals enjoined by the Law books the Jain found that a great many of these were acts of gross superstition, exploited by the brahmins to earn an easy livelihood. They scrutinized, for example, the ceremony of räddha to the ancestors by feeding the brahmins, a practice of great antiquity which forms the very foundation of the Hindu family system even to this day. This ritual is of crucial importance to the Hindu because it is considered a fulfilment of a major obligation under the varṇäérama-dharma. A man must enter the stage of a householder (gṛhasthäärama) by marrying according to the caste rules. Begetting a son is obligatory because only a son can guarantee the ghost (preta) of the dead (father) a new body and a safe passage to the world of ancestors (pitrs); he does this by periodically offering nourishment in the form of śrāddha. Brahmins are fed sumptous meals on these occasions and it is believed that they are able to transfer the merit directly to the deceased fathers. The son is rewarded for his service with the right to inheritance of the paternal property, and a prosperous lineage is expected to result from the blessings of the ancestors.
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