Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Bool Chand
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

Page 12

the husband ; (4) 31a9h, the rite for the new-bom child ; (5) 7777F.TOT, the ceren.ony of naming the child ; (6) 791a, the first feeding of the child with solid food;
7) 777#, the tonsure of the child's head ; (8) 39748, initiation ceremony ; (9) to (12) the four vows urdertaken for studying the different Vedas ;(13) arada, the complction of studentship;(14) #ETH T att, marriage; (15) to (19) five great daily sacrifices to the gods, manes, men, goblins and Brahman; (20) to (26) the seven 979197 smail sacrifices which had to be performed mostly by the householder himself, and fourteen major rituals the seven kinds of हविर्यज्ञ and seven kinds of सोमयज्ञ in which three sacred fires were kindled, to which offerings of cake, grain, milk, honey, etc., were made. In the Somagajnas, even animals were killed. To this list could be added numerous other sacrifices, like the Vrāfya-stoma, the Rajsia, the Ashwamedha," and the
Purushamedha. Some of these sacrifices were informed .by a new spirit of symbolism and spirituality, evident
for instance in the building of the aliar, and lasted from tyrelve days to a year of years.
The elaboration of these rituals led to the growth of Brahmanism, or the heirarchy of Brahmanas; and with Brahmanism came the rigidity of the caste system. Under rigid caste system, in which a mian's caste was determined by the fact of birth, the Brahmanas became parasites living on the resources of the industrial classes without doing anything worthwhile to compensate the other classes. The Kshatiriya class, which had always been active evolving philosophical systems and which had stood for experience as against the Brahmanic emphasis on intellect, felt the iniquity and injustice of this position and revolted against it. Mahavira and the Buddha freely denounced the arbitrary distinctions of caste and proclaimed the equality of all human beings, and in doing so they were giving an effective expression to the innermost feeling of the masses.
With the growing rigidity of the caste system, the position o Fromen also had deteriorated. During