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The Predecessors of The 24th Jina
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philosophy of kshatriyas by research-scholars in the course of many years. And it is probable that precisely as a result of its proximity to the kshatriya ideology, the Upanishadas had much in common with Jainism.
According to legends of the Jains their religion in ancient time had spread over the whole of India, and all of them were kshatriyas. According to another legend, Devananda, a Brahmin women should have given, birth to Mahavir Jina (founder of Jainism in that form in which this religion has come down to us) but the embryo had been transferred to the bosom of Trisala, a kshatriya women, since Mahâvîra was not to receive life from Brahmins or from the members of the lower castes. (Can there be anything more characteristic in India than this showing repulsion towards Brahmins?) Research scholars of the philosophy of Hinduism emphasise that it was precisely kshatriyas who introduced in this philosophy the conceptions known by the name of atma-vidya and moksha-dharma.
Ancient Indian literature contains indications of the deep antiquity of the sources of Jainism and it also indicates that the kshatriyas and ascetics from vratyas i.e. non-Aryans played noticeable role in establishing non-vedic teachings. Alluding to the fact that monks-shramana (and more ancient name of Jainism and Jain monks is precisely shramana) are referred to in Rigveda, in Taitiriya-aranyka and in Bhagvat-purana and also alluding to the fact that the word 'muni' though rarely so in the works of vedic literature meant in antiquity an asceitic-hermit of non- vedic tradition, several, authors contend that during the time when Vedas were taking shape, a number of elements which had entered subsequently in Jain religion were already known. This is confirmed by the fact, that monks are called arhanas or arbatas in Rigveda and Atharvaveda i.e. by the word which is invariably applied in Jain tradition for the designation of great teachers and preachers of this religion.
Vratya-khanda-part of Atharvaveda-glorifies learned asceticvratya i.e. ascetic-non-brahmin, who came superior to vedic gods, had subdued four countries of the world and by his breath had given birth to the whole world. In those times, followers of Jainism were, in the main, representatives of pri-Aryan population of the country. Many contemporary research scholars have also
