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THE PHILOSOPHIES OF THE GNYATA PUTRA
K.C. Lalwani
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Lord Mahâvîra, the twenty fourth Tirthankara of the Jainas, was born about two thousand and five hundred years back. He belonged to the Jnatrika clan of the ksatriyas that lived at and around Vaisali in Bihar. His father Siddhartha was the chief of his clan and from his mother's side, Mahâuîra, known as Vardhamana in his early life, was connected with the famous Licchavi princes. After, the death of his parents, in his thirtieth year, Vardhamana renounced the life of a prince and took to enormous ascetic hardship for about twelve years and thereafter for about three decades he lived the life of a kevoli (one with 'pure' knowledge), an arhat or a 'man-god' to inspire and guide humanity to liberation. He became a Tirthankara because he organised the tirtha or 'order' consisting of the sramanas (monks) and the sravakas (laity), both male and female.
The sixth century B. C. was a time when men's minds in several widely separated parts of the world were deeply stirred by problems of religion and philosophy. Like Socrates and Plato in Greece and Lao-tse and Confucius in China, Manâvîra and Buddha assumed the leadership of this new awakening in this country. By this time, the Vedic age had slipped into the past and even the intellectual resurgence of the Upanisads was fast losing hold on popular mind. It was in this spiritual crisis in the life of the society that a new dispensation with emphasis on moral and ethical sides of man and devoid of excessive ritualism was called for and this was provided by Mahâvîra and Buddha.
Jainism, like Buddhism, has often been called a heretical religion. It is heretical in the sense that it is non-vedic. But whether it is atheistic is still a matter of controversy. At most it can be said
