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Lord Mahāvīra and His Times
on the nature of the soul. Thus the scul is not passive in the sense that it remains untouched or unaffected by what a person does, but is susceptible to the influences of Karma..
Even in some early Buddhist texts, we find the traces of Kriyāvāda as expounded in Jainism. In Anguttara Nikāya, III, 74, for instance, a learned Lichchavi prince of Vaiśāli, Abhaya, gives the following account of some Nigantha doctrines : "The Nigantha Nātaputta teaches the annihilation by austerities of the old Karma, and the prevention by inactivity of new Karma. When Karma ceases, misery ceases; when misery ceases, perception ceases ; when perception ceases, every misery will come to an end. In this way, a man is saved by pure annihilation of sin (nijjarā) which is really effective."
Another piece of information about Nigantha doctrines may be gathered from the Mahāvagga,1 There a story is told of Sīha who wanted to pay the Buddha a visit, but Nătaputta. tried to dissuade him from it simply because the Niganthas held to Kriyāvāda while the Buddha's beliefs were grounded in Akriyāvāda.
These passages throw light on the doctrine of Karma expounded by Mahāvīra. The theory of Karma has special significance if we consider it along with the views of MahāVira's contemporary religious thinkers. The Vedic thinkers thought that the world has been created and is governed by the gods. Pūraņa Kassapa maintained that , when a man acts or causes others to act, it is not his soul which acts or causes to act.Kātyāyana advocated that whether a man buys or causes to buy, kills or causes to kill, he does not thereby commit any sin.3 Kesakambain explained that life ends here, and there is no world beyond. Denying the hereafter and the efficacy of all social institutions founded upon beliefs in the future existence of man, he cannot inform us whether an action is good or bad, virtuous or vicious, well done or otherwise, whether it is in man's power to reach perfection or not, or whether there is a heaven and a hell.4 Gośāla denies that
1. Mv, VI, 31. 2. Sūtra, I, 1.1 13. 3 Ibid, I, 1.1.15 ; II. 1.22-24. . 4. Ibid, I, 1,11-12 ; II, I, 16.17.
