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Lord Mahavira and His Times through the successive stages of Brahmacharya and Garhasthya.? Brāhmanas have been described as well-grounded in the Vedas and versed in the different branches of learning such as Nighanțu, Vyakaraņa, and Lokāyata.? Brāhmaṇas like Sunetta', Sela, 4 and others5 possessed vast knowledge and imparted education to a large number of students, some of whom came to be known as the teachers of world-wide repute,
The practice of offering sacrifices was very common among the Brāhmaṇas. During his tour, Mahāvīra is stated to have spent the rainy season in a sacrificial house of a Brāhmaņa of Champā.. The Brāhmaṇas made sacrifices and assumed that the gods were willing to accept their offerings. On the occasion of these sacrifices, they used to receive dāna. In the Somadatta Jataka, it is narrated that the king gave a Brāhmaņa 16 cows, ornaments and a village. With the spread of Jaina and Buddhist doctrines, the cult of sacrifice gradually declined. It is said that while Vijayaghosha was engaged in performing Brahmanical sacrifice Jayaghosha, a monk approached him for alms and converted him to his faith after telling him what true sacrifice really meant.? .
The second category of the Brāhmaṇas, known as worldly Brāhmaṇas could not stick to their hereditary professions of teaching and priesthood but followed other professions under the pressure of social and economic necessities. According to Āpastamba and Gautama, trade and agriculture were to be taken up by them in times of distress. From the Buddhist sources, it is gathered that the Brāhmaṇas in the ordinary walk of life appeared as farmers, craftsmen, businessmen, soldiers, administrators, and so on. The Dasa-BrāhmaṇaJataka8 states how Brāhmaṇas in those days pursued ten
1. Jā, II. 85. 394, 411; III. 147, 352. 2. Digha, I. ii, 120; Angu, III, 223; GS. I 146; Su. Ni. II1, 5; Majjh, Il.
133, 3. Angu, III, 371. 4. Su.Ni, III, 7. 5. Jā,; VI. 32. 0. dva-Chū, p. 320. 7. Uttarā. 25. 8. Jā, No. 495.
