Lord Mahavira and His Times

Author(s): Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 30

Lord Mahavira and His Times The curious Jaina version of Kộishṇa legend along with that of Arishtanemi having some points of similarity between itself on the one hand and the Brahmanical and Buddhistic versions on the other, was invented with the obvious purpose of gaining popularity for the Jaina faith in Western India by making the local people believe that the whole of the Yādava race attained salvation under the influence and guidance of the 22nd Tirthankara, Neminātha. Actually, Neminātha is not a historical figure at all and the same is probably the case with Lord Krishna also.
JAINISM AS A PRE-VEDIC RELIGION
It has been pointed out by some scholars that Jainism is a pre-Vedic religion. G.C. PANDEYhas tried to show that the anti-ritualistic tendency, within the Vedic fold, is itself due to the impact of an asceticism which antedates the Vedas. Jainism represents a continuation of this pre-Vedic stream. Some of the relics,” recovered from the excavations at Mohenjo-dāro and Harappa, are related to Šramana or Jaina tradition. The nude images in Kāyotsarga, i.e., the standing posture lost in meditation, closely resemble the Jaina images of the Kushāņa period. Käyotsarga is generally supposed to belong to the Jaina tradition. There are some idols even in Padmāsana pose. A few others, found at Mohenjo-dāro, have heads of serpents. They probably belonged to pre-Vedic Nāga tribe. The image of the seventh Tirtharikara, Lord Supārsva, has a canopy of serpent-heads.
Even after the destruction of the Indus civilization, the straggling culture of the Šramaņas, most probably going back to pre-Vedic and pre-Aryan times, continued even during the Vedic period as is indicated by some such terms as Vātarasana, Muni, Yati, Šramana, Keśí, Vrātya, Arhan and śiśnadeva. The Kesi Sukta of the Rigveda delineates the strange figure of the Muni who is described as long-haired, clad in dirty, tawnycoloured garments, walking in the air, drinking poison,
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1. Psob, p. 317. 2. Moh. Ind, plate xii,
Figs. 13. 14, 15, 19, 22.