Mahavira Life and Philosophy

Author(s): Sumeruchand Diwakar Shastri
Publisher: Jain Mitra Mandal

Page 80

66 vaya' indifferent to, gods, 'Anyavrata' followiñig strange ordinances and Devapeeya', reviling the gods. They are described as black-skinned and 'Anas', snub-nosed. The other epithet was 'Mridhtavac' unintelligible speech. Oriental scholars are of opinion, probably rightly, that these races of Das. yus who opposed the Aryans were the Dravidians, who inhabited the land, when the Aryans invaded the country They are called 'Sisna-devas', because they worshipped the nude figure of man.
The outstanding Tamil treatise on grammar Tholkappiam' informs us that the people of South worshipped the Supreme deity called "Kandazhi', which means one who destroys all karmas and becomes Parmatma. This is distinctly a Jain conception of God. The author of Tholkappiam says that this Kandazhi was the object of worship in Tamil land. The other meaning of the term is, one who destroys the Kandhu or post to which the victim of sacrifice was tied. The supreme being is so called because of the Yagya in the land. The term shows the highest religious ideal associated only with Jainism (Yesterday and Today-Pp. 60, 61, 68, 69).
The critical study of some Vedic hymns like Nadsiya Sukta shows that there must have been a peculiar current of thought existing in the pre-Vedic period which influenced the Vedas. Dr. Mangaldeva feels that, “Jain Philosophy might be a branch of
the pre-Vedic current of thought. Some Jain terms * like 'Pudgala matter support the aforesaid point".