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The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
Padmabhūşapa Pt. Dalasukhabhai Malavania has speculated, in his articles about the origin of the Doctrine of Nonviolence as follows :
"In his 'Man and the Universe', Prof W. Norman Brown rightly concludes that “The ideas ‘Ahirsa' and 'Unity of all life' did not have their origin in Vedic Aryan thought, but entered it from outside. The environment in which those ideas were at home was that of Jainism and Buddhism. In them Ahimsa was a dominant and original, not supplemental fcature."
These observations may not be taken to mean that idea of Ahimsa originated with Jainas and Buddhists. Both Jainas and Buddhists belong to old Sramana tradition and they are likely to have inherited the idea from that tradition. Thus, though the doctrine of Ahimsā was not newly founded by Mahavira, it was highly systematized and put on a very high pedestal by Mahāvīra in his rigorous campaign against wanton killing of animals in sacrifices arranged to propitiate gods. Mahāvīra gave this doctrine a very subtle interpretation and made it a way of life for the whole Indian society. The impact was so great that the average Hindu considers the abstinence from meat-eating as more virtuous and even those Hindus who are not strictly vegetarian avoid meat-eating on the days of religious functions. Today Ahiisã is as much the doctrine of faith for Hindus as for Jainas. Distinction between Vedic and Jaina Approach
Pt. Sukhalalaji?, a noted and respected Jaina scholar, draws the distinction between Vedic (Hindu) tradition and Jaina tradition with reference to the doctrine of Abiinsă in the following words;
“Ahimsă is the basic doctrine of Jainism. In the Jaina
1. Sanghavi, Pt. Sukhalal : Jainadharmano Prana (Guj. ),
Gujrat Grantharatna Karyalaya, Gandhi Marga, Ahmeda. bad, Ist edition, 1962, pp. 113-115.
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