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Mahavira : A Non-violent Revolutionary
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lim or an Indian Christian is more an Indian than his coreligionist elsewhere. Thus our culture, developed by the people of our nation through ages, has saved our national unity, inspite of our political leaders' failure and iospite of the partition of our country on the eve of our political independence.
The roots of above analysis are found in the socio-political environment, prevailing during the time of Mahā vīra. Those were the times when there was no paramount power to control the whole or even a great bulk of the country. There were small states and republics having monarchical as well as non-monarchical forms of government cach trying to dominate the other, Political leadership in both the forms of government had failed to unite the country as a one whole. Even in the regions not having monarchy, the political structure was mainly oligarchical in character, power vested in the hands of the clite. Socially, on account of the belief that gods can be pleased to make our life comfortable only by sacrifices, a priestly class with great vested interests grew up and the growth of Brahmanical scriptures, prescribing intricate and highly specialized rules for sacrifices, made the services of the priestly class inevitable even for the ruling princes and political leaders. However, the thinkers like Parsva, Kapila, Uddalaka Ārupi, Yajñavalkya and many other Rşis of later Upanişadas had started making dents on stronghold of sacrificial priests and princes. These great thinkers had already started a thinking process which was given a revolutionary push by Mahá vīra and Buddha and which eventually proved to be a cementing force of cultural unity inspite of the internecine quarrels between the political leaders of the day, A cursory look at the political situation in the time of Mahāvīra will show this. Vajji's Democracy
Vedic, Jaina and Buddhist texts reveal that there were mainly sixteen political entities called 'Mahajanapadas' in
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