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The Path of Arhat ; A Religious Democracy
It is believed that the emphasis of Mahavira and Buddha on Sainnyasa' was responsible for the addition of fourth Aśrama, namely 'Sainnyāsāśrama' as the last stage in a man's life. Whatever it may be, the fact remains that the impact of the rational and logical thinking of Mahāvīra and then of Buddha was so great that the Indian culture took altogether a new turn from 6th century B.C. onwards. It is not that the pripciples of Ahimsā, Truth, Asteya, Aparigraha and Brahmacarya were unknown to the Aryan society. As aiready noted above, Sramapa line of thinking existed side by side with Vedic line from time immemorial and the great Rşis of Upanişadas had already initiated philosophical interpretation of Vedas much before Mahavira. However, on account of priestly stronghold and language monopoly of sciptures the ideas of Ahimsa etc. had not reached the masses. This was ach ved by Mahavira and Buddha, both of whom condemned cast superiority and inequality. The great Jaina saint of Mahavíra's time Sri Harikeśī was a Caoqala ( untouchable of untouchables ). He was very higlily respected by the whole society. He furnishes a shining example of the way in which the down-trodden section of the contemporary society was elevated to its rightful position as a result of Mahāvīra's preaching Significant Events
At this distance of time, having been brought up in the society where the principles of Ahinsa, Truth and Brahmacarya are taken for granted as the necessary constituents of a cultured life in India, we would not be in a position to appreciate the tremendous task which lay ahead of Mahavira in the orthodox rigidity of his times. We have no historical record of the working of his mind when he must have faced with different and difficult problems of the society, he lived in. Whatever fragments of his life and work are available, are from different sūtras-Kalpasūtra being prominent. However, as is usual with ardent devotees, much of it seems to have been glossed with mysteries and exaggerations.
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