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श्रीमद् विजयराजेन्द्रसरि-स्मारक-प्रय It seems that at the coming of the Aryans in India, the austerity was practised by the natives. This idea of renunciation did not appeal to the society of the Aryans who had the optimistic outlook on life which is clearly reflected in hymns. The Rig-Vēda is full of prayers for long life, freedom from disease, heroic progeny, wealth, power, abundance of food, drink, the defeat of the rivals etc. The people who liked renunciation were few in society. It seems that the invasion of the Aryans brought the destruction of the native culture and religion., The natives were forced to give up their own religion and to accept the culture of the invaders.
The Aryan invasion which overwhelmed the North Western and North Central provinces of the Sub-continent in the second millenium B. C. did not extend beyond the middle of the Ganges valley. The possession of the Aryans at the Rig-Vēdic time was probably confined to Sapta Sindhu. The pre-Aryan nobility of the north eastern states were therefore not all annihilated. Many of the old families survived. Probably, the people of Käsi, Magadha and other neighbouring countries were the followers of a different culture on whom curses used to be showered and troubles used to be invoked. Jainism was probably popular in the east where the Tirthankaras were born. Even when the eastern part of India was aryanised, it preserved considerable differences from the midlands in the points of language, ethnic elements and culture. Probably, the Vrátyas mentioned in Atharva Vedal and Panchavimša Brahmana of Samavēda lived there. The Panchvimsa Brahmana describes peculiarities of the Vrātyas. They did not study the Vēdas. They did not observe the rules regulating the Brahamanical order of life. They called an expression difficult to pronounce when it was not difficult to pronounce (?) and spoke the tongue of the consecrated through un-consecrated'. This proves that they had some Prakritic form of speech. The Prakrit language is specially the language of the canonical works of the Jains, Jayaswal states that they had traditions of the
1. Atharvaveda, XV, 2, 1-4. 2. Panchavimga Brahmana XVII, 4, 1-9. 3. अदुसक्त वाक्यं दुसत माहुः-अदीक्षिता दीक्षित वाक्यं वदन्ति । . 4. Magadban literature Vol. I. P. 47, Chanda, Indo Aryan Race I. P. 38.
