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JAINISM IN INDIAN HISTORY
Conclusion
It 18 a pity that the Brahmanas did not appreciate this role of Jainism and Buddhism in the spread of Hindu culture in India They insisted upon looking at these Sramana system as hostile creeds and, therefore, persecuted them as soon as they got a chance to do so The power of the Sramanic systems in India was practically shattered in the fifth and sixth centuries Buddhism was forced for its existence to leave the country of its birth and make a new home for itself in Tibet, China, Burma and other countries. Jainism recoiled before the attacks made against it, and felt it safe to continue into existence by adopting many of the retuals and other outward forms of Brahmanism These outward forms were particularly adopted by the Digambara sect of the Jaidas in South India The result was that when Brahmanism emerged supreme during the Gupta period, no section in Hinduism was left with a broad and cosmopolitan outlook to establish contacts with foreigners whose immigration into India continued as ever, and to act as the instrument for the spread of Aryan culture among them Thus a gulf was created between the indigenous elements of the Indian population and the immigrant foreigners, a gulf which in the course of time became a perpetual feature of the Indian social situation.
