________________
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE JAINAS
respectively from the mouth, the arms, the thighs and the feet of Brahma is formulated in the hymn of the Purușa in the Rgveda. The truth is that different professions constituted different castes. The Brahmin devoted to prayer and the science of theology was considered to be the highest. As you examine the ritualism of the Brahmins, the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas, you find express commands for sacrificing domestic and wild animals. Among these victims there is one which recurs with an ominous frequency viz. man. Not only are there traces of human sacrifice preserved in the legends as well as in the symbolism of ritual but this sacrifice is expressly mentioned and formally prescribed. All the great sacrifices as a rule exact one or more human victims and one of them is quite naively called the naramedha i.e. the sacrifice of man. The texts speak differently in regard to these rites. At one time they represent them as fallen absolutely, but they maintain them as a rule and protest against their abolition; at another time they conceive of them as purely symbolic acts, while at another they simply speak of them as usages in full forces. There were, however, other philosophers living alongside of these sacrificers and their doctrines had considerable influence with the views of the Brahmins. Among the Brahmins themselves there were frequent schisms. These heretic philosophers being under the sway of Brahmin priesthood had to accept, though nominally, the authority of the Vedas. They, therefore, maintained that although for good worldly rewards you have to follow the sacrificial system of the Vedas, it does not help at all a man whose sole object is spiritual bliss'. Jainism was existing and preaching its doctrines side by side. It had witnessed from times immemorial the various divisions of the Hindu society and loudly proclaimed that one who prided himself as belonging to a high family should invariably enter into lower existence in his next incarnation. Its spiritual philosophy and system of logic was too deep for common people, but it had its own system of ethics for the masses and those who
1. Sänkhya-kärikā verse 2 (Ed.)
6
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
