Samayasara

Author(s): A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 46

SAMAYASARA
prevalent in the countries of Videha and Magadha even prior to the rise of Buddhism. All these facts constitute strong circumsiantial evidence supporting the theory that Atma vidyā--the central doctrine of Upanişadic culture first arose from the Ksatriyas as a sort of protest against the Vedic sacrficial ritualism, jealously defended by the Brahmins. Upanişadic thought is mainly influenced by the Ahimsā cult associated with Lord Rşabha, a cult prevalent in India even prior to the Arya invasion. Since the Upanişadic thinkers have accepted this Ahimsa doctrine as superior to Vedic ritualism there was a spirit of compromise at that period. Except for rival claims for social domination there was most probably no great difference between the Brahmins and the Kşatriyas of those ages. Both were Aryans and both defended their culture and civilisation from non-Aryan inroads. This is substantiated by the fact that many learned Brahmins welcomed the new movement of Atma vidyā and were willing disciples under Kşatriya teachers to learn the new truth. If they had any antipathy to the new form of faith they would have exhibited it. They would not have manifested so much eagerness to assimilate it. In fact about the time of Bịhadāraṇyaka we find the tables are completely turned. Yājñavalkya a great teacher in Brhadaranyaka figures as the towering personality. He, a Brahmin, becomes the instructor now and Janaka the king places himself as his disciple. This represents a later stage in the development of Upanişadic thought. Yājñavalkya being a master-intellect successfully incorporated the new doctrine into the old. Kşatriya protestantism in the reform of Atma-vidyā was so completely assimilated that it ceased to exist as an independent movement, a phenomenon which is often repeated in the later history of Indian thoughts; for example Sankara completely assimilated Buddhism which led to its extinction. This conjecture is further supported by the nature and development of the Upanişadic thought itself. On account of reconversion of Janaka to the old orthodox ritualism which evidently implies an effected compromise between two rival schools, radical reformers of the extreme left had to recede entirely from the orthodox centre. They persisted in their protestantism and emphasised their opposition to sacrificial ritualism as a result of which we have birth of Buddhism. Reading facts in this light would agree well with the theory suggested by some oriental scholars on the evidence of the Upanişadic passages themselves that the Upanişadic doctrine of Atma vidyā first started in the Upanişads as a protest against the sacrificial rites of the Vedas and thereafter assimilated and recognised by the priestly class as well.
The Fundamental Doctrine of Upanişads-We have already noticed the Vedic concept of Atman or Brahman. We have to touch upon two other doctrines, Transmigration or metempsychosis and Karma. The latter is in a way the corollary of the former. The doctrine of metempsychosis is peculiar to the age of the Upanişads. There is no trace of it in the Vedic period. So much so scholars are of opinion that the Aryans must have borrowed this from the nonAryans. We know the Egyptians believed in the doctrine. It is certainly a