________________
CXXIV
SAMAYASARA
were sent away unceremoniously by the prince Marutha But Ravana himself appears in person officially with his soldiers. Then Marutha confessed that he was instructed by the Vedic priests to perform this yaga though he was not very well informed about this Then Ravana rebukes him, stops the preparations, releases all the animals intended for sacrifice and thrcatens the priests. Then Marutha was initiated to the practice of Ahimsa Dharma and he was made to give a solemn promise that he would be no more a party to animal sacrifice or yagna. This story found in Jaina Ramayana clearly indicates that the Vidyadhaias since they were followers of Ahimsa cult were sternly opposed to any performance of yaga within their borders Perhaps that explains why according to Valmiki Ramayana, the Rakshasas were always bent upon preventing the performance of yagas and whenever an attempt is made to perform yaga the pailies had to seck the aid of military protection before they could carry on the cercmony. This is illustrated in Ramayana where Viswamitra takes the military aid of the royal princes, Rama and Lakshmana before he starts the rituals. Thus the circumstantial evidence goes to support the theory that the people of the land were all followers of Rishabha cult and they were staunchly defending their cult of Ahimsa whenever there was an interference from outside. This theory implies that even before the advent of the Rigvedic Aryans, the people of the land had a higher form of religion. The Rishabha cult of Ahimsa is further borne out by an evidence supplied by the later Brahmanas and the Upanishads. When the Aryans of the Rigvedic period prominently settled in Northern India, their vedic culture of Yagas, must have been prevalent side by side with the religious practice associated with the earlier Rishabha cult. The royal families representing the Ikshavakus clan and other clans must have been driven towards the East by the conquering hoards of the rigvedic Aryans who came and settled in the Punjab. The earlier Aryan families who adopted the Ahimsa cult of Lord Rishabha must have been opposed to this ncw cult of the Aryans. Therefore we have a reference to thc Prachyadesa, the Eastern countries in the Brahmanas. The most important of these the Satapadabrahmanas refers to the people of
