Sambodhi

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 80

Ram Prakash Poddar
the ceremonial sacrifices were expensive;12 earning merit by giving costly gifts was not possible for poor people; the caste-system did not give equal rights to all the constituents of society, certain people were forced to lead a miserable life; above all they put under importance on formalism and tended to overlook the essence of religion viz. good conduct of the individual to achieve the ultimate good for himself and his society. Consequently, they were opposed by those who underlined good conduct and disregarded ritualistic formalities. Among the opponents were the Buddhists, the Jainas and quite a few from the Brahmanical fold too.
In the Ardhamāgadhi Agamas there are frequent confrontations between religions based on ethics on one hand and some sort of retualistic formalism on the other. In the former, emphasis is on following a certain code of conduct such as abstinence from causing injury to life and telling lies etc. The latter underlines some purificatory rites such as holy baths and offering oblations into the fire etc.
The Uttarajjhayana goes a long way towards refuting or attempting to amend religious or social formalism such as the ceremonial sacrifices, system of castes and stages of life and the purificatory rites.
Efficacy or ceremonial sacrifices and the caste-system questioned in chapters XII and XXV entitled Hariesijjam and Jannaijjam (Yajñiyam) respectively.
too, has been (Harikesīyam)
Chapter XII relates the legend of a monk named Hərikeśa Bala who, though of perfect conduct, was born of Sopāka parents. Once after a reli. gious fast of one month, he went to the sacrificial enclosure of some Brāhmanas to beg food. The latter, in spite of a Yaksa's intercession on behalf of the monk, refused to oblige on the ground that the sacrificial food could not be given to low caste people and that the well-born and learned Brāhmaṇas alone were the fit persons to receive gifts of food etc. 14 The Brāhmaaas also asked their students and attendants to beat the intruder and drive him away. Bhadrā, the sacrificer's wife, tried in vain to dissuade them with her testimony of the monk's firmnesss in self-control. But with the influence of the Yakșa, their misdeads boomeragged upon them and they were all magically paralysed, each one badly bruised and senseless. Subsequently, the Brāhmaṇas realized their mistake, propitiated the monk and offered him food and drink. As the monk broke his fast, the five divine phenonema appeared. 15 New supremacy of good conduct and austerities was staring the Brahmaņas in the face and their pride of caste had melted away.16 They submitted to the monk who advised them to refrain from mater al sacrifices and switch over to the spiritual one