Shraman Bhagvana Mahavira Part 1

Author(s): Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker
Publisher: Parimal Publication

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Sads,-a new ātman cult accepted by the Aryans of the Gangetic Valley and which pushed to the back-ground as inferior and unimportant the cult of Vedic sacrifice. Rişabha-deva, according to the traditional account, belongs to this group of Aryans. The tribe of Ikşvāku is referred to in Big-vedic literature as an ancient tribe. Therefore, by the time the Aryans of the Indus Valley composed their hymns, these Iksvākus of which tribe Lord Risabha was the greatest hero, was considered an ancient clan and almost forgotten.
All these facts go to support our theory that even before the advent of the Aryans and the Vedio hymns, there was an Aryan group in India from the Himalayas in the North to the island of Ceylon in the South, and who were characterised by an entirely different culture and civilisation mainly opposed to the other Aryan cult of Vedic sacrifice.
In a later period of Medieval India, the later Aryan cult characterised by Vòdic sacrifice had a predominent influence and eclipsed completely the earlier Aryan cult associated with Lord Risubba and characterised by the cloctrine of A-hissa. This domination of Vedic culture nay be seen even in present day India as the main characteristic of Hindu Faith. Though the later revivalist cult of Hinduism successfully crushed out of India, the Builubisin and counpletely sub-ordinated Jainism, both being based upon A-himsā doctrine, the revivalist Hindu cult of SouthIndia still retains important marks associated with the previous A-himsā cult. The very word “Saivam" in Tâmul parlance means strict vegetarianism. The temple worship in the form of the worshipping the god with the flower instead of by sacrificing animals is also a characteristic of the earlier A-himsā form of religion; Saivism though modified and degraded by the influence of Kāpālikas still retains essential characteristics of the earlier Risabha cult which was the foundation of South Indian Religion.
Not only the Kāpālika faith had its influence on the older A-hiingā cult but also the saktaism left its indelible mark on the earlier faith, add Rişabha wbu was Yogiśvare was given a wife