________________
THE JATAKA BOOK
203 And he gives his reasons:
“The descriptions of the political, religious, and social conditions of the people clearly refer to the ancient time before the rise of the great Eastern dynasties of the Nandas and the Mauryas, when Pāțaliputra had become the capital of India. The Jātakas mention neither the one nor the other, and they know nothing of great empires which comprised the whole or large parts of India. The number of the kingdoms, whose rulers play a part in the Stories, is very considerable. The majority of the names, as Madra, the two Pañcālas, Kosala, Videlia, Kāsi, and Vidarbha, agree with those mentioned in the Vedic literature ; while a few others, like Kālinga and Assaka, occur, in brahminical literature, first in the Epics and in Pāṇini's Sutras. The characteristic names of the Andhras, the Pāņdyas, and the Keralas are not mentioned.
“Though a political centre was wanting, frequent statements regarding the instruction of the young brahmins and nobles show that there was an intellectual centre, and that it lay in Takkasilā, the capital of distant Gandhāra.... And it is very credible that Gandhāra, the native country of Pāņini, was a stronghold of brahminical learning certainly in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., and perhaps even earlier. The statements regarding the religious condition of India point to, an equally early period. Just as the Three Vedas are the basis of the higher instruction, so the prevalent religion is that of the path of works with its ceremonies and sacrifices, among which several, like the Vājapeya and the Rājasūya, are specially and repeatedly mentioned. Side by side with these appear popular festivals, celebrated, when the Nakshatra had
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
