Study in the Origins and Development of Jainism

Author(s): S N Shrivastava
Publisher: Rekha Publication Gorakhpur

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Origin, Antiquity
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(i)
it had its own world-view and rejected the authority of the Vedas.
(j)
it is pluralistic.
(k) it considers pleasure seeking, egoism and violence as main evils. Origin and Antiquity
The problem of the origin and antiquity of Śramaṇa tradition has been one of the baffling problems of ancient Indian cultural history. Since, the literature pertaining to the Śramaṇa tradition does not predate the age of the Buddha, it has been a real problem for the historians to work out the pre-Buddhistic history of the Śramaṇa tradition, and more so, of its early reaches. The Jain tradition believes in the existence of pūrva literature in pre-Mahāvīra times, but it is said to have been lost and the portion preserved in the driṣtivada, the twelvth anga, is in its contaminated and altered form. It helps us in no way in reconstructing the early history of the Śramana tradition. Thus, being handicapped by the nonavailability of the Śramana literature, we are left with no alternative but to depend upon the early Brahmanical literature to find out the glimpses of the Śramana tradition, the ideological and philosophical developments in ancient India in order to trace out the Śramanic ideas and their impact on the Indian tradition and, finally, the linguistic study so that we may be able to lay bare the threads of cultural patterns and identify the ideological structure by way of studying the terms in which the meanings are enshrined.
The problem of the origin and antiquity of the Śramana tradition has drawn the attention of scholars here and abroad and has been tackled by them from different angles. The views expressed, so far, in this regard may be classed into three categories.
(a) Śramana tradition is purely non-Aryan tradition