Study in the Origins and Development of Jainism

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

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Socio-Cultural Milieu of the Origin and Development of Jainism
There has been an attempt on the part of a number of scholars to search the roots of Jainism, Buddhism and some other non-ordhodox schools in the socio-economic and cultural milieu of sixth cent B. C. In this context attention has been drawn to the interactions between the Brāhmaṇic and the Śramanic traditions and their consequent impact on the intellectual activity during the first half of the first millennium B. C. Attention has also been focused on the unprecedented economic changes during this period due to introduction of iron technology. Forests were cleared, new fields of agriculture were prepared resulting into surplus production. This change in economy affected all the spheres of life. Trade and commerce activities enhanced, new market centres came into existence and finally, a number of urban centres emerged. This change is designated as 'second urban revolution'. Massive developments in the fields of agriculture, trade and commerce paved the way for the rise of a neocapitalist class often mentioned as setthis in the Buddhist and Jain texts. These setthis, though rich and influential, were vaisyas enjoying only relatively lower position in the Varna heirarchy. As such their dissatisfaction with existing orthodox social order is plausible. In this