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MISSION IN BENGAL
49 of things prevailing at the time when Lord Mahāvīra was born, if we consider the state of Hinduism at the time of the advent of this great Guru, we shall find that in those days Vedic sacrifices constituted mainly the creed of Hinduism. Animal sacrifices and oblations were the order of the day. The householders were under the direct control of a hierarchy of priests who, under all circumstances, officiated and propitiated the gods. These priests were, at all times, the mediators between gods and men, and sacrifices and rituals and ceremonies of all sorts and descriptions were formulated by them, with an eye to their own material gain. There was the sacrifice of the lamb, the sacrifice of the goat, the sacrifice of the horse and of all other things imaginable. Various were the reasons assigned, and various were the devices adopted for these dreadful and horrible sacrifices. In short, the sacrifice of animals in expectation of rewards in this world as well as in the other had become a worldwide institution,
THE ADVENT OF MAHĀVĪRA AND BUDDHA Fortunately, with the advent of Lord Mahāvīra and of Lord Buddha a reaction against this institution of animal-sacrifice set in. Both these Masters of Compassion thought that such a mechanical religion of over-formal ceremonialism and life-taking sacrifices achieved nothing more than merely to cause unnecessary and unjustifiable injury to innocent animal life. They felt that such a religion could not purify a man's life,
