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Evolution of Jaina Thought
Risabhdas Ranka
Jainism has a long history. According to Jaina tradition it goes back to even pre-historic age. This fact has now been accepted by the historians on the basis of the Jaina tradition and literature. The earlier view that Jainism is an offshoot of Hinduism and Buddhism is now not acceptable.
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Although India had a glorious culture in the past, it has not been fully presented and understood owing to the lack of historical writings in the past. In the beginning there was no system of writing. The things were memorised and transmitted orally from one person to another. The teacher (gurus) used to transmit the knowledge that they had received from their teachers to their students and the students in turn used to do the same. Thus the Vedas were orally transmitted from one generation to another. Several centuries passed before things were reduced to writing.
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The excavations of Mohan-jo-daro and Harappa have revealed that there was a flourishing culture much earlier before the advent of the Aryans in India. It is presumed that, that culture was different from the Aryan culture and was perhaps Sramana (monk) culture the culture which valued asceticism and renunciation the most. Dr. Ramdhari Singh Dinkar writes: "It is logical to assume that the monk-institution was prevalent in India even before the advent of the Aryans and that this institution looked down upon the Brahmnical institution".
This Sramana-Brahman conflict seems to have existed before the emergence of Buddhism. Panini, the great Sanskrit grammarian, acknowledged this fact in his work. Dr. Dinkar continues; "Mythological Hindu religion is based on both scriptures, Agama and Nigama. The Nigamas are prominently Vedic whereas the Agamas are the source of monk-culture. The Agama word indicates a long pre-Vedic monk-tradition. The Jaina scriptures are known as Agamas. The founder of Buddhism is Gautam the Buddha who was born about twenty five hundred years ago. It should be, therefore, presumed that the pre-Buddhistic Sramanaculture must have been the Jaina culture. Parsvanatha, the twenty third Tirthankara, was born 250 years before the Buddha. Aristanemi and Rishabhadeva were earlier than even Parsvanatha. It is therefore probable that the pre-historic culture was
