1
1 The main supporters of the astronomical arguments are Jacobi, Z.
1 The main supporters of the astronomical arguments are Jacobi, Z.
Cambridge History of India - v1
C.
It was the end of the sixth century that saw the
invasion of Darius and the annexation of the territory round the Indus;
and, prior to that event, there is no strong evidence of a really active
contact between India and the outer world. It is, indeed, probable
enough that even before the time of Darius, Cyrus had relations with the
tribes on the right bank of the Indus, and Arrian asserts that the Assakenoi
and the Astakenoi were subject to the Assyrian kings'; but everything
points to the fact that, in the period of the Brāhmaṇas, relations with the
Gandhāras and other tribes in the remote north-west were very slight.
It is also significant that there is no really certain case of inscription of
any sort in India before the third century B. c.
The development in religion and philosophy in the period is remark-
able. The ritual has grown to very large proportions; and with the ritual
the number of the priests required at a sacrifice had increased until sixteen
or seventeen are enumerated as taking part in the more important offerings
The mere offerings of vegetable food and milk are comparatively unimport-
ant; but the animal sacrifice is increasingly elaborated, and the Soma
sacrifice has developed largely. In addition to the simplest form of the Soma
sacrifice occupying one day, there are innumerable other forms culminating
in the Sattras which might last any time from twelve days to a year or years
It is significant that, at the bottom of this priestly elaboration, is much really
popular religion. Thus the Rājasūya, or loyal consecration, is funda-
mentally a popular rite for the anointing of the king: the l'ājapeya betrays
a popular origin in the prominence in it of a chariot race, once probably
the main element; the Gayāmayana, a Sattra lasting a year, is distinguished
by the ritual of the Mahāvrata day in which long since was recognised a
primitive performance celebrating the winter solstice. The horse-sacrifice is
at bottom the elaboration of a simple rite of sympathetic magic; but it has
been so elaborated as to combine everything which could make an appeal
to the warrior Indian king and induce him to distribute abundant largesse
on the celebrators. But beside these and other popular festivals, which the
priests have worked over, stands one of the highest interests to the pri st,
which seems to reflect a new conception of theology. It is building of the
See Duff, Chronology of India, p. 5; Arrian, Indici, I, 3 (trans. M Crindle,
I
!
:
1
p. 179).
Vincent Smith, Early History of India, p. 16.
## p. 127 (#161) ############################################
V]
PHILOSOPHY OF EXISTENCE
127
altar for the sacred fire ; in one sense no doubt this was an ancient and
simple rite, accompanied as so often by the slaying of a man in order to
secure the abiding character of the structure : the Brāhmaṇa texts avoid
requiring any such actual slaughter, though they record it as a deed of the
past ; but they elaborate the building out of all reason and utility. The
only explanation of this action must he that offered by Eggeling, that, in
the building up of the fire alter, the Brāhmans sought to symbolise the
constitution of the unity of the universe. As we have seen, in the Purusha
hymn of the Rigveda occurs the conception of the creation of the universe
from the Purusha, and in the theology of the Brābmaņas the Purusha is
indentified with Prajāpati, 'lord of creātures,' and the sacrifice is conceived
as constantly recurring in order to maintain the existence of the universe.
To render this possible is the end of fire altar, the building of which is the
reconstruction of the universe in the shape of Prajāpati. Prajāpati, again,
is identified with Agni, the fire of the altar, and both Prajāpati and Agni
are the divine counterparts of the human sacrificer. But Prajāpati is him.
self Time, and Time is in the long run death, so that the sacrificer himself
becomes death, and by that act rises superior to death, and is for ever
removed from the world of illusion and trouble to the world of everlasting
bliss. In this the true nature of Pajāpati and of the sacrificer is revealed
as intelligence, and the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa urges the seeker for truth to
meditate upon the self, made upof intelligence and endowed with a body of
spirit, a form of light and an ethereal nature.
The same doctrine appears in another form in the Upanishads which
are engaged with the discussion of the underlying reality. They agree in
this that all reality in the ultimate issue must be reduced to one, called
variously brahman, 'the holi power,' or ātman, 'the self'. Moreover, the
Upanishads agree in regarding the absolute to be unknownable, and though
they ascribe to it intelligence they deprive that term of meaning by emptying
it of all thought. If the real is the absolute alone, the existence of the
appearance of this world must be explained ; but naturally enough the
Upanishads do not successfully attempt this task ; and it was not until the
time of Çankarāchārya in the beginning of the ninth century A. D. that it
was found possible to reconcile the doctrines of the different texts by the
view that all existence is merely illusion. This is perhaps a logical develop-
ment of the doctrine of the Upanishads ; but the Upanishads were groping
after truth and did not attempt to deduce all the consequences of their
guesses at the nature of reality.
There was one consequence which followed so clearly from the new
conception of existence that it is enunciated, though not very decidedly,
in the Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad, namely that there was no consciousness
after death in the case of him who realised the true nature of the self as in-
telligence without thought. But this conception plays a very small part in
See Sacred Books of the East, vol. XLIII, pp. xiv ,xxiv.
## p. 128 (#162) ############################################
128
[сн.
LATER SAMHITĀS, BRAHMAŅAS, ETC.
the texts compared with the new theory of transmigration. There is no
real sign of this doctrine in the Brāhmaṇas proper, but there is certain
amount of preparation for its appearance in the gradual, development of the
doctrine that not even after death is the horror of death ended : a man may
die repeated deaths in the next world. If conception be transferred to the
present world, then the doctrine of transmigration is produced, and in the
Upanishads this doctrine is clearly and expressly enunciated. The
Chhāndogya and Brihadāraṇyaka agree in the main outlines of the new
belief: the forest ascetic who has realised the nature of Brahman after death
goes by the way of the gods to be absorbed in brahman and never again to
be born : the man who has done good deeds but has not attained the sav.
:
ing knowledge goes to the world of the moon tɔ reside there until the fruit
of his deeds is exhausted, when he is born against first as a plant and then
as man or at once as a man : the wicked on the contrary are born as out-
casts, dogs or swine, according to the Chhāndogya, as birds, beasts, and rep-
tiles according to the Brihadāroņayaka. There is a variant version on the
Kaushitaki which makes all first go to the moon ; but the assential point
is the acceptance as a matter of certainty of the new doctrine of transmi-
gration. The Brihadāraṇyaka also has an important addition to the doctrine
in the form of the gospel of karman'action,' which is determines on a man's
death the nature of his next birth. In the Buddhist view the idea recurs
in the simple form that the self, which is recognised as persisting through
transmigration by the Brāhman, is discarded as needless and the karman
alone is asserted to possess reality.
The origin of this doctrine may have been helped by the widely
prevalent view among tribes of animists that the souls on death or even in
life can pass into other forms, animal or vegetable. We have seen that in
the Rigveda in one hymn the soul is regarded as going to the waters of the
plants ; we have no reason to doubt that such ide us were prevalent
among the aboriginal tribes with which the Āryans mixed. But these vague
ideas are totally inadequate to account for the belief in transmigration, and
the theory must, it would seem, have been a discovery of the schools of
seekers after the nature of truth, who arrived at it on the one side from
the popular beliefs of the peoples among whom they lived, and on the other
from the conception of the Brāhmaṇas that death could be repeated in the
other world. The doctrine led directly to pessimism, but the Upanishads
are not themselves pessimistic ; and we obtain thus a valuable evidence of
their priority to the rise of Buddhism, which is saturated with the doctrine
of the misery of the universe. The extraordinary success of the doctrine
shows that it was in harmony with the spirit of the Indian people, and
suggests what is otherwise probable, that by the end of the period of the
Brāhmaṇas the influence of the Āryan strain was waning, and that the true
Indian character of the intellectual classes was definitely formed.
## p. 129 (#163) ############################################
V]
RUDRA AND VISHNU
129
As we have already seen, the tradition makes kings take part in the
discussions which marked the formation of the doctrine of the absolute, and
even hints that the doctrine was in some way a special tenet of the ruling class ;
but it is doubtful if we can accord full credit to this tradition, or believe
that the brahman doctrine was the reaction of the noble class against the
excessive devotion of the priests to the ritual'. Policy adequately explains
the part assigned to them by the Brāhmans, whose aim it was to make their
patrons appreciate that their researches were such as to deserve support.
Parallel with the development of philosophy there was proceeding the
movement which leads to the religions of modern India, the exaltation of
Rudra and in a minor degree of Vishņu to the position of a great god.
Prajāpati is indeed the main subject of the theosophical speculation of the
Brāhmaṇa texts, a purpose to which his name as 'lord of creatures'
especially lent itself; but Prajāpati had no claims to be a god of the
people, and the position of Rudra as a popular deity is sufficiently shown
by the litanies to him in the Sanhitās of the Yajurveda, and by the whole
outlook of such texts as the Aitareya, Kaushitaki, and Çata patha
Brāhmaṇas. When Prajāpati committed incest with his daughter, the
Aitareya tells us that the gods were wroth, and from their most dread forms
produced the god Bhūta pati, ‘lord of creatures,' who represents one aspect
of Rudra's activities. ' He pierced Prajāpati and thereby acquired his
dominion over all cattle. In another passage the wording of a Rigvedic
verse is altered to avoid the mention of Rudra's dread name : in yet another
he appears at the sacrifice in black raiment and appropriates to himself the
sacrificial victim. We need not suppose that in this presentation the
Brāhmaṇas were creating a new-figure : rather they were adapting to their
system, as far as they could, a great god of the people. But the Rudra of
this period can hardly be regarded as a mere development of the Rudra of
the Rigveda : it seems most probable that with the Vedic Rudra is amalga-
mated an aboriginal god of vegetation, closely connected with pastoral life.
Vishņu cannot be said to have won any such assured place as Rudra,
who is already hailed as the 'great god' par excellence, and already bears
the name of Çiva, ‘propitious,' which is to be his final appellation. But the
constant identification of Vishņu and the sacrifice is, in view of the extra-
ordinary importance attached to the sacrifice by the Brāhmans, a sure sign
that he counted for much in Vedic life, and that he shared with Rudra the
veneration of the people, who may in different localities have been the
followers of one or the other god respectively. For the rest, while we now
1 The tradition is accepted by Garbe, Beiträge zur indischen Kulturgeschichte,
pp. 1 sq. ; Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, pp. 17 sq. ; Rhys Davids, Buddhist
India, pp. 256. 7. See also Chapter XI, Its validity is doubted by Bloomfield,
Religion of the Veda, pp. 218 sq. ; Oldenberg Buddhas, p. 73 ; Keith J. R. A. S. , 1908,
pp. 868-72.
## p. 130 (#164) ############################################
130
(ch.
LATER SAMHITĀS, BRAHMĀNAS, ETC.
obtain many details of the lower side of the religion in the spells of the
Atharvaveda, the pantheon of the Rigveda remains uualtered sare in such
minor aspects as the new prominence of the Apsarasas, the niechanical
opposition of the gods and the Asuras, and the rise of snake worship,
which seems to have been due to the imitation of the aboriginal tribes. On
the other hand, the attitude of the priests to the gods as revealed in the
sacrifice has lost whatever it had of spontaneity and simple piety. It is no
doubt possible to exaggerate these qualities even in the earlier hymns of the
Rigveda ; but their abeence in the later Samhitās is unquestionable. The
theory of sacrifice is bluntly do ut des ; and even in that theory the sacri-
ficers had so little trust that the whole sacrificial apparatus is dominated by
sympathetic magic. So convinced is the priest of his powers in this regard
that the texts explain that he can ruin as he pleases, by errors in the
sacrifice deliberately committed, the patron for whom he is acting, and in
whose interest he is presumed to be at work. It is a sordid picture ; and,
as we have seen, higher spirits turned away from a hocus pocus, which they
must have despised as heartily as any Buddhist, to the interpretation of
the reality underlying phenomena. Yet it is characteristic of the Indian
genius that, though it evolved views which must have rendered all the
sacrificial technique logically of no avail, it made no effort to break with
the sacrifice which was allowed to stand as a preliminary towards the at-
tainment of that enlightenment which the priests professed to impart.
The language of the Samhitās in their verse portions is similar to that
of the Rigveda, especially in the tenth book and in the later additions to
the other books. The language of the prose represents the speech of the
Brāhman schools of the day: it differs from that of the verse by the
removal of abnormalities, and by much greater precision shown, for example,
in the exact use of the tenses, the 'narrative perfect being at first carefully
eschewed and by the disappearance, except in a narrow sphere, of the use
of the unaugmented past tenses of the verb with modal meaning. There
seems in one passage of the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa to be a curious ad-
mission that other tribes had not preserved the purity of the Vedic speech.
the Asuras are credited in that text with the utterance of the words he'lavo,
which may be interpreted he ’raya! ! Ho! ye foes ! ,' and, if so, can be
explained as Prākrit forms. Similarly, as we have already seen, the
Vrātyas are described as regarding the Vedic speech as difficult to pro-
nounce, no doubt because of its conjunct consonants which the Prakrits
avoid. In both cases the reference is probably to tribes of the Magadha
country, and the Māgadhi Prakrit is marked by both the points alluded
tol. There are also signs of this corruption of the language through the
contact with the aborigines in the fact that in the spells of the Atharvaveda
1 Grierson, Z. D. A. G. , vol. LXVI, p. 66, thinks that Paicāchi, a dialect of north.
west India, is meant , but see l'edic Index, vol. II, p. 517.
## p. 131 (#165) ############################################
V]
CRITERIA OF DATE
131
are found several forms which can only be accounted for as Prākritisms.
Beyond these generalities we cannot affect to estimate how far the process
of the transformation of the language in the popular speech had gone: the
earliest foreign evidence, that from the Greek records, shows that many
names were reported by Megasthenes and others in Prākrit form; and, in
the middle of the third century B. C. , the inscriptions of Açoka are all
written in Prākrit dialects varying considerably in detail from one
another. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that beside the language
of the Brāhman schools, there existed more popular forms of speech ; but
everything points to the fact that the deeds of princes were still sung in a
language of the same form as the priestly speech. In metre a significant
change can be seen : the later hymns exhibit, when written in the eight
syllable metre, a distinct tendency to be composed of stanzas in which the
four lines are no longer independent in structure, but the first and third and
the second and fourth respectively are assimilated. The latter pair is made
to end with a definite iambic cadence, while the first and third on the
contrary are made to end with an iambus followed by a trochee, thus pro-
ducing an effect of contrast and setting a gulf between the old and the new
form of versification. This new form is far from being exclusively employ-
ed even in the latest versification of the period, but in the epic it is firmly
established, and the variants reduced to narrow limits'.
Interesting as are the Samhitās and the Brāhmaṇas from the point of
view of the history of civilisation and religion, as literature they are hardly
ever of substantial value. Much of the speculation of the Brāhmaṇs is
utterly puerile and seems to be the product of a decadent intellect. On the
other hand, the real interest of the Upanishads is undeniable: these pri-
mitive philosophical fragments exhibit a genuine spirit of enquiry, and here
and there do not fail to rise tu real dignity and impressiveness.
For the date of the epoch of the Brāhmaṇas we are again thrown
back on those considerations of literary and social development which we
have found to be the sole trustworthy criteria for the dating of the epoch
of the Rigveda. The lower limit is given by the fact that Buddhism accepts
from the Upanishads the doctrines of transmigration and pessimism, the
latter of which had been developed as a doctrine of obvious validity from
the facts of transmigration. Other indications, such as the want of any
trace of the knowledge of writing, show that we cannot legitimately carry
the Upanishads of the older type later than 550 or perhaps more probably
600 B. c. The fixing of the language which is posterior to the Brāhmaṇas
may be dated at latest at 300 B. C. ; and the earlier Sūtras probably go
back to at least 400 B. C. and very possibly earlier. These are important
See Oldenberg, Z. D. M. G. , vol. XXXVII, pp. 67 sq. ; Sacred Bcoks of the East,
vol. XXX, pp. XXXV sq. ; G. 1909 pp. 219 sq. ; Hopkins, Great Epic of India,
pp. 194 sq. ; Jacobi, Indische Studien, vol. XVII, pp. 442 sq. ; Keith, J. R. A. S. , 1906,
pp. 1-10 ; 1912, pp. 757 sq.
1
## p. 132 (#166) ############################################
132
[CH.
LATER SAMHITĀS, BRĀHMANAS, ETC.
considerations and their cumulative effect is harmonious and practically
decisive of an early date for the civilisation which has been described.
On considerations of probable development, the beginning of the Brāhmaṇa
period may fairly be put back to 800 B. C.
As with the Rigveda, attempts have been made to show that these
dates are much too low and that astronomical data enable us to carry the
Brāhmaṇas much further back. The lists of the Nakshatraz all begin with
Kſittikās, and we know that in the sixth century A. D. the constellation
which then headed the Nakshatras was chosen because the vernal equinox
took place when the sun was in conjunction with that Nakshatra. From
the precession of the equinoxes, we are enabled to arrive at the conclusion
that the position of Krittikās at the vernal equinox must have taken place
in the third millennium B. C. This has been supported by a passage in the
Çata patha Brābmaņa where it is said that Kțittikās did not more from the
eastern quarter at that time. But we have no evidence whatever to connect
the sun and the Nakshatras at this period, and the notice regarding the
position of Krittikās cannot be taken seriously in a work which shows so little
power of scientific observation of facts as the Çatapatha. Moreover if,
as it is probable, the Nakshatra system was borrowed ready made, we can-
not even conjecture for what reason Kſittikas was placed first. More
promising is a definite notice contained in the Kaushitaki Brāhamna and
repeated in the Jyotisha, a late Vedic work on astronomy, if indeed it can
be dignified with this title, that the winter solstice took place at the new
moon in Magbās. From this datum results varying from 1391-1181 B. C.
were early deduced by different investigators ; but these conclusions can
claim no scientific value, as they rest on assumptions as to the exact mean-
ing of the passage which cannot be justified. The possible margin of error
in the calculations is at least five hundred years; and we are therefore
reduced to the view that this evidence only indicates that the observation
which is recorded was made some centuries B. C. The same conclusion can
be drawn from the fact that in quite a number of places the month
Phālguna is called the beginning of the year. In the view of Jacobi, this
shows that the year began with the winter solstice at full moon in Phalguni,
and thus would correspond with his view that in the Rigveda the sun at
the summer solstice was in Uttara-Phalguni. But, in this case also, the
result is unacceptable ; for it is nowhere stated that the beginning of the
year was dated from the winter solstice. The most probable explanation
is that the full moon in Phalguni was deemed to be the beginning of the
year, because it marked, at the time when it was so termed, the beginning
of spring. Since the new moon in Maghā was at the winter solstice, the
full moon in Phalguni would fall about a month and a half later in the first
week of February, which is compatible with Feb. 7, the Veris initium in the
Reman calendar, and which is a perfectly possible date for about 800 B. C. ,
## p. 133 (#167) ############################################
V]
ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCE
133
especially when it is remembered that the division of the year into three
periods of four months was always a rough one, and the beginning of spring
had to be placed early so as to allow of the rains, which are definitely
marked out by the fall of the first rain, to fill the period from about June 7
to October 7. With this explanation the theory, that the mention of the
full moon in Phalguni as the beginning of the year records an observation
of the fourth millennium B. C. , disappears, and still more the theory that the
mention of the month Chaitra as the beginning of the year carries us back
to the sixth nuillennium. Nor can any more trust be put in the argument
that the mention in the late marriage ritual of the Dhruva, a fixed star
shown to the bride and bridegroom as a symbol of constancy, points to an
observation made at a period when there was a real fixed pole star, i. e. in
the third millennium B. C. We do not even know whether this part of the
rite goes back to the period of the Brāhmaṇas ; and, even if it did, for so
little scientific a purpose there was no need of anything save a fairly bright
star not too distant from the pole. Ingenious therefore as all these argu-
ments are, they must be dismissed as affording no real certainty of correct-
ness. The most that can be said is that they tend to support the period
800-600 B. C. as a reasonable date for the period of the civilisation of the
Brāhmaṇas.
1
1 The main supporters of the astronomical arguments are Jacobi, Z. D. M. G. ,
vol. XLIX, pp. 218 sq. ; L, pp. 69 sq. ; J. R. A. S. , 1909 ; pp, 721-6 ; 1910, pp. 460. 4 ;
Tilak, Orion, Bombay, 1893 ; The Arctic Home in the Vedas, Bombay, 1903. On the
other side, see Oldenberg Z. D. M. G. , vol. XLVIII, pp. 629 sq. ; XLIX, pp. 470, sq. ;
L, pp. 450 sq. ; J. R. A. S. 1909, pp. 1095 sq. ; Thibaut, Indian Antiquary, vol. XXIV,
pp. 85 sq. ; Whitney, J. A. 0. 5, vol. XVI; pp. Ixxxii sq. ; Keith, J. R. A. S. , 1909,
pp, 1100 sq. ; 1910, pp 464-6. On the origin of the Nakshatras, see de Saussure,
T’oung Pao, ! 909, pp. 121 sq. , 225 sp. ; Oldenberg, G. G. N. , 1909, pp. 544 sq.
:
>
## p. 134 (#168) ############################################
CHAPTER VI
THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS
The later half of the sixth century B. C. seems to have been unusually
fertile in giving rise to new religious movements in India. An old text
amongst the sacred lore of the Buddhists' mentions sixty-three different
philosophy schools, probably all of them non-Brāhman-existing at the
time of Buddha, and there are passages in Jain literature exhibiting a far
larger number of such heretical doctrines. Although these statements may
have been influenced by the tendency to exaggerate wbich is visible in most
Hindu works, and although many of these sects may have been distin-
guished only by very subtle differences in matters of doctrine and practice,
we are still bound to believe that there was an extraordinary impulse shown
in the rise and development of new theological and philosophical ideas at
that time. It is beyond our power of investigation to determine whether
some of these schools may not have owed their origin to a time far more
remote than that of Buddha. In the few cases where we were in some degree
able to form an opinion on such points, and the history of the Jain
doctrine gives us some hints in this direction-it seems most probable that
this may have leen the case. It is certainly difficult to believe that all these
sects should bave originated at the same time. We may therefore suggest
that revolts against the Brāhman doctrines date from a much more remote
age than the time of Gautama Buddha, the founder of one of the most
important religions of the world, and Vardhamana Mahāvira, the founder
or rather reformer of the Jain church. Not only these two religious
teachers but also a num ber of others, of whom we know little or nothing
more than the rame, preached in a spirit of most conscientious and deter-
mined contradi tion against the sanctity of the Vedic lore, the sacrificial
pr scriptions of the ritualists, and the claims of spiritual superiority asserted
by the Brāhmans ; but it is a strange characteristic of these sects, so far as
we know them, that they adopted in their ascetic practices and in their
1 Cp. S. B. E. , vol. X ; 2, p. 93.
134
## p. 135 (#169) ############################################
VI]
BRAHMANS AND JAINS
135
whole mode of life the rules which had been already fixed by their Brāhman
antagonists.
In the later law books the life of a Hindu is theoretically divided into
four successive stages, viz. those of brahmachárin or student of the sacred
lore, grihasthi or householder, vīnaprastha or anchorite, and parivrājaka
or wandering mendicant. Now there are no express statements in Vedic,
or pre-Bud thist, texts, concerning the existence of this theory in older
times ; but from certain passages in the principal Upanishads we may infer
that at least the germs of this ins'itution existed at a comparatively early
period, as in them we find the knower of the ātman or 'Supreme Soul,' that
is to say, parivrājaka or Brāhman ascetic contrasted with students, sacrificers
and anchorites'. However, the order of the different stages – with the
exception of that of a brahmacharin, which is always the first-seems not at
that time to huve been a fixed one, and it may be doubted if this theory was
ever on a great scale adopted in real life in India. But this question is for
us of no importance, as we have here only to take notice of the fourth
stage, that of the Brāhman ascetic whose life was, no doubt, the standard
for the rules of discipline laid down by Mahāvīra for his followers.
The Árlhacāstra or ‘Manual of Politics' which may possibly be the
real work of Chāṇakya or Kauțilya, and therefore written about 300 B. C. ? ,
describes in the following words the life of a parivrājaka : '(the duties) of
an ascetic (consist in) subduing his senses, withdrawal from worldly things
and from communication with people, begging for alms, living in the forests,
but not in the same place, cleanliness external and internal, abstinence from
injury to living beings, and in sincerity, purity, freedom from envy, in kind-
ness and in patience? These general rules could - perhaps with one slight
alteration—as well be found in any Jain work, and in fact we do find them
in many passages of the Jain canon, although perhaps not exactly in the
same words. But the similarity between the life of a Brāhman and a Jain
ascetic goes much further, and often extends to the most triflling rules of
discipline as has been shown by Professor Jacobi from a comparison of the
rules laid down for Jain monks and for Brāhman mendicants"Evidently
there is not the slightest reason for regarding either the Jains or the
Buddhists as innovators in these matters ; and the following pages will
show that it was in doctrine rather than in life, in the attempt to abolish
the authority of the Brāhman scriptures and the rites of sacrifice rather
than in any effort to change the social institutions and conditions of his
time, that Mahāvīra differed more widely from his Brāhman predecessors.
And when both he had his great rival, Buddha, state that a man is not
1 Cp. Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index of Nimes and Subjects, vol. I, pp. 68 sq.
See Chapter XIX.
3 Kauțilya, Artha-āstra, p. 8.
Cp. S. B. E. vol. XXII, pp.
xxii sq.
## p. 136 (#170) ############################################
136
THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS
[Ch.
are
>
merely born a Brāhman, but becomes a Brāhman through his meritorious
actions, they seem not even here to be real innovators ; for we
immediately reminded of the legend of Satyakāma Jābala and other
similar instances', that seem to prove that birth was not always regarded
as the true keynote of sanctity even in orthodox circles. Jainism, as
well as Buddhism, is certainly to be viewed only in close connexion with
the Brāhman institutions existing at the time of its rise ; and from this
standpoint we may now enter upon a closer investigation of the subject
of this chapter, the origin and first development of the Jain church.
For a considerable time European scholars were unable to form a
clear opinion on the rise and growth of Jainism owing to the absence of
original texts which were then scarcely available in Europe. Thus the older
generations of Sanskrit scholars may be said to have shared principally two
different opinions on these matters. Colebrooke, Prinsep, Stevenson,
E. Thomas, and others thought Jainism to be older than Buddhism - an
opinion to which we may now willingly subscribe--mainly from the reason,
that a disciple of Mahāvira called Indrabhūti Gautama was held to be the
same person as Gautama the Buddha. On the other hand, other dis-
tinguished Orientalists such as H. H. Wilson, Lassen, and even Weber, were
of the opinion that Jainism was only one of the many different sects into
which Buddhism was divided at an earlier or later date after the death of
Buddha. Such a view might easily be held on the basis of certain some-
what striking resemblances which are found in the Buddhist and Jain
records of which at that time only a comparatively small number had found
their way to Europe. This latter hypothesis has now been thoroughly
refuted by the works of two eminent German scholars, Bühler and Jacobi,
who have laid down a sure foundation for knowledge of Jainism by a
thorough investigation of its old canonical texts and a comparison of these
with the scriptures of the Biddhists and Brāhmans. Starting therefore from
the standard work on Jainism published by Professor Jacobi, and making
use of the materials, which have been collected and examined by other
scholars, we are now able to obtain a fairly clear view of the early history
of Jainism.
Mahāvīra is usually regarded as the real founder of the Jain religion ;
and, as we have very scanty information about the only one of his alleged
predecessors, who may possibly have had a real existence, we are, in our
investigation, almost forced to adopt this point of view. But the Jains
themselves claim for their religion a far more venerable antiquity : they tell
us that before Mahāvīra there lived not less than 23 tirthankaras or ‘pro-
phets,' who appearing at certain intervals preached the only true religion
for the salvation of the world. The first of these prophets was king
Rishabha, who after laying down his royal power and transferring the realm
Cp. Vedic Index, vol. II, pp. 84 sq.
1
## p. 137 (#171) ############################################
VI]
PĀRÇ VA
137
to his son Bharata, the first universal monarch (chakravartin), became a
holy man and a tirthankara. As the opinions of the Jains about time and the
ages of the world are absurdly exaggerated, it is almost impossible to
express in numbers the time at which he is thought to have lived; it may be
enough to say that his lifetime is supposed to have lasted for several billions
of years and his height to have been about two miles. From such state-
ments and for the flowery descriptions of the blissful state of the world in
its first ages, it is evident that the Jains, as indeed, all Hindus, attributed to
the first race of men a longer life, a greater strength, and more happiness
than fall to the share of their offspring in the present age. As we know,
the Greeks and Romans held similar opinions. But, of course, the world
grew worse and worse and the life of man shorter and shorter, so that the
23rd tirthankara, Pārçva, the immediate predecessor of Mahāvīra, is said to
have lived only for a hundred years, and to have died only 250 years before
his more celebrated successor.
This Pārçva is assumed, on the authority of Professor Jacobi and
others, to have been an historical personage and the real founder of Jain
religion. As he is said to have died 250 years before the death of
Mahāvīra, he may probably have lived in the eighth century B. c. Professor
Jacobi seems to regard this date as not improbable, since some centuries
must have elapsed between his time and the appearance of the last Jain
prophet'. But, as we have not a single certain date in Indian history before
the time of Buddha, it is evidently impossible to prove this. Almost as
scanty is our knowledge of the life and teaching of Pārçva, in spite of the
large body of literature which has clustered around his name. In the well-
known Kalpasūtra of the Jains, which is stated to have been written by the
pontiff Bhadrabāhu (perhaps somewhat before 300 B. C. ), we have in the
chapter called 'The life of the Jinas' a short account of the life of Pārçva ;
but, as it is written in a purely formal style and bears too such resemblance
to other records of the same sort, its value as an historical document is
somewhat doubtful. However, it states that Pārçva, like all tirthankarus,
was a Kshatriya, a member of the second caste, that of the warriors or
nobility according to Brāhman law, and son of king Acvasena of Benares
and his wife Vāmā. No such person as Açvasena is known from Brāhman
records to have existed : the only individual of that name mentioned in the
epic literature was a king of the snakes (nāga), and he cannot in any way
be connected with the father of the Jain prophet. Pārçva who is always
titled purisādāṇīya, which may mean either 'the people's favourite' or 'the
man of high birth,' lived for thirty years in great splendour and happiness
Upon this subject consult Jacobi and Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and
Ethics, vol. I. p. 202.
2 Cp. S. B. E. , vol. XLV, p. 122, n. 3.
Cp. S. B. E. , vol. XXII, p. 271.
>
:
1
3
## p. 138 (#172) ############################################
138
(ch.
THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS
as a householder, and then, leaving all his wealth, became an ascetic. After
84 days of intense meditation he reached the perfect knowledge of a
prophet, and from that time he lived for about 70 years in the state of
most exalted perfection and saintship and reached his final liberation,
nirvāṇa, on the top of mount Sammeta surrounded by his followers.
In regard to the teaching of Pārçva we are better informed : it was
probably essentially the same as that of Mahāvira and his followers,
But
we have no exact knowledge, except on two principal points, as to how far
this creed was due to Pārçva, or what innovations may have been intro-
duced by his successor. We are told that Pārçva enjoined on his followers
four great vow3, viz. not to injure life, to be truthful, not to steal, and to
possess no property,' while Mahāvīra added a fifth requisition, viz. that of
chastity. Further we know that Pārçva allowed his disciples to wear an
upper and an under garment. Mahāvira, on his part, followed the more
rigid rule which obliged the ascetic to be completely naked. These seem
to have been, in fact, the most important differences in doctrine between
the founder and the reformer of Jainism ; for an old canonical textº tells us
about a meeting between Gautama, the pupil of Mahāvira, and Keçin, a
follower of Pārçva, in which they tried successfully to solve those questions
on which a difference of opinion existed among the religious ; and in that
account the four vows and the wearing or not wearing of clothes form the
main points of discussion. From this text we venture to draw the
conclusion that followers of Pārçva, who did not, perhaps, fully recognise
Mahāvīra as their spiritual head, existed during the lifetime of the latter,
and that a sort of compromise was effected between the two sections of the
church. Indeed it seems to remain a somewhat unsettled question if
followers of Pārçva and of Mahāvīra are not to be found even at the pre-
sent day as the Cvetām baras, or 'monks in white clothes', and the
Digambaras, ‘sky-clad or naked ascetics. ' However, this hypothesis is
denied by most authorities; and as a matter of fact the old records place
the divison of the church into these two main sects at a time much later
than Mahāvīra, as we shall see subsequently.
Nothing is known about the followers of Parçva until the time of the
appearance of the last prophet of the Jains, Mahāvīra. As he is not only
the most famous propagator of the Jain religion, but also after Buddha the
best known of the non-Brāhman teachers of ancient India, we shall have to
dwell a little longer upon the records of his life, and in the first place we
must examine such chronological data as exist for the determination of his
period.
1 Cp. S. B. E. , vol. XLV, p. 121, and Dr. Hoernle in Hastings' Encyclopaedia,
vol. I, p. 261.
2 Cp, S. B. E. vol. XLV, pp. 119 sq.
## p. 139 (#173) ############################################
VI]
TRADITIONAL DATE OF MAHAVIRA
139
2
The Jains themselves have preserved chronological records concerning
Mabāvīra and the succeeding pontiffs of the Jain church which may have
been begun at a comparatively early date. But it seems quite clear that,
at the time when these lists were put into their present form, the real date
of Mahāvīra had already either been forgotten or was at least doubtful.
The traditional date of Mahāvīra's death on which the Jains base their
chronological calculations corresponds to the year 470 before the founda-
tion of the Vikrama era in 58 B. C. ; i. e. , 528 B. c. 1 This reckoning is based
mainly on a list of kings and dynasties, who are supposed to have reigned
between 528 and 58 B. C. ; but the list is absolutely valueless, as it confuses
rulers of Ujjain, Magadha, and other kingdoms; and some of these may
perhaps have been contemporary, and not successive as they are represent-
ed.
invasion of Darius and the annexation of the territory round the Indus;
and, prior to that event, there is no strong evidence of a really active
contact between India and the outer world. It is, indeed, probable
enough that even before the time of Darius, Cyrus had relations with the
tribes on the right bank of the Indus, and Arrian asserts that the Assakenoi
and the Astakenoi were subject to the Assyrian kings'; but everything
points to the fact that, in the period of the Brāhmaṇas, relations with the
Gandhāras and other tribes in the remote north-west were very slight.
It is also significant that there is no really certain case of inscription of
any sort in India before the third century B. c.
The development in religion and philosophy in the period is remark-
able. The ritual has grown to very large proportions; and with the ritual
the number of the priests required at a sacrifice had increased until sixteen
or seventeen are enumerated as taking part in the more important offerings
The mere offerings of vegetable food and milk are comparatively unimport-
ant; but the animal sacrifice is increasingly elaborated, and the Soma
sacrifice has developed largely. In addition to the simplest form of the Soma
sacrifice occupying one day, there are innumerable other forms culminating
in the Sattras which might last any time from twelve days to a year or years
It is significant that, at the bottom of this priestly elaboration, is much really
popular religion. Thus the Rājasūya, or loyal consecration, is funda-
mentally a popular rite for the anointing of the king: the l'ājapeya betrays
a popular origin in the prominence in it of a chariot race, once probably
the main element; the Gayāmayana, a Sattra lasting a year, is distinguished
by the ritual of the Mahāvrata day in which long since was recognised a
primitive performance celebrating the winter solstice. The horse-sacrifice is
at bottom the elaboration of a simple rite of sympathetic magic; but it has
been so elaborated as to combine everything which could make an appeal
to the warrior Indian king and induce him to distribute abundant largesse
on the celebrators. But beside these and other popular festivals, which the
priests have worked over, stands one of the highest interests to the pri st,
which seems to reflect a new conception of theology. It is building of the
See Duff, Chronology of India, p. 5; Arrian, Indici, I, 3 (trans. M Crindle,
I
!
:
1
p. 179).
Vincent Smith, Early History of India, p. 16.
## p. 127 (#161) ############################################
V]
PHILOSOPHY OF EXISTENCE
127
altar for the sacred fire ; in one sense no doubt this was an ancient and
simple rite, accompanied as so often by the slaying of a man in order to
secure the abiding character of the structure : the Brāhmaṇa texts avoid
requiring any such actual slaughter, though they record it as a deed of the
past ; but they elaborate the building out of all reason and utility. The
only explanation of this action must he that offered by Eggeling, that, in
the building up of the fire alter, the Brāhmans sought to symbolise the
constitution of the unity of the universe. As we have seen, in the Purusha
hymn of the Rigveda occurs the conception of the creation of the universe
from the Purusha, and in the theology of the Brābmaņas the Purusha is
indentified with Prajāpati, 'lord of creātures,' and the sacrifice is conceived
as constantly recurring in order to maintain the existence of the universe.
To render this possible is the end of fire altar, the building of which is the
reconstruction of the universe in the shape of Prajāpati. Prajāpati, again,
is identified with Agni, the fire of the altar, and both Prajāpati and Agni
are the divine counterparts of the human sacrificer. But Prajāpati is him.
self Time, and Time is in the long run death, so that the sacrificer himself
becomes death, and by that act rises superior to death, and is for ever
removed from the world of illusion and trouble to the world of everlasting
bliss. In this the true nature of Pajāpati and of the sacrificer is revealed
as intelligence, and the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa urges the seeker for truth to
meditate upon the self, made upof intelligence and endowed with a body of
spirit, a form of light and an ethereal nature.
The same doctrine appears in another form in the Upanishads which
are engaged with the discussion of the underlying reality. They agree in
this that all reality in the ultimate issue must be reduced to one, called
variously brahman, 'the holi power,' or ātman, 'the self'. Moreover, the
Upanishads agree in regarding the absolute to be unknownable, and though
they ascribe to it intelligence they deprive that term of meaning by emptying
it of all thought. If the real is the absolute alone, the existence of the
appearance of this world must be explained ; but naturally enough the
Upanishads do not successfully attempt this task ; and it was not until the
time of Çankarāchārya in the beginning of the ninth century A. D. that it
was found possible to reconcile the doctrines of the different texts by the
view that all existence is merely illusion. This is perhaps a logical develop-
ment of the doctrine of the Upanishads ; but the Upanishads were groping
after truth and did not attempt to deduce all the consequences of their
guesses at the nature of reality.
There was one consequence which followed so clearly from the new
conception of existence that it is enunciated, though not very decidedly,
in the Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad, namely that there was no consciousness
after death in the case of him who realised the true nature of the self as in-
telligence without thought. But this conception plays a very small part in
See Sacred Books of the East, vol. XLIII, pp. xiv ,xxiv.
## p. 128 (#162) ############################################
128
[сн.
LATER SAMHITĀS, BRAHMAŅAS, ETC.
the texts compared with the new theory of transmigration. There is no
real sign of this doctrine in the Brāhmaṇas proper, but there is certain
amount of preparation for its appearance in the gradual, development of the
doctrine that not even after death is the horror of death ended : a man may
die repeated deaths in the next world. If conception be transferred to the
present world, then the doctrine of transmigration is produced, and in the
Upanishads this doctrine is clearly and expressly enunciated. The
Chhāndogya and Brihadāraṇyaka agree in the main outlines of the new
belief: the forest ascetic who has realised the nature of Brahman after death
goes by the way of the gods to be absorbed in brahman and never again to
be born : the man who has done good deeds but has not attained the sav.
:
ing knowledge goes to the world of the moon tɔ reside there until the fruit
of his deeds is exhausted, when he is born against first as a plant and then
as man or at once as a man : the wicked on the contrary are born as out-
casts, dogs or swine, according to the Chhāndogya, as birds, beasts, and rep-
tiles according to the Brihadāroņayaka. There is a variant version on the
Kaushitaki which makes all first go to the moon ; but the assential point
is the acceptance as a matter of certainty of the new doctrine of transmi-
gration. The Brihadāraṇyaka also has an important addition to the doctrine
in the form of the gospel of karman'action,' which is determines on a man's
death the nature of his next birth. In the Buddhist view the idea recurs
in the simple form that the self, which is recognised as persisting through
transmigration by the Brāhman, is discarded as needless and the karman
alone is asserted to possess reality.
The origin of this doctrine may have been helped by the widely
prevalent view among tribes of animists that the souls on death or even in
life can pass into other forms, animal or vegetable. We have seen that in
the Rigveda in one hymn the soul is regarded as going to the waters of the
plants ; we have no reason to doubt that such ide us were prevalent
among the aboriginal tribes with which the Āryans mixed. But these vague
ideas are totally inadequate to account for the belief in transmigration, and
the theory must, it would seem, have been a discovery of the schools of
seekers after the nature of truth, who arrived at it on the one side from
the popular beliefs of the peoples among whom they lived, and on the other
from the conception of the Brāhmaṇas that death could be repeated in the
other world. The doctrine led directly to pessimism, but the Upanishads
are not themselves pessimistic ; and we obtain thus a valuable evidence of
their priority to the rise of Buddhism, which is saturated with the doctrine
of the misery of the universe. The extraordinary success of the doctrine
shows that it was in harmony with the spirit of the Indian people, and
suggests what is otherwise probable, that by the end of the period of the
Brāhmaṇas the influence of the Āryan strain was waning, and that the true
Indian character of the intellectual classes was definitely formed.
## p. 129 (#163) ############################################
V]
RUDRA AND VISHNU
129
As we have already seen, the tradition makes kings take part in the
discussions which marked the formation of the doctrine of the absolute, and
even hints that the doctrine was in some way a special tenet of the ruling class ;
but it is doubtful if we can accord full credit to this tradition, or believe
that the brahman doctrine was the reaction of the noble class against the
excessive devotion of the priests to the ritual'. Policy adequately explains
the part assigned to them by the Brāhmans, whose aim it was to make their
patrons appreciate that their researches were such as to deserve support.
Parallel with the development of philosophy there was proceeding the
movement which leads to the religions of modern India, the exaltation of
Rudra and in a minor degree of Vishņu to the position of a great god.
Prajāpati is indeed the main subject of the theosophical speculation of the
Brāhmaṇa texts, a purpose to which his name as 'lord of creatures'
especially lent itself; but Prajāpati had no claims to be a god of the
people, and the position of Rudra as a popular deity is sufficiently shown
by the litanies to him in the Sanhitās of the Yajurveda, and by the whole
outlook of such texts as the Aitareya, Kaushitaki, and Çata patha
Brāhmaṇas. When Prajāpati committed incest with his daughter, the
Aitareya tells us that the gods were wroth, and from their most dread forms
produced the god Bhūta pati, ‘lord of creatures,' who represents one aspect
of Rudra's activities. ' He pierced Prajāpati and thereby acquired his
dominion over all cattle. In another passage the wording of a Rigvedic
verse is altered to avoid the mention of Rudra's dread name : in yet another
he appears at the sacrifice in black raiment and appropriates to himself the
sacrificial victim. We need not suppose that in this presentation the
Brāhmaṇas were creating a new-figure : rather they were adapting to their
system, as far as they could, a great god of the people. But the Rudra of
this period can hardly be regarded as a mere development of the Rudra of
the Rigveda : it seems most probable that with the Vedic Rudra is amalga-
mated an aboriginal god of vegetation, closely connected with pastoral life.
Vishņu cannot be said to have won any such assured place as Rudra,
who is already hailed as the 'great god' par excellence, and already bears
the name of Çiva, ‘propitious,' which is to be his final appellation. But the
constant identification of Vishņu and the sacrifice is, in view of the extra-
ordinary importance attached to the sacrifice by the Brāhmans, a sure sign
that he counted for much in Vedic life, and that he shared with Rudra the
veneration of the people, who may in different localities have been the
followers of one or the other god respectively. For the rest, while we now
1 The tradition is accepted by Garbe, Beiträge zur indischen Kulturgeschichte,
pp. 1 sq. ; Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, pp. 17 sq. ; Rhys Davids, Buddhist
India, pp. 256. 7. See also Chapter XI, Its validity is doubted by Bloomfield,
Religion of the Veda, pp. 218 sq. ; Oldenberg Buddhas, p. 73 ; Keith J. R. A. S. , 1908,
pp. 868-72.
## p. 130 (#164) ############################################
130
(ch.
LATER SAMHITĀS, BRAHMĀNAS, ETC.
obtain many details of the lower side of the religion in the spells of the
Atharvaveda, the pantheon of the Rigveda remains uualtered sare in such
minor aspects as the new prominence of the Apsarasas, the niechanical
opposition of the gods and the Asuras, and the rise of snake worship,
which seems to have been due to the imitation of the aboriginal tribes. On
the other hand, the attitude of the priests to the gods as revealed in the
sacrifice has lost whatever it had of spontaneity and simple piety. It is no
doubt possible to exaggerate these qualities even in the earlier hymns of the
Rigveda ; but their abeence in the later Samhitās is unquestionable. The
theory of sacrifice is bluntly do ut des ; and even in that theory the sacri-
ficers had so little trust that the whole sacrificial apparatus is dominated by
sympathetic magic. So convinced is the priest of his powers in this regard
that the texts explain that he can ruin as he pleases, by errors in the
sacrifice deliberately committed, the patron for whom he is acting, and in
whose interest he is presumed to be at work. It is a sordid picture ; and,
as we have seen, higher spirits turned away from a hocus pocus, which they
must have despised as heartily as any Buddhist, to the interpretation of
the reality underlying phenomena. Yet it is characteristic of the Indian
genius that, though it evolved views which must have rendered all the
sacrificial technique logically of no avail, it made no effort to break with
the sacrifice which was allowed to stand as a preliminary towards the at-
tainment of that enlightenment which the priests professed to impart.
The language of the Samhitās in their verse portions is similar to that
of the Rigveda, especially in the tenth book and in the later additions to
the other books. The language of the prose represents the speech of the
Brāhman schools of the day: it differs from that of the verse by the
removal of abnormalities, and by much greater precision shown, for example,
in the exact use of the tenses, the 'narrative perfect being at first carefully
eschewed and by the disappearance, except in a narrow sphere, of the use
of the unaugmented past tenses of the verb with modal meaning. There
seems in one passage of the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa to be a curious ad-
mission that other tribes had not preserved the purity of the Vedic speech.
the Asuras are credited in that text with the utterance of the words he'lavo,
which may be interpreted he ’raya! ! Ho! ye foes ! ,' and, if so, can be
explained as Prākrit forms. Similarly, as we have already seen, the
Vrātyas are described as regarding the Vedic speech as difficult to pro-
nounce, no doubt because of its conjunct consonants which the Prakrits
avoid. In both cases the reference is probably to tribes of the Magadha
country, and the Māgadhi Prakrit is marked by both the points alluded
tol. There are also signs of this corruption of the language through the
contact with the aborigines in the fact that in the spells of the Atharvaveda
1 Grierson, Z. D. A. G. , vol. LXVI, p. 66, thinks that Paicāchi, a dialect of north.
west India, is meant , but see l'edic Index, vol. II, p. 517.
## p. 131 (#165) ############################################
V]
CRITERIA OF DATE
131
are found several forms which can only be accounted for as Prākritisms.
Beyond these generalities we cannot affect to estimate how far the process
of the transformation of the language in the popular speech had gone: the
earliest foreign evidence, that from the Greek records, shows that many
names were reported by Megasthenes and others in Prākrit form; and, in
the middle of the third century B. C. , the inscriptions of Açoka are all
written in Prākrit dialects varying considerably in detail from one
another. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that beside the language
of the Brāhman schools, there existed more popular forms of speech ; but
everything points to the fact that the deeds of princes were still sung in a
language of the same form as the priestly speech. In metre a significant
change can be seen : the later hymns exhibit, when written in the eight
syllable metre, a distinct tendency to be composed of stanzas in which the
four lines are no longer independent in structure, but the first and third and
the second and fourth respectively are assimilated. The latter pair is made
to end with a definite iambic cadence, while the first and third on the
contrary are made to end with an iambus followed by a trochee, thus pro-
ducing an effect of contrast and setting a gulf between the old and the new
form of versification. This new form is far from being exclusively employ-
ed even in the latest versification of the period, but in the epic it is firmly
established, and the variants reduced to narrow limits'.
Interesting as are the Samhitās and the Brāhmaṇas from the point of
view of the history of civilisation and religion, as literature they are hardly
ever of substantial value. Much of the speculation of the Brāhmaṇs is
utterly puerile and seems to be the product of a decadent intellect. On the
other hand, the real interest of the Upanishads is undeniable: these pri-
mitive philosophical fragments exhibit a genuine spirit of enquiry, and here
and there do not fail to rise tu real dignity and impressiveness.
For the date of the epoch of the Brāhmaṇas we are again thrown
back on those considerations of literary and social development which we
have found to be the sole trustworthy criteria for the dating of the epoch
of the Rigveda. The lower limit is given by the fact that Buddhism accepts
from the Upanishads the doctrines of transmigration and pessimism, the
latter of which had been developed as a doctrine of obvious validity from
the facts of transmigration. Other indications, such as the want of any
trace of the knowledge of writing, show that we cannot legitimately carry
the Upanishads of the older type later than 550 or perhaps more probably
600 B. c. The fixing of the language which is posterior to the Brāhmaṇas
may be dated at latest at 300 B. C. ; and the earlier Sūtras probably go
back to at least 400 B. C. and very possibly earlier. These are important
See Oldenberg, Z. D. M. G. , vol. XXXVII, pp. 67 sq. ; Sacred Bcoks of the East,
vol. XXX, pp. XXXV sq. ; G. 1909 pp. 219 sq. ; Hopkins, Great Epic of India,
pp. 194 sq. ; Jacobi, Indische Studien, vol. XVII, pp. 442 sq. ; Keith, J. R. A. S. , 1906,
pp. 1-10 ; 1912, pp. 757 sq.
1
## p. 132 (#166) ############################################
132
[CH.
LATER SAMHITĀS, BRĀHMANAS, ETC.
considerations and their cumulative effect is harmonious and practically
decisive of an early date for the civilisation which has been described.
On considerations of probable development, the beginning of the Brāhmaṇa
period may fairly be put back to 800 B. C.
As with the Rigveda, attempts have been made to show that these
dates are much too low and that astronomical data enable us to carry the
Brāhmaṇas much further back. The lists of the Nakshatraz all begin with
Kſittikās, and we know that in the sixth century A. D. the constellation
which then headed the Nakshatras was chosen because the vernal equinox
took place when the sun was in conjunction with that Nakshatra. From
the precession of the equinoxes, we are enabled to arrive at the conclusion
that the position of Krittikās at the vernal equinox must have taken place
in the third millennium B. C. This has been supported by a passage in the
Çata patha Brābmaņa where it is said that Kțittikās did not more from the
eastern quarter at that time. But we have no evidence whatever to connect
the sun and the Nakshatras at this period, and the notice regarding the
position of Krittikās cannot be taken seriously in a work which shows so little
power of scientific observation of facts as the Çatapatha. Moreover if,
as it is probable, the Nakshatra system was borrowed ready made, we can-
not even conjecture for what reason Kſittikas was placed first. More
promising is a definite notice contained in the Kaushitaki Brāhamna and
repeated in the Jyotisha, a late Vedic work on astronomy, if indeed it can
be dignified with this title, that the winter solstice took place at the new
moon in Magbās. From this datum results varying from 1391-1181 B. C.
were early deduced by different investigators ; but these conclusions can
claim no scientific value, as they rest on assumptions as to the exact mean-
ing of the passage which cannot be justified. The possible margin of error
in the calculations is at least five hundred years; and we are therefore
reduced to the view that this evidence only indicates that the observation
which is recorded was made some centuries B. C. The same conclusion can
be drawn from the fact that in quite a number of places the month
Phālguna is called the beginning of the year. In the view of Jacobi, this
shows that the year began with the winter solstice at full moon in Phalguni,
and thus would correspond with his view that in the Rigveda the sun at
the summer solstice was in Uttara-Phalguni. But, in this case also, the
result is unacceptable ; for it is nowhere stated that the beginning of the
year was dated from the winter solstice. The most probable explanation
is that the full moon in Phalguni was deemed to be the beginning of the
year, because it marked, at the time when it was so termed, the beginning
of spring. Since the new moon in Maghā was at the winter solstice, the
full moon in Phalguni would fall about a month and a half later in the first
week of February, which is compatible with Feb. 7, the Veris initium in the
Reman calendar, and which is a perfectly possible date for about 800 B. C. ,
## p. 133 (#167) ############################################
V]
ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCE
133
especially when it is remembered that the division of the year into three
periods of four months was always a rough one, and the beginning of spring
had to be placed early so as to allow of the rains, which are definitely
marked out by the fall of the first rain, to fill the period from about June 7
to October 7. With this explanation the theory, that the mention of the
full moon in Phalguni as the beginning of the year records an observation
of the fourth millennium B. C. , disappears, and still more the theory that the
mention of the month Chaitra as the beginning of the year carries us back
to the sixth nuillennium. Nor can any more trust be put in the argument
that the mention in the late marriage ritual of the Dhruva, a fixed star
shown to the bride and bridegroom as a symbol of constancy, points to an
observation made at a period when there was a real fixed pole star, i. e. in
the third millennium B. C. We do not even know whether this part of the
rite goes back to the period of the Brāhmaṇas ; and, even if it did, for so
little scientific a purpose there was no need of anything save a fairly bright
star not too distant from the pole. Ingenious therefore as all these argu-
ments are, they must be dismissed as affording no real certainty of correct-
ness. The most that can be said is that they tend to support the period
800-600 B. C. as a reasonable date for the period of the civilisation of the
Brāhmaṇas.
1
1 The main supporters of the astronomical arguments are Jacobi, Z. D. M. G. ,
vol. XLIX, pp. 218 sq. ; L, pp. 69 sq. ; J. R. A. S. , 1909 ; pp, 721-6 ; 1910, pp. 460. 4 ;
Tilak, Orion, Bombay, 1893 ; The Arctic Home in the Vedas, Bombay, 1903. On the
other side, see Oldenberg Z. D. M. G. , vol. XLVIII, pp. 629 sq. ; XLIX, pp. 470, sq. ;
L, pp. 450 sq. ; J. R. A. S. 1909, pp. 1095 sq. ; Thibaut, Indian Antiquary, vol. XXIV,
pp. 85 sq. ; Whitney, J. A. 0. 5, vol. XVI; pp. Ixxxii sq. ; Keith, J. R. A. S. , 1909,
pp, 1100 sq. ; 1910, pp 464-6. On the origin of the Nakshatras, see de Saussure,
T’oung Pao, ! 909, pp. 121 sq. , 225 sp. ; Oldenberg, G. G. N. , 1909, pp. 544 sq.
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CHAPTER VI
THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS
The later half of the sixth century B. C. seems to have been unusually
fertile in giving rise to new religious movements in India. An old text
amongst the sacred lore of the Buddhists' mentions sixty-three different
philosophy schools, probably all of them non-Brāhman-existing at the
time of Buddha, and there are passages in Jain literature exhibiting a far
larger number of such heretical doctrines. Although these statements may
have been influenced by the tendency to exaggerate wbich is visible in most
Hindu works, and although many of these sects may have been distin-
guished only by very subtle differences in matters of doctrine and practice,
we are still bound to believe that there was an extraordinary impulse shown
in the rise and development of new theological and philosophical ideas at
that time. It is beyond our power of investigation to determine whether
some of these schools may not have owed their origin to a time far more
remote than that of Buddha. In the few cases where we were in some degree
able to form an opinion on such points, and the history of the Jain
doctrine gives us some hints in this direction-it seems most probable that
this may have leen the case. It is certainly difficult to believe that all these
sects should bave originated at the same time. We may therefore suggest
that revolts against the Brāhman doctrines date from a much more remote
age than the time of Gautama Buddha, the founder of one of the most
important religions of the world, and Vardhamana Mahāvira, the founder
or rather reformer of the Jain church. Not only these two religious
teachers but also a num ber of others, of whom we know little or nothing
more than the rame, preached in a spirit of most conscientious and deter-
mined contradi tion against the sanctity of the Vedic lore, the sacrificial
pr scriptions of the ritualists, and the claims of spiritual superiority asserted
by the Brāhmans ; but it is a strange characteristic of these sects, so far as
we know them, that they adopted in their ascetic practices and in their
1 Cp. S. B. E. , vol. X ; 2, p. 93.
134
## p. 135 (#169) ############################################
VI]
BRAHMANS AND JAINS
135
whole mode of life the rules which had been already fixed by their Brāhman
antagonists.
In the later law books the life of a Hindu is theoretically divided into
four successive stages, viz. those of brahmachárin or student of the sacred
lore, grihasthi or householder, vīnaprastha or anchorite, and parivrājaka
or wandering mendicant. Now there are no express statements in Vedic,
or pre-Bud thist, texts, concerning the existence of this theory in older
times ; but from certain passages in the principal Upanishads we may infer
that at least the germs of this ins'itution existed at a comparatively early
period, as in them we find the knower of the ātman or 'Supreme Soul,' that
is to say, parivrājaka or Brāhman ascetic contrasted with students, sacrificers
and anchorites'. However, the order of the different stages – with the
exception of that of a brahmacharin, which is always the first-seems not at
that time to huve been a fixed one, and it may be doubted if this theory was
ever on a great scale adopted in real life in India. But this question is for
us of no importance, as we have here only to take notice of the fourth
stage, that of the Brāhman ascetic whose life was, no doubt, the standard
for the rules of discipline laid down by Mahāvīra for his followers.
The Árlhacāstra or ‘Manual of Politics' which may possibly be the
real work of Chāṇakya or Kauțilya, and therefore written about 300 B. C. ? ,
describes in the following words the life of a parivrājaka : '(the duties) of
an ascetic (consist in) subduing his senses, withdrawal from worldly things
and from communication with people, begging for alms, living in the forests,
but not in the same place, cleanliness external and internal, abstinence from
injury to living beings, and in sincerity, purity, freedom from envy, in kind-
ness and in patience? These general rules could - perhaps with one slight
alteration—as well be found in any Jain work, and in fact we do find them
in many passages of the Jain canon, although perhaps not exactly in the
same words. But the similarity between the life of a Brāhman and a Jain
ascetic goes much further, and often extends to the most triflling rules of
discipline as has been shown by Professor Jacobi from a comparison of the
rules laid down for Jain monks and for Brāhman mendicants"Evidently
there is not the slightest reason for regarding either the Jains or the
Buddhists as innovators in these matters ; and the following pages will
show that it was in doctrine rather than in life, in the attempt to abolish
the authority of the Brāhman scriptures and the rites of sacrifice rather
than in any effort to change the social institutions and conditions of his
time, that Mahāvīra differed more widely from his Brāhman predecessors.
And when both he had his great rival, Buddha, state that a man is not
1 Cp. Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index of Nimes and Subjects, vol. I, pp. 68 sq.
See Chapter XIX.
3 Kauțilya, Artha-āstra, p. 8.
Cp. S. B. E. vol. XXII, pp.
xxii sq.
## p. 136 (#170) ############################################
136
THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS
[Ch.
are
>
merely born a Brāhman, but becomes a Brāhman through his meritorious
actions, they seem not even here to be real innovators ; for we
immediately reminded of the legend of Satyakāma Jābala and other
similar instances', that seem to prove that birth was not always regarded
as the true keynote of sanctity even in orthodox circles. Jainism, as
well as Buddhism, is certainly to be viewed only in close connexion with
the Brāhman institutions existing at the time of its rise ; and from this
standpoint we may now enter upon a closer investigation of the subject
of this chapter, the origin and first development of the Jain church.
For a considerable time European scholars were unable to form a
clear opinion on the rise and growth of Jainism owing to the absence of
original texts which were then scarcely available in Europe. Thus the older
generations of Sanskrit scholars may be said to have shared principally two
different opinions on these matters. Colebrooke, Prinsep, Stevenson,
E. Thomas, and others thought Jainism to be older than Buddhism - an
opinion to which we may now willingly subscribe--mainly from the reason,
that a disciple of Mahāvira called Indrabhūti Gautama was held to be the
same person as Gautama the Buddha. On the other hand, other dis-
tinguished Orientalists such as H. H. Wilson, Lassen, and even Weber, were
of the opinion that Jainism was only one of the many different sects into
which Buddhism was divided at an earlier or later date after the death of
Buddha. Such a view might easily be held on the basis of certain some-
what striking resemblances which are found in the Buddhist and Jain
records of which at that time only a comparatively small number had found
their way to Europe. This latter hypothesis has now been thoroughly
refuted by the works of two eminent German scholars, Bühler and Jacobi,
who have laid down a sure foundation for knowledge of Jainism by a
thorough investigation of its old canonical texts and a comparison of these
with the scriptures of the Biddhists and Brāhmans. Starting therefore from
the standard work on Jainism published by Professor Jacobi, and making
use of the materials, which have been collected and examined by other
scholars, we are now able to obtain a fairly clear view of the early history
of Jainism.
Mahāvīra is usually regarded as the real founder of the Jain religion ;
and, as we have very scanty information about the only one of his alleged
predecessors, who may possibly have had a real existence, we are, in our
investigation, almost forced to adopt this point of view. But the Jains
themselves claim for their religion a far more venerable antiquity : they tell
us that before Mahāvīra there lived not less than 23 tirthankaras or ‘pro-
phets,' who appearing at certain intervals preached the only true religion
for the salvation of the world. The first of these prophets was king
Rishabha, who after laying down his royal power and transferring the realm
Cp. Vedic Index, vol. II, pp. 84 sq.
1
## p. 137 (#171) ############################################
VI]
PĀRÇ VA
137
to his son Bharata, the first universal monarch (chakravartin), became a
holy man and a tirthankara. As the opinions of the Jains about time and the
ages of the world are absurdly exaggerated, it is almost impossible to
express in numbers the time at which he is thought to have lived; it may be
enough to say that his lifetime is supposed to have lasted for several billions
of years and his height to have been about two miles. From such state-
ments and for the flowery descriptions of the blissful state of the world in
its first ages, it is evident that the Jains, as indeed, all Hindus, attributed to
the first race of men a longer life, a greater strength, and more happiness
than fall to the share of their offspring in the present age. As we know,
the Greeks and Romans held similar opinions. But, of course, the world
grew worse and worse and the life of man shorter and shorter, so that the
23rd tirthankara, Pārçva, the immediate predecessor of Mahāvīra, is said to
have lived only for a hundred years, and to have died only 250 years before
his more celebrated successor.
This Pārçva is assumed, on the authority of Professor Jacobi and
others, to have been an historical personage and the real founder of Jain
religion. As he is said to have died 250 years before the death of
Mahāvīra, he may probably have lived in the eighth century B. c. Professor
Jacobi seems to regard this date as not improbable, since some centuries
must have elapsed between his time and the appearance of the last Jain
prophet'. But, as we have not a single certain date in Indian history before
the time of Buddha, it is evidently impossible to prove this. Almost as
scanty is our knowledge of the life and teaching of Pārçva, in spite of the
large body of literature which has clustered around his name. In the well-
known Kalpasūtra of the Jains, which is stated to have been written by the
pontiff Bhadrabāhu (perhaps somewhat before 300 B. C. ), we have in the
chapter called 'The life of the Jinas' a short account of the life of Pārçva ;
but, as it is written in a purely formal style and bears too such resemblance
to other records of the same sort, its value as an historical document is
somewhat doubtful. However, it states that Pārçva, like all tirthankarus,
was a Kshatriya, a member of the second caste, that of the warriors or
nobility according to Brāhman law, and son of king Acvasena of Benares
and his wife Vāmā. No such person as Açvasena is known from Brāhman
records to have existed : the only individual of that name mentioned in the
epic literature was a king of the snakes (nāga), and he cannot in any way
be connected with the father of the Jain prophet. Pārçva who is always
titled purisādāṇīya, which may mean either 'the people's favourite' or 'the
man of high birth,' lived for thirty years in great splendour and happiness
Upon this subject consult Jacobi and Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and
Ethics, vol. I. p. 202.
2 Cp. S. B. E. , vol. XLV, p. 122, n. 3.
Cp. S. B. E. , vol. XXII, p. 271.
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138
(ch.
THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS
as a householder, and then, leaving all his wealth, became an ascetic. After
84 days of intense meditation he reached the perfect knowledge of a
prophet, and from that time he lived for about 70 years in the state of
most exalted perfection and saintship and reached his final liberation,
nirvāṇa, on the top of mount Sammeta surrounded by his followers.
In regard to the teaching of Pārçva we are better informed : it was
probably essentially the same as that of Mahāvira and his followers,
But
we have no exact knowledge, except on two principal points, as to how far
this creed was due to Pārçva, or what innovations may have been intro-
duced by his successor. We are told that Pārçva enjoined on his followers
four great vow3, viz. not to injure life, to be truthful, not to steal, and to
possess no property,' while Mahāvīra added a fifth requisition, viz. that of
chastity. Further we know that Pārçva allowed his disciples to wear an
upper and an under garment. Mahāvira, on his part, followed the more
rigid rule which obliged the ascetic to be completely naked. These seem
to have been, in fact, the most important differences in doctrine between
the founder and the reformer of Jainism ; for an old canonical textº tells us
about a meeting between Gautama, the pupil of Mahāvira, and Keçin, a
follower of Pārçva, in which they tried successfully to solve those questions
on which a difference of opinion existed among the religious ; and in that
account the four vows and the wearing or not wearing of clothes form the
main points of discussion. From this text we venture to draw the
conclusion that followers of Pārçva, who did not, perhaps, fully recognise
Mahāvīra as their spiritual head, existed during the lifetime of the latter,
and that a sort of compromise was effected between the two sections of the
church. Indeed it seems to remain a somewhat unsettled question if
followers of Pārçva and of Mahāvīra are not to be found even at the pre-
sent day as the Cvetām baras, or 'monks in white clothes', and the
Digambaras, ‘sky-clad or naked ascetics. ' However, this hypothesis is
denied by most authorities; and as a matter of fact the old records place
the divison of the church into these two main sects at a time much later
than Mahāvīra, as we shall see subsequently.
Nothing is known about the followers of Parçva until the time of the
appearance of the last prophet of the Jains, Mahāvīra. As he is not only
the most famous propagator of the Jain religion, but also after Buddha the
best known of the non-Brāhman teachers of ancient India, we shall have to
dwell a little longer upon the records of his life, and in the first place we
must examine such chronological data as exist for the determination of his
period.
1 Cp. S. B. E. , vol. XLV, p. 121, and Dr. Hoernle in Hastings' Encyclopaedia,
vol. I, p. 261.
2 Cp, S. B. E. vol. XLV, pp. 119 sq.
## p. 139 (#173) ############################################
VI]
TRADITIONAL DATE OF MAHAVIRA
139
2
The Jains themselves have preserved chronological records concerning
Mabāvīra and the succeeding pontiffs of the Jain church which may have
been begun at a comparatively early date. But it seems quite clear that,
at the time when these lists were put into their present form, the real date
of Mahāvīra had already either been forgotten or was at least doubtful.
The traditional date of Mahāvīra's death on which the Jains base their
chronological calculations corresponds to the year 470 before the founda-
tion of the Vikrama era in 58 B. C. ; i. e. , 528 B. c. 1 This reckoning is based
mainly on a list of kings and dynasties, who are supposed to have reigned
between 528 and 58 B. C. ; but the list is absolutely valueless, as it confuses
rulers of Ujjain, Magadha, and other kingdoms; and some of these may
perhaps have been contemporary, and not successive as they are represent-
ed.
