Prolegomena to Prakritica et Jainica

SR No.: 011088
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society
Total Pages: 248
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 166

BANERJEE : JAINISM AND NON-VIOLENCE
149
used in stock-phrases like na ghātae, na ghātejjā, na hammai, na hanati and so on, and in almost all the cases the passages are connected with life (pāņā).
The root hims is often interchanged with han. But the root hims is also used, such as, na himsejjā pāņiņam pāņe-'do not injure to a living beings', himsimsu me"they have injured me", na himsai kimca- "do not kill anybody", etc. From this root the negative idea of himsä. i.e., ahimsā is formed :
The etymological meaning of ahimsā is simply nonviolence. The derivation of ahimsā is na himsā a-himsā where a- is a negative particle which means “devoid of injury". The himsā is derived from the root hims meaning "to strike, beat, wound, kill, destroy" and so on with the suffix ac and the formation will be himsā by the sūtra gurośca halaḥ (3/3/103) which means the suffix alc) is added to a consonantal root which has a guru (heavy) vowel which automatically takes the feminine suffix ä by the sūtra a pratyayāt (3/3/102). In fact, the root hims is again derived from the desiderative of the root han meaning to kill, injure, harm etc. This roothan is cognated with Gk θείνω, θάνατος, φόνος, πέφαται, Lat. de-fendere, of-fendere, Lithgenu, gæti, Slav. gúnati. Lexicographically, himsā, may be of three types : 1. mental as 'bearing malice', 2. verbal as 'abusive language', and 3. personal as 'acts of violence.'
The reason why I raise this etymological meaning of the word himsā is to show that the word is very primitive and the concept of the word is from the very beginning of human civilization. That is why, the major Indo-European languages like Greek, Latin, Lithuanian and Slavic possess these words with their primitive meanings like mental, verbal and personal. Therefore, in all schools of Indian thoughts whenever there was a question of nonviolence, it was connected with kāyena, manasā and vācā, "by body, by mind and by speech”. At a later stage, the Jain sādhus (monks) gave emphasis on the question of