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 65

PROLEGOMENA TO PRAKRITICA et JAINICA
the activities of Lord Mahāvīra and also of Lord Buddha. In a sense the 6th century B.C. was the turning point in the philosophical ideas of human beings in most parts of the world. If Lord Mahāvīra is attributed to the 6th century B.C, surely Rşabhadeva, the 1st Tirthankara, must have belonged to a much earlier period. It is to be noted that the name Rşabha is found in the Rgveda, which dates back to 1500 B.C. It is, however, much later, around the 8th-10th centuries A.D. that the lives of Tirthankars were all compiled.
The reason why I give emphasis to dates and history is to make it easy to understand religion by relating the circumstances under which any action would have taken place. It is said that Rşabhadeva taught us many things, but unfortunately all of them were found in books written in some 1000-1500 years later. We do in fact find the life sketch of Rşabha in the Kalpasūtra, one of the Agama texts of the Svetāmbara Jains. So also the life of Pārsvanātha, the 23rd Tirthankara, is depicted in the Kalpasūtra. The date of Pārsvanātha is considered as 817 B.C. There is reference to Ariştanemi in the same text that dates his life to 1000 B.C. In the Lankāvatārasūtra, Arişğanemi, among others, is also mentioned. So if we take 1500 B.C. as the starting point of the 1st Tirthankara and the culmination of the 24th Tirthankara to 600 B.C., it would be easy to say that that was the period when Jainism started to develop.
Man has been trying his best to understand religion for over 3500 years. The English word religion is equated with the Indian term dharma. But the two terms have some differences in meaning and outlook. In fact, the basic meaning of religion (< Latin religion, substantive of religio, French religion, Middle English religioun) is piety, care, "the performance of duties to God and man". The word religion is not to be derived from Latin religāre, to bind, as it is normally done in common parlance, and states that religion means that which binds you or holds you.