Samayasara OR Nature of Self

SR No.: 011119
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 406
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 122

INTRODUCTION
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description in full corresponds with the life history of Lord Rishabha, the greatest hero of Ikshavakus and the first revealer of Ahimsa to the world and the importance of tapas or yoga for the purpose of self-realisation. We suggest that this Rishabha cult must have been prevalent even before the advent of the Aryans and the Rig-vedic tradition in support of this thesis we note the following facts revealed by the Vedic literature. The Aryans of the Rig Vedic period it is stated, were resisted by the people the land who ale called Dasyas The term Dasya is interpreted sometimes as cnemy and sometimes as a slave. These two interpretations represent two different stages First when the people of the land resisted they were called the enemies, and when the enemies were subjected after a military conquest and taken as prisoners and made to work as slaves, the same Dasyas became slaves. Facts that deserve emphasis in this connection are the descriptive terms used by the Aryans to describe these enemies, the people of the land. These Dasyas are described as Ayagna, Anindra, Avrata, Anyavrata and so on These terms respectively mean those that are opposed to Yagna, Indra-worship, those that observe a different religious practice, and those that do not prac-, tise the religion of the Aryans From these descriptive terms it is quite clear that the people of the land weie dead against the Vedic institution of Yagna or animal sacrifice Their opposition to the invading Aryans must therefore be due to two factors. The people of the land politically resisted the invading foreigner, and secondly because the people of the land were afraid of the fact that their culture would be destroyed by the invaders whose culture and religion were entirely different from their own. These Dasyus the people of the land, are also described to have been of dark skin and to have been speaking a different tongue. Therefore they must have been the early Dravidians who were present all over India at the time of the Aryan invasion. After describing the practice of these Dasyus in negative terms, the Vedic literature uses a very significant term to describe their religion. The early Dasyus, the enemies of the Aryans, who were opposed to Yagnas and Indra worship were worshippers of Sisnadeva. This is a very interesting revelation. European oriental