Paths of Renunciation: The Rise of Jainism and Buddhism in Ancient India

Jainism and Buddhism

Numerous religious sects arose in the middle Gangetic basin in the sixth century BC - as many as 62 religious sects in this period. Many were based on regional customs and rituals practised by different peoples living in north-east India. Of these sects, Jainism and Buddhism were the most important and emerged as the most potent religious reform movements.

---

The rise of these new religions had multiple overlapping causes:

1. Social and Varna Tensions

• Post-Vedic society was clearly divided into four varnas (brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaisyas, sudras), with varna based on birth - not action.
• Brahmanas claimed the highest status, demanded several privileges including exemption from taxation and punishments, and claimed a monopoly of priestly knowledge.
• Kshatriya reaction against the ritualistic domination of the brahmanas was one of the causes of the origin of new religions.
• Both Vardhamana Mahavira (founder of Jainism) and Gautama Buddha (founder of Buddhism) belonged to the kshatriya clan and disputed the authority of the brahmanas.

2. The New Agricultural Economy

• The real cause of the rise of these new religions lay in the introduction of a new agricultural economy in north-eastern India.
• North-east India (eastern UP, northern and southern Bihar) has about 100 cm of rainfall - previously thickly forested.
• Thick jungles could NOT be cleared without iron axes - before 600 BC people used stone and copper implements.
• From around 600 BC, iron came to be used in this area -> iron tools made possible clearance, agriculture, and large settlements.
• The agricultural economy based on the iron ploughshare required bullocks - it could NOT flourish without animal husbandry.
• But the Vedic practice of killing cattle indiscriminately in sacrifices stood in the way of the progress of new agriculture - cattle wealth was slowly decimated.
• Non-violence (ahimsa) preached by these new religions was therefore a response to the needs of the new agrarian economy - cattle had to be protected.

3. The Rise of Cities and Trade

• The period saw the rise of a large number of cities in north-eastern India: Kausambi (near Allahabad), Kusinagar (Deoria district, UP), Banaras, Vaisali (north Bihar), Chirand (Chapra district), Rajgir (~100 km from Patna).
• Cities had many artisans and traders who began to use coins for the first time.
• Earliest coins belonged to the fifth century BC - called punch-marked coins; they circulated first in eastern UP and Bihar.
• In brahmanical society, vaisyas ranked third - they looked for some religion which would improve their position.
• Vaisyas extended generous support to both Mahavira and Gautama Buddha.
• Dharmasutras decried lending money on interest - a person who lived on interest was condemned. So vaisyas who lent money were not held in esteem and were eager to improve their social status.

4. Reaction Against Private Property and Violence

• Old-fashioned people did not like the use and accumulation of coins - they detested new dwellings, new systems of transport amounting to luxury, and hated war and violence.
• Of property created social inequalities and caused misery and suffering to the masses - common people yearned to return to primitive life.
• Both Jainism and Buddhism preferred simple, puritan, ascetic living.
• Buddhist and Jaina monks were asked to forgo the good things of life - they were not allowed to touch gold and silver.
• The same kind of reaction against the changes in material life in north-eastern India in the sixth century BC as we notice against the changes introduced by the Industrial Revolution in modern times.

---

Life of Mahavira

• Born in 540 BC in a village near Vaisali, identical with Basarh in the district of Vaisali in north Bihar.
• His father was the head of a famous kshatriya clan; his mother a Lichchhavi princess.
• They were also connected with the royal family of Magadha - high connections made it easy for Mahavira to approach princes and nobles.
• In the beginning Mahavira led the life of a householder but in the search for truth he abandoned the world at the age of 30.
• He became an ascetic; kept on wandering for 12 years from place to place - would not stay for more than a day in a village and for more than five days in a town.
• During these 12 years he never changed his clothes.
• He attained perfect knowledge or kaivalya at the age of 42 - through kaivalya he conquered misery and happiness.
• Because of this conquest he is known as Mahavira or the great hero or jina (the conqueror) - his followers are known as Jainas.
• He propagated his religion for 30 years; his mission took him to Kosala, Magadha, Mithila, Champa, etc.
• He passed away at the age of 72 in 468 BC at a place called Pavapuri near modern Rajgir.

Doctrines of Jainism

Jainism taught five doctrines:

1. Do not commit violence
2. Do not speak a lie
3. Do not steal
4. Do not acquire property
5. Observe continence (brahmacharya) - said to have been added by Mahavira; the other four taken from previous teachers.

Although Parsva, the predecessor of Mahavira, had asked followers to cover the upper and lower portions of their body, Mahavira asked them to discard clothes completely - this implies Mahavira asked followers to lead a more austere life.

On account of this, in later times Jainism was divided into two sects:

• Svetambaras - those who put on white dress
• Digambaras - those who keep themselves naked

Key Features of Jainism

• Jainism recognised the existence of the gods but placed them lower than the jina.
• It did NOT condemn the varna system (unlike Buddhism).
• According to Mahavira, a person is born in a high or low varna in consequence of the sins or the virtues acquired by him in the previous birth.
• Mahavira looks for human values even in a chandala - through pure and meritorious life, members of the lower castes can attain liberation.
• Jainism mainly aims at the attainment of freedom from worldly bonds.
• It is not necessary to use any ritual for acquiring such liberation - obtained through full knowledge and action.
• Full knowledge, action, and liberation are considered to be the three gems (ratnas) of Jainism.

Spread of Jainism

• Mahavira organised an order of his followers which admitted both men and women.
• Followers counted 14,000 - not a large number.
• Since Jainism did not mark itself out very clearly from brahmanical religion, it failed to attract the masses.
• Despite this, Jainism gradually spread into south and west India.
• Spread to Karnataka: attributed to Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 BC) - who became a Jaina, gave up his throne, and spent the last years in Karnataka as a Jaina ascetic. But this tradition is not corroborated by any other source.
• Second cause of spread in south India: great famine in Magadha 200 years after the death of Mahavira (lasted 12 years) - many Jainas went south under the leadership of Bhadrabahu; those who stayed back in Magadha under Sthalabahu became lax in observance.
• Returning Jainas developed differences with local Magadha Jainas -> southerners called digambaras, Magadhans svetambaras.
• A council was convened at Pataliputra to compile the main teachings of Jainism - southern Jainas boycotted the council and refused to accept its decisions.
• Jainism spread to Kalinga (Orissa) in the fourth century BC - in the first century BC, enjoyed patronage of the Kalinga king Kharavela who had defeated the princes of Andhra and Magadha.
• In second and first centuries BC, also reached southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
• Later centuries: Jainism penetrated Malwa, Gujarat, and Rajasthan - areas where Jainas are mainly engaged in trade and commerce.

Contribution of Jainism

• Jainism made the first serious attempt to mitigate the evils of the varna order and the ritualistic Vedic religion.
• Early Jainas discarded Sanskrit (language patronized by brahmanas) and adopted Prakrit (language of the common people) to preach their doctrines.
• Their religious literature was written in Ardhamagadhi and texts finally compiled in the sixth century AD in Gujarat at a place called Valabhi (a great centre of education).
• The adoption of Prakrit by the Jainas helped the growth of this language and many regional languages developed out of Prakrit - particularly Sauraseni (out of which grew the Marathi language).
• Jainas composed the earliest important works in Apabhramsa and its first grammar.
• Jaina literature contains epics, Puranas, novels, and drama.
• Contributed to the growth of Kannada, in which they wrote extensively.

---

Life of Gautama Buddha

• Gautama Buddha or Siddhartha was a contemporary of Mahavira.
• Born in 563 BC in a Sakya kshatriya family in Kapilavastu - situated in the foothills of Nepal.
• His father seems to have been the elected ruler of Kapilavastu and headed the republican clan of the Sakyas.
• His mother was a princess from the Kosalan dynasty.
• Born in a republic, he inherited some republican sentiments.
• From early childhood showed a meditative bent of mind - married early but married life did not interest him.
• Was moved by the misery which people suffered in the world and looked for solution.
• At the age of 29 he left home; kept on wandering for about seven years and then attained knowledge at the age of 35 at Bodh Gaya under a pipal tree -> from this time he began to be called the Buddha or the enlightened.
• Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermons at Sarnath in Banaras - this is known as the Dhammachakrapravartana (setting the wheel of the law in motion).
• He undertook long journeys and took his message far and wide - walked 20 to 30 km a day; kept on wandering, preaching and meditating continuously for 40 years, resting only in the rainy season every year.
• Passed away at the age of 80 in 483 BC at a place called Kusinagar - identical with the village called .

Doctrines of Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths:

• The world is full of sorrows (dukkha)
• People suffer on account of desires
• If desires are conquered, nirvana will be attained - man will be free from the cycle of birth and death
• Desires can be conquered by following the Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path (Astangika Marga): (Attributed to the Buddha in a text of about the third century BC)

1. Right observation
2. Right determination
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right exercise
7. Right memory
8. Right meditation

• Following this eightfold path, a person would not depend on the machinations of the priests, yet would be able to reach his destination.
• Gautama taught that a person should avoid the excess of both luxury and austerity - prescribed the middle path.

Code of Conduct:

1. Do not covet the property of others
2. Do not commit violence
3. Do not use intoxicants
4. Do not speak a lie
5. Do not indulge in corrupt practices

• These teachings are common to the social conduct ordained by almost all religions.
• The Buddha did NOT involve himself in fruitless controversies regarding the soul (atman) and the Brahma - did NOT recognize the existence of god and soul (atman). This can be taken as a kind of revolution in the history of Indian religions.

Three Jewels (Triratna) of Buddhism

Buddha, Sangha, and Dhamma - the three main elements.

The Sangha

• Gautama Buddha organised the sangha or the religious order whose doors were kept open to everybody, irrespective of caste and sex.
• The only condition required of the monks: they would faithfully observe the rules and regulations of the sangha.
• Once enrolled as members of the Buddhist Church, they had to take the vow of continence, poverty, and faith.
• Women also were admitted to the sangha and thus brought on a par with men.
• In comparison with brahmanism, Buddhism was liberal and democratic.

Special Features Causing Buddhism's Spread

1. Did not recognise the existence of god and soul - not enmeshed in philosophical discussion; appealed to common people.
2. Attacked the varna system - people were taken into the Buddhist order without any consideration of caste.
3. Liberal and democratic - women admitted on a par with men.
4. Made special appeal to non-Vedic areas - particularly Magadha, placed outside the pale of the holy Aryavarata (the land of the Aryans covering modern Uttar Pradesh). People of north Bihar would not like to be cremated south of the Ganga in Magadha.
5. Personality of the Buddha and the method of preaching helped in spread - tried to fight evil by goodness and hatred by love; maintained poise and calm under difficult conditions.
6. Pali language - the language of the people - contributed to the spread of Buddhism among common people.
7. Organisation of the sangha - made rapid strides even in the lifetime of the Buddha.
8. Royal patronage: Monarchies of Magadha, Kosala, and Kausambi and several republican states adopted this religion.
9. Emperor Asoka (two hundred years after the death of the Buddha) embraced Buddhism - an epoch-making event. Through his agents Asoka spread Buddhism into Central Asia, West Asia, and Sri Lanka -> transformed it into a world religion.
10. Today Sri Lanka, Burma, Tibet, and parts of China and Japan profess Buddhism.

---

• By the twelfth century AD, Buddhism became practically extinct in India.
• It continued in a changed form in Bengal and Bihar till the twelfth century - after that almost completely vanished.

Causes:

1. Internal degeneration: In the beginning every religion is inspired by the spirit of reform but eventually succumbs to rituals and ceremonies it originally denounced - Buddhism underwent a similar metamorphosis.
2. Victim to the evils of brahmanism against which it had fought: The brahmanas reformed their religion - stressed the need for preserving cattle wealth and assured women and sudras of admission to heaven.
3. Monastic degeneration: Buddhist monks were gradually cut off from the mainstream of people's life - they gave up Pali (language of the people) and took to Sanskrit (language of intellectuals). From the first century AD they practised idol worship on a large scale and received numerous offerings from devotees.
4. Enormous wealth of monasteries made them coveted by the Turkish invaders - Turkish killings of a large number of Buddhist monks (especially in Nalanda, though some escaped to Nepal and Tibet).
5. New form of Buddhism (Vajrayana): The enormous wealth of the monasteries with women living in them led to further degeneration. The Buddhists came to look upon women as objects of lust. Buddha had strictly prohibited this.
6. Some monasteries (like Nalanda) collected revenue from as many as 200 villages - by the seventh century AD, Buddhist monasteries had come to be dominated by ease-loving people and became centres of corrupt practices.

---

• Buddhism left its abiding mark on the history of India.
• The new iron ploughshare agriculture, trade, and use of coins enabled traders and nobles to accumulate wealth - we hear of people possessing eighty kotis of wealth.
• This created sharp social and economic inequalities - Buddhism asked people NOT to accumulate wealth.
• Buddha advised that farmers should be provided with grain and other facilities, traders with wealth, and labourers with wages - to remove poverty, cruelty, and violence.
• Buddhism further taught that if the poor gave alms to monks they would be born wealthy in the next world.
• The code of conduct prescribed for the monks represents a reaction against the material conditions of north-east India in the sixth and fifth centuries BC - it imposes restrictions on food, dress, and sexual behaviour of monks.
• Cannot accept gold and silver; cannot take to sale and purchase. The early rules suggest a return to a kind of primitive communism characteristic of the tribal society.
• Buddhism made an important impact on society - kept its doors open to women and sudras; since both were placed in the same category by brahmanism (neither given sacred thread nor allowed to read the Vedas), their conversion to Buddhism freed them from such marks of inferiority.
• Buddhism boosted the cattle wealth of the country - earliest Buddhist text Suttanipata declares cattle to be givers of food, beauty, and happiness (annada vannada sukhada) and pleads for their protection. The brahmanical insistence on the sacredness of the cow and non-violence was apparently derived from Buddhist teachings.
• Buddhism created and developed a new awareness in the field of intellect and culture - taught people not to take things for granted but to argue and judge them on merits. This promoted rationalism among people.

---

---

• GS Paper I - Ancient India: Jainism and Buddhism are foundational to understanding the sixth-century BC intellectual revolution and its social, economic, and political consequences.
• Technology and Social Change: The iron ploughshare -> agricultural expansion -> cattle protection need -> ahimsa doctrine illustrates how technology directly shaped religious thought.
• Non-violence (Ahimsa) in Indian Thought: The brahmanical insistence on cow sacredness and non-violence was apparently derived from Buddhist teachings - connecting ancient religious movements to later Indian nationalism (Gandhi).
• Language and Culture: The adoption of Prakrit by Jainas and Pali by Buddhists (instead of Sanskrit) enabled mass religious communication - directly contributing to the development of regional languages, regional cultures, and later literature.
• Art and Architecture: Gandhara art, Sanchi, Bharhut, Ajanta, Nalanda - all connected to Buddhist patronage and spread.
• Women's Status: Buddhism's admission of women to the sangha on a par with men represents one of the earliest organised challenges to gender discrimination in Indian history.
• Interlink: Jainism/Buddhism <-> Later Vedic Phase (brahmanical domination they reacted against) <-> Mauryan Empire (Asoka's patronage of Buddhism) <-> Post-Mauryan period (Jaina patronage of Kharavela).

---

1. Mahavira was NOT the founder of Jainism: Mahavira was the 24th Tirthankara - he was a reformer/propagator. The tradition traces Jainism back to earlier teachers. RS Sharma says the other four doctrines were taken from previous teachers and only the fifth (continence) was added by Mahavira. Parsva was the 23rd Tirthankara.

2. Mahavira died at 72 in 468 BC; Buddha died at 80 in 483 BC: Students frequently confuse the ages and dates. Mahavira outlived Buddha is a common misconception - Buddha (563-483 BC) was born earlier but died later than Mahavira (540-468 BC).

3. Jainism did NOT condemn the varna system; Buddhism did: Jainism accepted varna but attributed high/low birth to past karma; Buddhism attacked the varna system directly.

4. Buddha's first sermon was at Sarnath (near Banaras), NOT at Bodh Gaya: Enlightenment was at Bodh Gaya; first sermon (Dhammachakrapravartana) was at Sarnath.

5. Punch-marked coins belong to the fifth century BC, NOT earlier: The earliest coins are punch-marked silver coins from the fifth century BC, circulating first in eastern UP and Bihar.

6. The spread of Jainism in Karnataka is attributed to Chandragupta Maurya - but RS Sharma says this is NOT corroborated by any other source: Students often treat this as established fact.

7. Buddhism does NOT recognise the existence of god OR soul (atman): RS Sharma calls this a kind of revolution in Indian religious history. Buddhism is neither theistic nor does it accept the concept of atman - a major contrast with both Jainism (which recognises gods) and Hinduism.

---

• Sixth century BC: 62 religious sects arose in the middle Gangetic basin
• Real cause of new religions: new iron-based agricultural economy in north-east India needing cattle protection
• Punch-marked coins: fifth century BC; first circulated in eastern UP and Bihar
• Mahavira: born 540 BC near Vaisali (Basarh, north Bihar); died 468 BC at Pavapuri near Rajgir at age 72
• Kaivalya attained at age 42; propagated religion for 30 years
• Five doctrines of Jainism: non-violence, non-lying, non-stealing, non-acquisition, continence
• Fifth doctrine (continence) added by Mahavira; other four from previous teachers
• Jainism: two sects - Svetambaras (white-clad) and Digambaras (sky-clad/naked)
• Three gems of Jainism: knowledge, action, liberation
• Jainism spread to Karnataka: attributed to Chandragupta Maurya - NOT corroborated by other sources
• Council at Pataliputra to compile Jaina teachings - southern Jainas boycotted
• Jaina language: Prakrit (Ardhamagadhi) -> contributed to Marathi via Sauraseni
• Buddha: born 563 BC at Kapilavastu (foothills of Nepal); Sakya kshatriya clan
• Enlightenment: at under a tree