Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c75.s2.2

v2.c75.s2.2

It may be asserted at the very outset that Jainism is not any new religion in India. Originally it was only an off-shoot from Hinduism. It may have been a reaction to some of the most intolerant institutions like Yajña and its implied animal sacrifice and unwieldy paraphernalia difficult to be adhered to by ordinary run of men. Religion in India has always been a way of hearty doing rather than a belief of the mind. Those who stood for a new gospel must have been the pioneers of simple, sacred and pious life which characteristic has never left Jainism. Now when this pure and serene original spring began to flow into many a channel and required newer and newer land, naturally, the mud of dogmatism changed its colour. It acquired a new dogma, its own philosophy (metaphysics) and ethics. Vedism (the fountain head of Yajña) was the first target. Anyone questioning the authority of the Vedas was regarded and discarded as heritic. The Jainas and the Baudhas both, who questioned the Paramount Authority of Hinduism were labelled as heterodox. The Jainas accepted the challenge—promulgated their own religious tenets, formulated a philosophy of their own and worked out an ethical code for their daily routine—collective as well as individual life. Thus heresy was supreme.