History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c10.1

v1.c10.1

The most prominent characteristic of the religious condition of India in the days of Harsha was the complete toleration which distinguished the two or rather three religions which claimed the people of the country for their adherents. Buddhism and Hinduism flourished side by side and Jainism too. In the same kingdom, in the same city, in the same family even, Hindus, Jains and Buddhists lived peaceably, amicably holding discussions without embitterment on the most abstruse questions of man and God. If the father was a devotee of Śiva, the son was a devotee of Buddha and the same man in his own life might change his religion without causing disturbance in the family or the society. The reason of such toleration lay probably in the fact that the people of these diverse religions were of the same race and had the same habits and customs, and partook of the same kind of food and drink. It appears even probable that the instinctive tendency of the people for the observation of caste distinctions was not at all obstructed in the different religions and lay Buddhists and Jains probably observed caste as much as the Hindus. The recluses or monks alone of Buddhism or Jainism throwing away caste, the unity of the three religions remained undisturbed.