History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s6.1

v3.c41.s6.1

Jainism is often confounded with Buddhism both by many western scholars as also by some Purāṇa writers for the simple reason that Ahimsā is a common tenet of both and that Jina is a name applied both to Mahāvīra and to Gautama. And even the name Buddha can be and is applied to both (e.g. बुद्धो जिन: पातु व:) meaning awakened. Jina means conqueror (of the mind) and the epithet was originally applied to both these teachers. Then again the name Jaina of the followers of Mahāvīra is only a later name, the former name applied to them being Niggrantha. Both Mahāvīra and Gautama were again contemporaries. But there is no doubt that Gautama is the later of the two. As a protestor against the Vedic religion, Gautama Buddha is the last and Mahāvīra preceded him in time as also in thought as we proceed to show. Let us see in what points they protested against the Vedic religion. The thinkers of the Upanishads had already begun to speculate on the highest metaphysical questions and had developed certain philosophic ideas, though they continued to stick to their old Vedic religion.