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The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c12.s2: The Positivism of the Jaina Siddhānta

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c12.s2

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The Positivism of the Jaina Siddhānta

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To the two classes of Buddhist texts, Pali and Sanskrit, have to be added the Prakrit texts of Jainism. The Jaina canon known as the *Siddhānta* was ''written down'' in present form about 550 A.C. We are to understand, however, that the Jaina social philosophy was a formative force in the intellectual and cultural world of India under the Mauryas, Āndhras, Kuṣaṇas, Vākāṭakas, Bhāraśivas and the Guptas.

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The Jaina *Angas* and *Dasāos* are like the Buddhist texts full of anecdotes and stories. The psychological and ethical discussions or commands in this Prakrit literature are brought out in and through extremely realistic and secular descriptions of villages and cities as well as of economic, political and social life. Works like the *Uvāsagadasāo*⁵ (The Religious Profession of a Uvāsaga), the *Antagada-dasāo*, the *Anuttaro vavai-dasāo* and the like are quite rich in the data of secular life and worldly interests, although meant to be treatises for monks and ascetics. For certain purposes these *Dasāos* may be treated like the *Panchatantra*, the *Kathāsaritsāgara* etc. Certainly they deserve recognition by students of the *Dharma-Artha-Kāma* complex as contributions from the angle of Jaina idealists or Utopists.

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⁵ See A. F. R. Hoernle's translation of the *Uvāsaga dasāo* (Bibliotheca Indica Series, Calcutta 1888); L. D. Barnett's translation of the *Antagadodasāo and Anuttarovavaiya-dasāo* (Oriental Translation Fund, London 1907).

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The positivism of the Jainas is embodied in the doctrine of four gifts (*āhārābhayabhaiṣajyasāstrādāna*).⁶ In the remaking of personality the Jaina social philosophy’s contribution consists in emphasizing the supreme need of service to others. The first service is the gift of food (*āhāra*), the second that of *abhaya* i.e. courage (non-fear or protection), the third that of *bhaiṣajya* (medicine), and the fourth that of *śāstra* (learning).

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⁶ Inscription in Banasamkari temple at Udri in Sorab, Shimoga District, Mysore, cited in R. Shamasastry : *Evolution of Indian Polity* (Calcutta 1920) p. 101.

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The *Siddhānta* comprises 45 texts grouped as follows :⁷

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⁷ Weber’s *Sacred Literature of the Jains* transl. by H. W. Smith for the *Indian Antiquary* (Bombay) October 1888, p. 285.

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| 1. | *Angas* : | 11 or 12 (one missing) |
| 2. | *Upāngas* : | 12 |
| 3. | *Painnas* : | 10 |
| 4. | *Chheda sūtras* : | 6 |
| 5. | *Sūtras* : | i. *Nandī* |
| | | ii. *Anuyogadvāram* |
| 6. | *Mūlasūtras* : | 4 |

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In the Jaina as in the Buddhist atmosphere the gods do not play a prominent part. Nay, in Vedic and post-Vedic Brāhmaṇism also the rôle of the gods, strictly speaking, is rather subordinate. Positivism is the fundamental feature of all the Indian systems.

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In the system of the Vedic Brāhmaṇas it is on account of the efficacy of the sacrifice that the gods are compelled to capitulate (*les dieux se voient obligés de capituler*) and the sacrificer rises to the celestial world and is assured a definite place for the future.⁸ Man is made super-human. It is man and his energy that are really adored through the sacrifices. The *milieu* is humanistic and secular.

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⁸ S. Lévi: *La Doctrine du Sacrifice dans les Brahmanas* (Paris 1898) pp. 9-12.

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This philosophy of the sacrifice pervades not only the *Upaniṣads* but Buddhism and Jainism also in spite of the prejudice of the last two systems against sacrifice. The concept of the *Ṛiṣi* who without the help of the gods and often against their will (*sans l'aide des dieux et souvent contre leur gré*) discovers by the sole force of his intelligence the ritual or the formula which assures the success is the immediate precursor of that of the Buddhas and the Jainas who discover the way to salvation by direct intuition and spontaneous enlightenment. It is not by chance that the sacred words of the *Arhat* and the Buddha figure already in the *Brāhmaṇas*. The very dogmas which these words symbolize reside also there in germ and are already in the process of growth. It is the touch of humanism and positivism that makes the diverse Indian systems kin.

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