Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs c9.6

c9.6

Probably long before the time of Gautama Buddha there were revolts against the Brahmanical doctrines. The Suttanipāta, in one of its sections named Mahāvagga,² mentions sixtythree different philosophical schools—probably all of them non-Brahmanical—existing at the time of the Buddha; and there are passages in Jain literature exhibiting a far larger number of such heretical doctrines.³ Of the teachers of these anti-Vedic religious systems the names of Vardhamāna Mahāvīra, Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta and Gautama Buddha are too well known to be overlooked, and these three non-Brahmanical teachers were the most formidable enemies of Brahmanism.