Indo-European Mythology and Religion

by Alexander Jacob

  175 The action organs are referred to as karma-indriya and the sense organs are referred to as gnāna-indriya.

  176 M. Biardeau, Le sacrifice dans l’inde ancienne, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1976, p.75. 75

  indo-european mythology and religion

  Jainism

  The two major religious traditions that sprang from Yoga-

  Sāmkhya were Jainism and Buddhism. Both Jainism

  and Buddhism, along with Chārvāka and Ājīvika, are

  considered by Brāhmanism as heterodox (nāstika)

  doctrines.

  Nevertheless, Jainism dates its origins to an extremely

  hoary antiquity. The Jain equivalent of an “avatar”, such

  as the ten incarnated forms of Vishnu, is a “tirthankara”,

  of whom there are twenty-four in each half of a cosmic

  time cycle.177 The Jain scriptures maintain that the first Jain

  Tirthankara, Rishabha, was the father of Bharata, the ruler

  of India, and that the Vedas originated relatively late, with

  the son of Bharata, Marichi. So Jainism may well have

  had its origin outside India. Further, the Vedic doctrines

  themselves, according to the Jains, were subsequently

  corrupted by the Brāhmans. According to Jinasena, the

  author of the 8th century Jain text, Ādipurāna, the origin of even the caste system is traced not to the Vedas (that is,

  the Purushasūkta), but to the Bharata legend, according

  to which Bharata tested men through a test of "ahimsa"

  (non-violence), and those who refused to harm any living

  beings were considered to be dvija, twice-born and deva-Brāhmaṇas, divine Brāhmans.178

  Rishabha is supposed to have been born to a queen

  called Marudevi, the consort of King Nabhi, in Ayodhya,

  which is also the birthplace of the Ikshvāku avatār, Rāma,

  177 In the Brāhmanical tradition there are fourteen Manus in each kalpa (the present kalpa is called the Padma Kalpa, as the earlier one was the Brahma Kalpa), and the beginning of human life on earth is dated to the appearance of Manu Vaivasvata, who is the seventh Manu of our kalpa.

  178 See P. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification, N. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1998, p.290.

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  whose story, as we will see,179 may well have had an extra-

  Indian origin. While the early tirthankaras of Jainism

  seem to be mythological figures, the twenty-third of its

  tirthankaras, Pārshvanātha, is indeed a historical figure

  dating back to the ninth century B.C., and the twenty-

  fourth and last, Mahāvīra, was born in the sixth century

  B.C. Pārshvanātha was considered to be a prince of the

  Ikshvāku dynasty180 who lived in Benares in India while

  Mahāvira was a prince who lived in Bihar. It seems

  therefore that Jainism, like Buddhism after it, was a

  religious doctrine developed among kshatriyas.

  The canonical scriptures of the Jains are called—as in

  the Tantra tradition—Āgamas (inherited scriptures), and

  traced back by the Jains to the first tirthankara, Rishabha,

  though they were compiled by a certain Gautamaswami

  around the 6th or 4th century B.C. in Prākrit, rather

  than Sanskrit. These Āgamas are said to be based on

  the discourses of the first tirthankara of the present era,

  Rishabha.

  As regards the identity of the first tirthankara, we may

  note that there is an avatār of Vishnu in the Krita Yuga

  called Rishaba ( Bhāgavata Purāna).181 It is interesting

  that Rishabha also bears several of Shiva's epithets such

  as Aghora, Ishana, Sadyojata, and Vāmadeva. Indeed,

  in the Shaivite Linga Purāna, he is considered to be an

  incarnation of Shiva. According to the Vishnu Purāna

  (II,1,31) the historical Rishabha was an Ikshvāku king and

  his eldest son is said to have been Bharata, who represents

  the land of India:

  179 See p.92.

  180 Ikshvāku is the son of Manu who begins the Solar dynasty (see p.57). It appears that the Ikshākus, whom we may first locate in West Asia, also moved at some time to India.

  181 See p.32n.

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  Rishabha was born to Marudevi, Bharata was born to

  Rishabh,

  Bharatavarsha [India] arose from Bharata, and Sumati

  arose from Bharata.

  In this context, it is interesting to note the evidence of

  swastika symbols in an ivory carving of a bird from

  Mezine in the Ukraine dating to ca.10,000 B.C. (that is,

  long before the rise of the Hamitic cultures of Egypt

  and Sumer) and the common use of swastikas in the

  Jain religion. The seventh tirthankara, Suparshvanātha,

  is indeed designated with the swastika as his 'vehicle'.

  The evidence of Indic settlement in Bactria, including

  Brāhmanical, has already been pointed to above, so that

  we may surmise that both the Shramana traditions and

  Brāhmanism may have extended from the Pontic Caspian

  region182 to Bactria to India.

  When we study the Greek writers' accounts of

  Indian religious sects, we find that both the Hellenistic

  chronicler, Megasthenes (ca.350-290 B.C.)'s records of

  India183 and the geographical histories of Strabo (ca.64

  B.C.-A.D.24)184 distinguish two classes of philosophers in

  India, the Brāhmans and Sarmanes (Shramanas). Strabo

  (Geographica, XV,I,60) elaborates on the “Sarmanes” in

  the following manner:

  Of the Sarmanes, the most honourable ... are the

  Hylobii, who live in the forests, and subsist on leaves

  and wild fruits: they are clothed with garments made

  of the bark of trees, and abstain from commerce with

  182 This is the Ukrainian steppe, stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea.

  183 Frag. XLIII.

  184 Geographica, XV,1.

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  women and from wine … Of the Sarmanes … second

  in honour to the Hylobii, are the Physicians, for they

  apply philosophy to the study of the nature of man.

  They are of frugal habits, but do not live in the fields,

  and subsist upon rice and meal, which every one gives

  when asked, and receive them hospitably. ... Both this

  and the other class of persons practice fortitude, as

  well in supporting active toil as in enduring suffering,

  so that they will continue a whole day in the same

  posture, without motion.

  We may detect in this description of the Shramanas

  something akin to the Yogic āsanas described in the later,

  5th century treatise of Patanjali, the Yogasūtras. The Greek Christian convert, Clement of Alexandria (ca. A.D.150-215), even refers to two quite different geographical origins

  for the early religious sects associated with India. He

  differentiates the “Gymnosophists” from the Shramanas

  as belonging to India and Bactria respectively:

  Philosophy, then, with all its blessed advantages to

  man, flourished long ages ago among the barbarians,

  diffusing its light among the gentiles and eventual y

  penetrated into Greece. Its hierophants—were the

  prophets among the Egyptians, the Chaldeans among

  the Assyrians, the Druids among the
Galatians [Celts],

  the Sramanas of the Bactrians, and the philosophers

  of the Celts, the Magi among the Persians—who

  announced beforehand the birth of the Saviour, being

  led by a star till they arrived in the land of Judaea, and

  among the Indians the Gymnosophists, and other

  philosophers of barbarous nations. ( Stromata, 1.15.71)

  Porphyry (ca.A.D.234-305) however derives both the

  Brāhmans and the Shramanas from the “Gymnosophists”:

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  indo-european mythology and religion

  For the polity of the Indians being distributed into

  many parts, there is one tribe among them of men

  divinely wise, whom the Greeks are accustomed to call

  Gymnosophists. But of these there are two sects, over

  one of which the Bramins preside, but over the other

  the Samanaeans.185

  This may explain the association of Bactria with both

  Brāhmanism and Jainism that we have noted above.

  The term 'Jainism' itself is derived from 'jīna', or a

  human being who has mastered all passions. This bears

  a resemblance to the Āgamic classification of men in

  general—according to the predominance of the tāmasic,

  rājasic, or sāttvic elements in them—as pashu (animal),

  vira (heroic) or divya (divine).186 The Jain doctrine of

  salvation (moksha) is based on the “three jewels” of right

  belief, right knowledge, and right conduct. These principal

  moral precepts provide the Jains with the “five vows” of

  abstinence, or mahāvratas - ahimsa (non-violence), satya

  (truthfulness), asteya (avoidance of stealth), aparigraha

  (non-acquisition) and brahmachārya (chastity). It is

  natural y opposed to the sacrificial rituals of the Brāhmans

  since these involved animal (and original y also human)

  sacrifices.187

  Geoffrey Samuel in his recent work, The Origins of

  Yoga and Tantra, attempts to study two early periods in

  the development of Indic religions, the early Shramana

  movements in approximately the fifth to third century

  B.C. and the growth of Tantra in the seventh to twelfth

  centuries A.D. Samuel finds in the Vedas themselves

  “nothing…to imply yogic practice, in the sense of a

  185 Porphyry,

  On abstinence from animal food, (tr. T. Taylor) IV,17.

  186 See p.117. This classification roughly corresponds to the vaisya, kshatriya and brāhmanical castes among the Vedic Āryas.

  187 See A. Jacob, Brahman, Ch.IX. 80

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  developed set of techniques for operating with the mind-

  body complex”.188 He concludes:

  Our best evidence to date suggests that such practices

  developed in the same ascetic circles as the early

  sramana movements (Buddhists, Jainas and Ājīvikas),

  probably in around the sixth and fifth centuries

  BCE”.189

  In other words, the Brāhmanical tradition was not yogic as

  the Jain and Buddhist Shramana traditions were. Monika

  Shee too distinguishes Brāhmanical ascetiscism (tapas)

  from yoga:

  As tapas original y lacks any religious aims, it is not

  primarily connected with ideas of renunciation

  or salvation—ideas found, for example, in yoga or

  sanyåsa. Though tapas practices may be called yoga in

  the epic and a tapasvin is called a yogin sometimes, it

  is the magical, power-desiring concept of tapas which

  matters to the authors of these texts 190

  Yoga, on the other hand, focuses on the more ethical

  notions of karma (action and its moral result) and the cycle

  of birth, death, and rebirth, which it seeks to overcome

  through detachment and cessation of all spiritual activity.

  J. Bronkhurst points to the relative lack of references to

  the term yoga in the Dharmasūtras as wel , though the

  focus on the realisation of the true nature of the Self is

  188 G. Samuel, The Origins of Yoga and Tantra, Cambridge University Press, 2008, p.8.

  189 Ibid,

  190 M. Shee, Tapas und Tapasvin in den erzählenden Partien des Mahåbhårata. Reinbek: Dr. Inge Wezler Verlag, p.405, tr. J. Bronkhurst,

  “The Brāhmanical Contribution to Yoga”, International Journal of Hindu Studies 15, 3: 321.

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  indo-european mythology and religion

  clearly ascribed to the last of the four stages, āshramas, of

  a brāhman's life.

  C.K. Chapple also highlights the yogic aspects of

  Jainism:

  The term yoga appears in three different usages within

  the broad tradition of Jainism. The first, and most

  general coinage of the term yoga, refers generical y

  to the practice of meditation. The second refers to the

  collection of ascetic disciplines for which the Jaina

  tradition is famous, including the five great vows

  beginning with ahimså. The third, and perhaps the

  most technical application of the word yoga, refers

  to the remnants of attachment or yoking that must

  be abandoned in the highest levels of spiritual ascent.

  The omniscient being at the thirteenth stage exhibits

  a connection with karma and hence retains a body; at

  the fourteenth and final spiritual stage (gunasthåna),

  all karma is abandoned, resulting in the state of ayoga,

  which is considered to be the highest state of Yoga in

  Jainism.191

  The doctrine of karma too, Chapple points out, is more

  clearly articulated in the early Jain text, Tattvārthasűtra of Umāsvāti (ca.5th c. A.D.) than in the Yogasūtra of Patanjali (5th c. A.D.) itself:

  Umåsvåti drew from canonical sources to describe

  the process through which activity (yoga) draws

  karmas of various colors to adhere or bind to the

  soul (jiva). Karma appears in four harming forms

  and four nonharming forms. The ten chapters of the

  Tattvårthasutra describe the structure of the cosmos

  191 C.K. Chapple, “Recovering Jainism’s Contribution to Yoga

  Traditions”, International Journal of Hindu Studies 15,3:324.

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  including the nature and detailed manifestations

  of karma in 148 prakritis. The text also describes a

  fourteen-stage process of ascent leading to living

  liberation (sayoga kevala) and ultimately to total

  freedom (ayoga kevala), whereby one’s soul separates

  eternal y from all remnants of karma (specifical y,

  lifespan, name, feeling, and family: åyus, nåma,

  vedanīya, and gotra).192

  However, it must be noted that Jainism itself does not

  give much evidence of the rigorous discipline of the body

  and mind that classical Yoga does. Jain philosophers

  also strove to distance themselves from Tantrism,

  which experimented with various techniques to achieve

  union with the divinity. The Yogadhristhisamucchaya of

  Haribhadra Yākiniputra (8th c. A.D.), for example, lists

  four types of yoga practitioners (family, clan, engaged,

  and authentic – kula, gotravanta, pravrittracakra, and

  avañcaka) but makes sure to excoriate Tantra as a

  licentious cult.

  Kali Yuga

  A later manifestat
ion of the Shramana tradition is

  Buddhism, which is based on the doctrines of the Buddha

  (ca. 6th century B.C.) – who, as we have seen, is an avatār

  of the Kali Yuga. Buddhism retains notions from the

  Brāhmanical tradition—which is older than it—such as the

  Brahmavihāras (the abodes of Brahma) that are invoked

  to direct righteous thought in the direction of goodwil ,

  compassion, empathy, and equanimity. However, it, like

  Jainism before it, rejects Brāhmanical rituals, and scholars

  such as Eraly and Wiltshire believe that Buddhism

  192 C.K. Chapple, ibid. , 15, 3: 326. 83

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  arose from the ascetic Shramana movements of the first

  millennium B.C.,193 especial y that of the “paccekabuddhas”

  who are said to have achieved enlightenment independent

  of the Buddha194 Wiltshire suggests that paccekabuddhas

  were kshatriyas who particularly renounced “household”

  life, which is a life-stage associated with several of the fire-

  rituals of Brāhmanism.195

  Buddhism, like Jainism, is based essential y on a

  pessimistic view of the world (samsāra) where suffering

  is the characteristic of temporal life. Desire, action, and

  rebirth are to be overcome through the 'Eightfold Path'

  of Right Understanding, Right Intention, Right Speech,

  Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right

  Thoughtfulness, Right Concentration so that a state of

  “nirvāna” or liberation from the cycle of earthly lives may

  be achieved. Buddhism rejected total asceticism as well

  as hedonistic indulgence in its Middle Path. It advocated

  five vows of abstinence for its lay devotees, including

  abstention from killing, stealing, sexual licentiousness,

  lying and alcohol.

  Mahāyāna Buddhism outlined the path of the

  Boddhisattvas, or those whose minds were “awakened”.

  and on the path to Buddhahood. Hinayāna Buddhism,

  on the other hand, extolled the path of Arhats, who are

  considered to have attained a state of nirvāna, like the

  Buddha. The Mahāyāna Buddhists, however, consider

  the arhats as occupying an inferior status to that of the

  boddhisattvas. Buddhism in general rejected both the

  āstika Brāhmanical and the nāstika doctrines. It denied

  193 See A. Eraly, The First Spring: The Golden Age of India, N.Delhi: Penguin Books, 2011.

  194 See M. Wiltshire, Ascetic Figures before and in Early Buddhism: The Emergence of Gautama as the Buddha, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990.