THE AGE OF THE BUDHA AND MAHAVIRA AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF BUDDHISM AND JAINSIM OF INDIAN CULTURE
The sixth century B.C. witnessed great religious ferment in the world. It was an age when people in India were disgusted with philosophical dogmas and were striving for simple methods of worship and easier means of escape from the ills of this mundane existence. It was an era of revolt - an age of protest against the old order of things.The thinkers of new movement were pure intellectualism - philosophers. The greatest of these wandering teachers were the two Kshatriya Princes, viz. Vardhamana Mahavir and Gautam Buddha. The philosophy and the ideologies of the former took the shape of a reforming movement known as jainism, while those of the latter led to te other movement called Buddhism.
Jainism and Budhism were the reformation movements of Hinduism. Mahavir did not believe that God created this world or that he exercised any creative spirit, nor is there any creator necessary to explain the nature of the world. He regarded all objects, animate or inanimate, as endowed with various degrees of consciousness, so the greatest emphasis is laid on the doctrine of ahimsa or non - injury to any kind of living being.
Mahavir successfully founded the Jain Church. His severe asceticism and simple doctrines attracted many followers. The joins have played a very important part in the development of the languages of the country. The joins utilized the prevailing spoken language of different times at different places in the country for their religious propaganda and preservation of the sacred knowledge. Their religious literature is very vast. they have also produced a rich literature in Sanskrit and Prakrit,both narrative and philosophical, and works on technical subjects like grammar, prosody, lexicography and mathematics are also not wanting.
The beauty of Jainism found its high watermarks during the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. The gigantic statues of Bahubali called stateswoman at Sravanabelgola and Karkal in Mysore are ago wonders of the world. The jaincaves with their relief works and statues at Uaigiri hills near Bhislsa in Madhya pradesh and Ellora in Maharashtra are examples of excellent architecture and sculpture of the period. the Jain tower at chit tor in rajasthan is one of the best specimens of Jain architecture. The famous Jain temples at Dilwara near Mount Abu in Rajasthan belonging to the eleventh century, carries to its highest perfection the Indian genius for the invention of graceful patterns and their application to the decoration of masonry architecture.
Gautama Buddha never endeavored to establish a new religion or cried. He advocated tony a set of doctrines of dogmas but a rational scheme of spiritual development. Simple goodness of spirit, deed and conduct are the basic of his teaching. the Buddha preached his followers the for "Noble truths" concern\nine sorrow, the cause of sorrow, the remedy or destruction of sorrow and the way leading to the destruction of sorrow. With regard to his religious teachings and Buddha may call as agnostic, because he neither accepts nor rejects the existence of God.
The Buddhist Scriptures known as pitakas are divided into three sections, namely the Sutta, the vinaya and the adbidhamma. The Budha ahd two kinds of disciples - Monks (Bhikshu) and lay worshipers (pasakas); the former were organised into sang has, or congregations.
Perhaps the gratest factor that contribted to the popularity and growth of Buddis was te missionary activities of the Buddhist Sangha. The Buddhist congregations became the centres of light and learning.
the progress of Buddhism exercised considerable influence in sapping the various aspects of India life - accrual, social, religious and political. Buddhism gave a popular religious, without any complicated, elaborate and unintelligible tribunals such as could be performed only by the Priestley class. The unintelligible rituals such as could bne performed only by the Priestley class.,The dotrine of ahimsa so strongly stressed. devoutly preached and sincerely practiced by the Buddhists was incoporated bodily in their teachings by the brahmanas of later days. This indirectly led to the rise of theat particular phase of the Hiawatha religion which completely absorbed the doctrine of Ahimsa.
the practice of worshiping personal gods, making their images and creating temples in th eir honour was adopted by the Hindus in imitation of the Mahayana Buddhists.As Buddhism was intended for the masses it made popular the spoken languages of the people.Buddhism thus fostered the growth of a vast and varied literature in the languages of the people.
the finest contribution of the Buddhism to Indian life was made in the realm of architecture and sculpture. Under the patronage of Buddhism all branches of arts - architecture. sculpture, painting etc. Made good progress. Viharas or monasteriies were built all over the country for giving permanent abodes to the Buddhist monks. Some pieces of Buddhist sculpture and considered to be the finest speciments of art in the world. The stupas of sanchi, Bharhut and Amaravati, the stone pillars of Asoka and the cava temples of Kanheri (Bombay), karle (poona) and Nasik are regarded as the best specimens railings which are profusely covered with sculpture.The Buddhist are was essentially an art with an intense feeling for nature and a vivid comprehension of the unity of all life - human animal and vegetable.
But the most important fact is that Buddhism proved to be one of the greatest civilizing fores which India gave to the neighboring countries Buddhism broke the isolation of India and established an intimate contact between India and the foreign countries. It was India's greatest gift to the outer world. Indian culture and civilization had been carried by the dist missionaries to CIA, Mongolia, Australia, korea, japan, Myanmar, java, Sumatra, into - china and other countries since the days of asoka.These religious ties came to bid many foreigners with out country and paved the way for spreading the India culture abroad.
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