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Hence the search for knowledge and the wandering monkish life were universal among philosophers. Women also adopted the wandering life ; so that each school had nuns as well as monks. 34. It seems to be certain that the Sankhya system as well as the Vedanta was sketched at this early date, but no treatise of the school belonging to this period survives. Among the numerous teachers of the time two stand out above all others, Mahavira, the Jain leader, and Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. They were contemporaries, Mahavira the older of the two. Their exact dates are not known as 50 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY yet, but it seems clear that Gautama's death occurred within a few years of 480 B.C., the date which closes our period. 35. Jainism was originally merely a specialization and intensification of the old ascetic discipline under the influence of an extreme reverence for life and of a dogmatic belief that not only men, animals, and plants, but the smallest particles of earth, fire, water, and wind are endowed with living souls. Consequently, a very large part of the Jain monk's attention was directed to using the extremest care not to injure any living thing. So eager were the Jains to part with the world to the uttermost that many of their monks wore not a scrap of clothing. Twelve years of most severe asceticism were necessary for salvation. After that, if a monk did not wish to live longer, he was recommended to starve himself to death. 36. Buddhism, on the other hand, while it recommended a mild asceticism, condemned self-torture, and found salva tion in knowledge and right living. The knowledge which Buddha taught was summed up by him in three propositions, known as ' the three characteristics of being ', namely : — All its constituents are transitory ; All its constituents are misery ; All its constituents are lacking in an ego. If a man realize that all things are fleeting, that life is sorrow, and that he has no soul to save, he will thereby be set free from the chains of the world, and will experience the nirvana (i.e. extinction) of lust, hatred, and ignorance. Having reached freedom, he will live his life according to the noble laws of Buddha. Being thus a conqueror over the world, he will at death enter final nirvana ; he will not be born again. Buddhism, Jainism, and the Sarikhya system fail to teach the existence of the living eternal only God, but they recognize all the godlings of the Hindu system, giving them a very humble place. UPANISHADS, BUDDHISM, JAINISM 51 37. Philosophic leaders in those days received numerous honorific titles from their followers, buddha (enlightened), jina (conqueror), tirthakara (ford-maker, i. e. religious leader), &c. Gautama finally became known as the Buddha, Mahavlra as the Jina (whence the word Jain). 38. Both of these leaders also formed an outer circle of lay followers, who were not required to practise the asceticism of the monks, but obeyed easy regulations. 39. Literature, &c. The Brahmans, perceiving the power of the philosophy of the Atman, were not slow to adopt it and to introduce it into their schools. There it was taught as a special discipline preparatory to the life of the parivrajaka, while ordinary Brahman pupils took it as an extra subject at the close of the regular priestly course. As this knowledge was regarded as the final aim of all Veda study, it was called Vedantu, i. e. Veda-end. Gradually the allegorical teaching given as a preparation for the hermit life, and the philosophic instruction intended for the wandering life, took definite shape and were handed down orally from teacher to pupil in fixed language, each school having its own sacred deposit. The former was called aranyaka, or ' forest teaching ', as we have seen ; the latter upanishad, probably in the sense of ' secret doctrine'. Thus were formed the wonderful treatises which we now know as the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. It is to be noted that the two types of teaching frequently overlap in one document. To this early period belong only the first great group of prose treatises, written in the style of the Brahmanas, viz. the four Aranyakas and the Brihaddran- yaka, Chhandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, and Kena Upanishads. These have been used devotionally all through the centuries by a small but select company of intellectual and spiritual men. 40. During this period the theory that the Brahmanas D 2 52 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY with their appendices, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads, are Revelation, sruti, in precisely the same sense as the Vedas themselves, took shape and found acceptance. Indeed it became customary to use the word Veda to cover all this prose literature as well as the hymns ; so that one has constantly to ask whether the word is used in the wide or the narrow sense. The theory was that no hymn or Brahmana had a human author, but that they were eternal, and that they had been ' seen ' by the rishis, i. e. ' seers '. Through this idea the limits of the canon were fixed. All that is sruti is included ; all that is not sruti is excluded. The Veda was held to be so sacred that to reveal any portion of it to any one other than a member of the three highest castes was regarded as a heinous sin (see p. 45). There is a vast amount of sacred literature besides this, but it is only smriti, ' recollection,' that is Tradition. It has only a limited authority. 41. Towards the end of this period the Ramayana in its earliest form, which consisted of only five books (ii-vi), was composed by Valmiki, in the Kingdom of Kosala. In this work Rama is a purely human hero. NOTE. — The text below expresses THE JOY OF KNOWING BRAH MAN : — ' He who knows Brahman as Re.ility, Knowledge, Eternal, he obtains all desires.' Taittiriya Upanishad, II. i. i. UPANISHADS, BUDDHISM, JAINISM 53 ILLUSTRATIVE READINGS 7. The Vanaprastha and the Asrama When Rama, valiant hero, stood In the vast shade of Dandak wood, His eyes on every side he bent And saw a hermit settlement, Where coats of bark were hung around, And holy grass bestrewed the ground. Bright with Brahmanic lustre glowed That circle where the saints abode : Like the hot sun in heaven it shone, Too dazzling to be looked upon. Wild creatures found a refuge where The court, well-swept, was bright and fair, And countless birds and roedeer made Their dwelling in the friendly shade. Beneath the boughs of well-loved trees Oft danced the gay Apsarases. Around was many an ample shed Wherein the holy fire was fed ; With sacred grass and skins of deer, Ladles and sacrificial gear, And roots and fruit, and wood to burn, And many a brimming water urn. There, clad in coats of bark and hide — Their food by roots and fruit supplied — Dwelt many an old and reverend sire Bright as the sun or Lord of Fire, All with each worldly sense subdued, A pure and saintly multitude. Valmiki, Kdmdyana, I5ook III, Canto i; Griffith, p. 228. 54 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY 8. The Horse of the Asvamedha A Meditation for the Vdnaprastha Verily the dawn is the head of the horse which is fit for sacrifice, the sun its eye, the wind its breath, the mouth the Vaisvanara fire, the year the body of the sacrificial horse. Heaven is the back, the sky the belly, the earth the chest, the quarters the two sides, the intermediate quarters the ribs, the members the seasons, the joints the months and half months, the feet days and nights, the bones the stars, the flesh the clouds. The half-digested food is the sand, the rivers the bowels, the liver and the lungs the mountains, the hairs the herbs and trees. As the sun rises, it is the forepart, as it sets, the hindpart of the horse. When the horse shakes itself, then it lightens ; when it kicks, it thunders ; when it makes water, it rains ; voice is its voice. Verily Day arose after the horse as the golden vessel, called Mahiman, which at the sacrifice is placed before the horse. Its place is in the Eastern sea. The Night arose after the horse as the silver vessel, called Mahiman, which at the sacrifice is placed behind the horse. Its place is in the Western sea. Verily these two vessels arose to be on each side of the horse. As a racer he carried the Devas, as a stallion the Gandharvas, as a runner the Asuras, as a horse men. The sea is its kin, the sea is its birthplace. Brihaddranyaka Upanishad, i. I ; S. B. E. xv. 73-4.