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Ahimsa

The Genesis

Saint-poets

There has been a continuos tradition of the epics and the Puranas,the saints and the bhaktas and also the folk literature which gently moulding the minds of the masses.

Both the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have distinctly propounded the beauty and importance of ahimsa in life. The warfare is essential only when it is inevitable and that too for the destruction of the evil. The concept of dharma-yuddha is very clearly projected by both. Bhisma pitamaha lying on the bed of arrows, extensively preaches ahimsa to the Pandavas assembled around him after the war. This scene depicted on the friezes of the mediaeval temples and in the miniature paintings. ahimsa paramo dharma a quote from the Mahabharata is known practically to every Indian.

Bhaktas of the Bhagwata Sect have played a considerable role in developing an overall attitude of Ahimsa in every walk of life. Like the Gopis, they feel the presence of Lord Krishna in everything around them. How can one then hurt a loved one ?This generated a mental make up that has no place for violence in the minds of the followers of these saint poets. As mentioned in the Adi Grantha, "The gardener’s wife picks flowers ,each flower is alive",

The common ideal of the ‘true saint’ is exemplified by the oft quoted lines of Narsi Mehta:

"Vaisnava Jana To Tene Kahiye........"

Call him a true Vaisnava

who feels for the sufferings of others

The Warkari sampradaya developed around God Vithoba, and propagated by very renowned saints sant Eknath and Jnaneshwar, demands complete vegetarianism from the devotees. The Warkaris accept a kanthi(necklace made of Tulsi beads) and take a vow of vegetarianism to avoid any violence to living creatures.

So also the adherents of the Swaminarayana sect are cmplete vegetarians.

Folk literature has also influenced the young minds revealing the sensitivity of a non-violent being.

The Jataakas, one of the early examples of folk literature, are full of stories of non-violent beings. The Sibi Jaataka narrates how King Sibi offers his own flesh to provide a substitute for the dove which was caught by the hunter. A vivd depiction of this scene is found on a Gandhara panel.

There is an amusing and interesting story of a vegetarian lion in the Panchatantra. A ferocious lion was in the habit of indiscriminate killing of the jungle animals . Once a lynx witnessed a series of episodes . A snake killed a rat, a mangoose killed the snake, a fox killed the mangoose, a wild dog killed the fox and so on. She realised the futility of killing anybody. She went to the lion spoke to him about it pleading him to leave his violent habit. The king turned a deaf year to her continued killing animals. Soon after this, when the lion returned to his abode to find his own cubs killed. The lynx again preached non-violence and the lion takes a vow only to eat grass.