The Beginning of The Kali Yuga
It is in this framework that we can understand how the vedic culture transformed the jaina culture. Just as the vedic-jaina encounter was happening, the latter was slowly evolving into a religion; it eventually evolved into Jainism. But the influence of the vedicon the jaina spawned another religion : Buddhism. That Siddhārtha Gautama was a jaina, in the sense that we have used the term, does not need elaboration; he was born and grew up in Magadha in a kshatriya family that practiced the way of life of that region between the 6thand 4thcenturies BCE. He became a śramaṇa, a jaina ascetic. But found that the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement was unnecessary or counterproductive. Thus he preached the majjhimā paṭipadā or the middle way. [Laumakis, 2008 : An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy, 4] The folk tradition about Buddha does speak of his trying various ascetic practices before his ‘enlightenment’. Two easily discernible ways in which he diverged from the jaina tradition is in the clothing – he accepted clothes, and in diet – he permitted the eating of meat under certain conditions. One can easily see the influence of Vedic tradition in these.
