Causes of the Rise of New Religious Movements in the Sixth Century BC

At a Glance

• Region Mid-Gangetic plains
• Number of sects Sixty-two
• Chief movements Jainism and Buddhism
• Real cause New agricultural economy
• Chief supporters Kshatriyas and vaishyas
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Religious Movements, Mahajanapadas and Foreign Invasions

Where Does It Fit?

This is the first topic of the category on religious movements, Mahajanapadas and foreign invasions. The previous topic surveyed Vedic literature, and this one explains why new faiths arose. The next topic covers Vardhamana Mahavira and Jainism. Previous topic: Vedic Literature – Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads and Vedangas.

What Was the Religious Situation in the Sixth Century BC?

In short: numerous sects arose in the mid-Gangetic plains, and Jainism and Buddhism emerged as the most potent reform movements.

In the sixth and fifth centuries BC we hear of as many as sixty-two sects in the mid-Gangetic plains. Many of them were based on regional customs and rituals practised by the different peoples living in north-east India. Of these, Jainism and Buddhism were the most important and became the most potent religious reform movements. Their rise is explained by social tensions, economic change and a reaction against both. The Upanishadic reaction inside the Vedic tradition is in Later Vedic Religion, Rituals and Philosophy, but the new movements broke altogether from the Vedic framework.

How Did the Varna Order Create Tension?

Post-Vedic society was clearly divided into four varnas, each with well-defined functions. Though the varna was based on birth, the two higher varnas captured power, prestige and privileges at the cost of the lower. The brahmanas, who were priests and teachers, claimed the highest status and demanded privileges, including receiving gifts and exemption from taxation and punishment. The kshatriyas fought and governed and lived on taxes collected from peasants. The vaishyas were engaged in agriculture, cattle rearing and trade and were the principal taxpayers, but with the two higher varnas they were dvija, the twice-born, entitled to wear the sacred thread and study the Vedas. The shudras served the three higher varnas and, with women, were barred from Vedic studies; they worked as domestic and agricultural slaves, craftsmen and hired labourers, and some were treated as untouchables. The higher the varna, the more privileged the person, and the lower the varna of an offender, the more severe the punishment prescribed.

The kshatriyas, who functioned as rulers, reacted strongly against the ritualistic domination of the brahmanas and seem to have led a kind of protest movement against the importance attached to birth. Vardhamana Mahavira and Gautama Buddha both belonged to kshatriya clans, and both disputed the authority of the brahmanas. This reaction was one cause, but the source holds that the real cause lay elsewhere.

How Did the New Agriculture Matter?

North-east India, including eastern UP and northern and southern Bihar, has about 100 cm of rainfall. Before large-scale colonisation these areas were densely forested and could not be cleared easily without iron axes. Earlier inhabitants used bone, stone and copper implements and lived precariously along lakes, rivers and confluences. Large-scale habitation began from about the sixth century BC, when iron came into use on some scale; a fair number of axes have been found in layers of c. 600 to 500 BC, though few early iron tools survive in the moist soil. Iron tools made clearance, agriculture and large settlements possible. The agricultural economy based on the iron ploughshare required bullocks and could not flourish without animal husbandry. However, the Vedic practice of killing cattle in sacrifices hampered it, and cattle wealth was decimated by numerous sacrifices, while non-Vedic tribal people on the southern and eastern fringes of Magadha also killed cattle for food. If the new agrarian economy was to stabilise, the killing had to stop, and the emphasis on non-violence in Jainism and Buddhism answered this need.

How Did Cities, Coins and Trade Help?

Around 500 BC a large number of cities arose in north-east India: Kaushambi, Kusinagar, Varanasi, Vaishali, Chirand, Taradih near Bodh-Gaya, Pataliputra, Rajgir and Champa. Mahavira and the Buddha were associated with several. Artisans and traders worked in them and used coins for the first time; the earliest coins relate to the fifth century BC and were generally punch-marked, circulating first in eastern UP and Bihar. Coins facilitated trade and raised the importance of the vaishyas, who ranked third in the brahmanical order. They therefore sought a religion that would improve their position, and, besides the kshatriyas, extended generous support to both teachers; the merchants, called setthis, made handsome gifts to the Buddha and his disciples.

The economic background is expanded in Second Urbanisation and Rural Economy in the Age of the Buddha and in Indo-Greeks Gold Kushan dinars Deccan Satavahana lead and potin…">Money Economy and Coinage in Early India.

What Was the Reaction Against Property and Luxury?

There was also a strong reaction against private property. Old-fashioned people disliked the use and accumulation of coins of silver, copper and possibly gold, the new dwellings, clothes and luxurious transport, and war and violence. The new forms of property created social inequalities and misery for ordinary people, who yearned for the ascetic ideal that dispensed with them. Both Jainism and Buddhism propounded simple, ascetic living. Monks were not permitted to touch gold and silver and could accept only as much as was sufficient to keep body and soul together. The source compares this reaction to the yearning for a pre-machine lifestyle after the Industrial Revolution: in ancient times people yearned for a return to the pre-Iron Age style of life.

As an analytical point, the new religions were therefore a response to a transition from a pastoral tribal society to an iron-based agrarian and urban one, and each of the four groups, kshatriyas, vaishyas, peasants and the poor, found something in them. The movements of the period are detailed in Vardhamana Mahavira and Jainism and Gautama Buddha and the Rise of Buddhism, and other sects are in Charvaka…">Ajivikas, Charvakas and Other Heterodox Sects.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Cause-effect question Frequently asked in Prelims and Mains
• Economy and religion Link between iron, cattle and non-violence
• Foundation For Jainism, Buddhism and Mauryan Dhamma

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the life of Mahavira and the origins of Jainism. Next topic: Vardhamana Mahavira and Jainism.

Key People and Terms

• Dvija Twice-born
• Setthi Merchant
• Punch-marked coin Earliest Indian coinage
• Dharmasutra Brahmanical law-book
• Tirthankara Jaina teacher
• Sangha Religious order

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions on this topic ask for causes. These points add depth.

• Social cause Brahmana privilege and kshatriya reaction
• Economic cause Iron, cattle, coins, cities
• Cultural cause Reaction against property