World Religions › The Axial Age › Jainism
Ahimsa: non-violence
Central from c. 500 BC· Belief or practice· Hindu, Buddhist, Jain & Sikh
Mostly agreed by scholarsMost historians agree; some details uncertain.
Ahimsa, Sanskrit for 'non-harming', is the principle of not injuring any living being, central to Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
The idea appears in the Upanishads, but Jains made it the first and greatest vow. Jain monks sweep their path and some cover their mouths to avoid harming tiny creatures; lay Jains are strict vegetarians, and many also avoid root vegetables. Buddhism makes not killing its first precept. Hindu texts praise ahimsa as the highest dharma, though they also allow just war and, in some traditions, animal sacrifice.
Why it matters
It shaped India's vegetarian traditions and, through Gandhi, became the model for nonviolent resistance later used by Martin Luther King Jr. and others.
Sources and history
The Chandogya Upanishad (about 600 BC), the Jain Acharanga Sutra, the Buddhist precepts, and Ashoka's edicts restricting animal killing in the 200s BC.
Questions and debates
Whether ahimsa began among the Jain and Buddhist renouncers or inside Vedic Brahmin circles is debated.
Connections (3)
▸Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty promoted Ahimsa: non-violenceMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
After the Kalinga war, Ashoka's edicts preached restraint and non-harm. He cut animal slaughter in the royal kitchens, banned killing certain species, replaced royal hunts with pilgrimages, and urged 'abstention from killing living beings'. He still kept his army, and warned forest peoples he could still punish them.
When and where
Across the Maurya Empire, about 260–232 BC, in rock and pillar edicts from Afghanistan to Karnataka.
How do we know?
The edicts survive in stone, in his own words: Rock Edict I restricts animal sacrifice and the palace kitchen's killing; Pillar Edict V lists protected animals.
Questions and debates
Whether his ahimsa came from Buddhism, Jain influence or statecraft is debated; Jains remember his grandson Samprati as a great patron.
▸Mahavira taught strict Ahimsa: non-violenceMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Jain teaching holds that souls (jiva) exist in humans, animals, plants and even earth, water and fire, and that harming any of them binds karma to one's own soul. Mahavira made non-harming the first of five great vows and practiced it to the extreme: walking carefully, eating only what was offered and, Jain sources say, eventually giving up clothing.
When and where
Bihar and the Ganges plain, about 500 BC; Jain monks and nuns still take the five great vows (mahavratas) today.
How do we know?
The Acharanga Sutra, among the oldest Jain texts, sets out these rules; Buddhist texts note Jain ascetics' extreme care for living things.
Questions and debates
Whether strict ahimsa began with Mahavira or with his predecessor Parshva, about 250 years earlier, is debated; Parshva's existence is likely but unproven.
▸Mahatma Gandhi built his politics on Ahimsa: non-violenceHistorical record
The connection
Gandhi took ahimsa, the Jain, Hindu and Buddhist ideal of not harming living beings, and made it a political method. His satyagraha campaigns relied on disciplined non-violence: accepting arrest and beatings without striking back, to shame opponents and win public sympathy. He also lived it personally, as a strict vegetarian.
When and where
South Africa from 1906, then India from 1915, through campaigns like the 1930 Salt March; shaped by his Jain-influenced Gujarati upbringing and the Jain thinker Shrimad Rajchandra.
Historical evidence
Gandhi's autobiography and writings credit ahimsa, his Jain mentor Rajchandra and the Gita; his campaigns' rules made non-violence a strict condition.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate whether his ahimsa was mainly religious conviction or strategy, and whether non-violence alone could have ended British rule.