Heterodox traditions
Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"
Meaning
Heterodox traditions were schools of thought that did not accept the authority of the Vedas. They arose in the Ganga valley from c. the sixth century BCE, when new kingdoms and cities were changing people's lives. The best known are Buddhism and Jainism. The Ājīvikas and the Lokāyatas were also part of this group. These teachers stressed individual agency, meaning a person's own effort. They taught that both men and women could work for liberation, which means freedom from the cycle of birth and death. This went against the Brahmanical view that a person's life was fixed by the caste or gender they were born into.
Example
Buddhist texts mention as many as 64 sects, or schools of thought. Their teachers travelled from place to place and debated with each other. Mahāvīra (born near Vaiśhālī in present-day Bihar) and Gautama Buddha were the most famous of these teachers. Both rejected Vedic sacrifice as the path to liberation.
Don't confuse with
- Upaniṣhadic thought: the Upaniṣhads also asked new questions about life, death and rebirth, but they stayed within the Vedic tradition. Heterodox schools rejected Vedic authority altogether.