3) Compare Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. How were these religions influenced by India's social structure?
Although there are similarities to Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, they are more different than they are alike. The three most popular religions in India in the early 5th century B.C.E., and arguably still very popular in the region today, all have ties to the early Brahmanic religion that they were formed from and in some cases attempted to separate themselves from 1.
Starting with Jainism, is a religion that was at its roots was an attempt to establish a new religion that went against or separated itself from the original Brahmanic religion. It came to life similar to the way Buddhism did by way of a person leaving their comfy life in search of religious freedom and investigation. One of the biggest points that Jainism established was that everything in the universe has a soul, even inanimate objects such as rocks and furniture have souls and that everything should be respected in that respect. Many of the earlier followers took such extremes that they did not eat anything, being that would destroy a life, and starved themselves to death. All of this was off of a premise called Karma. In summary, Karma is the fact that every action has a reaction, be that negative or positive depending on the person’s actions. In comparison, Jainism is not a huge religion such as Buddhism and Hinduism but still has a few million followers today and even was influential in the legendary teachings of Gandhi 2.
Buddhism is another religion that at its origin, was intended to go against the old Brahmanic religion. Also like Jainism found its creation from another person that left home and their comforts in search of enlightenment and religious investigation. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, Buddhism spread throughout India and to the east via trade