Editing Ahimsa (section)

===Ancient Vedic texts===
{{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} as an ethical concept evolved in the Vedic texts.<ref name=chapple1990/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Walli |first1=Koshelya |title=The Conception Of Ahimsa In Indian Thought |date=1974 |publisher=Bharat Manisha |location=Varanasi, India |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.546899/page/n1/mode/2up |ref={{sfnref|Walli}}|pages=113–145}}</ref> The oldest scriptures indirectly mention {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}}. Over time, the Hindu scripts revised ritual practices, and the concept of {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} was increasingly refined and emphasized until {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} became the highest virtue by the late Vedic era (about {{BCE|1000-600}}). For example, hymn 10.22.25 in the [[Rig Veda]] uses the words {{transliteration|sa|[[Satya]]}} (truthfulness) and {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} in a prayer to deity Indra;<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite web|url=http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.२२|title=Rigveda 10.22|quote={{lang|sa|अस्मे ता त इन्द्र सन्तु '''सत्याहिंस'''न्तीरुपस्पृशः । विद्याम यासां भुजो धेनूनां न वज्रिवः ॥१३॥}}}}
|2={{harvnb|Tähtinen|1964}}{{page needed|date=July 2023}}
|3=For another occurrence of {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} in Rigveda, see {{cite web|url=http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_५.६४|title=Rigveda 5.64.3}} and {{cite web|url=http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१.१४१|title=Rigveda 1.141.5}}
}}</ref> later, the [[Yajurveda|Yajur Veda]] dated to be between {{BCE|1200}} and {{BCE|900}}, states, "may all beings look at me with a friendly eye, may I do likewise, and may we look at each other with the eyes of a friend".<ref name=chapple1990/><ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book | title= Vishayasuchi -see the translation for Yajurveda 36.18 VE|chapter-url=http://ebooks.gutenberg.us/himalayanacademy/sacredhinduliterature/lws/lws_ch-39.html|chapter=Himsa na Kartavya: To do no harm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017133837/http://ebooks.gutenberg.us/himalayanacademy/sacredhinduliterature/lws/lws_ch-39.html |archive-date=17 October 2013}}
|2=For other occurrences of {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} in Vedic literature, see {{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/vedicconcordance00bloouoft/page/151/mode/1up?view=theater 151]|title=A Vedic Concordance|author-link=Maurice Bloomfield|first=Maurice|last=Bloomfield|date=1906|location=Cambridge, Mass.|publisher=Harvard University Press|series=Harvard Oriental Series|volume=10}}
}}</ref>{{sfn|Talageri|2000}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}{{sfn|Talageri|2010}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}

The term {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} appears in the text [[Taittiriya Shakha]] of the [[Yajurveda]] (TS 5.2.8.7), where it refers to non-injury to the sacrificer himself.{{sfn|Tähtinen|1964|p=2}} It occurs several times in the ''[[Shatapatha Brahmana]]'' in the sense of "non-injury".<ref>Shatapatha Brahmana 2.3.4.30; 2.5.1.14; 6.3.1.26; 6.3.1.39.</ref> The {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} doctrine is a late Vedic era development in Brahmanical culture.<ref name="houben 1999">{{cite book | first=Henk M.|last=Bodewitz|editor-last1=Houben | editor-first1=Jan E. M. | editor-last2=Kooij | editor-first2=Karel Rijk van | title=Violence Denied: violence, non-violence and the rationalization of violence in "South Asian" cultural history | publisher=BRILL | date=1999 | isbn=978-90-04-11344-2 | page=30}}</ref> The earliest reference to the idea of non-violence to animals ({{transliteration|sa|pashu-Ahimsa}}), apparently in a moral sense, is in the Kapisthala Katha Samhita of the Yajurveda (KapS 31.11), which may have been written in about {{BCE|1500-1200}}.{{sfn|Tähtinen|1964|pp=2–3}}{{sfn|Talageri|2000}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}{{sfn|Talageri|2010}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}} The [[Chandogya Upanishad]] (3.17.4) includes ahimsa in its list of virtues.<ref name="VD">{{Cite book |last1=van Kooij |first1=K.R. |last2=Houben |first2=Jan E.M. |year=1999 |title=Violence denied: Violence, non-violence and the rationalization of violence in South Asian cultural history |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, NL |pages=117, 123, 129, 164, 212, 269 |isbn=90-04-11344-4}}</ref>

John Bowker states the word appears but is uncommon in the principal Upanishads.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bowker | first=John | title=Problems of Suffering in Religions of the World | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=10 April 1975 | isbn=978-0-521-09903-5 | page=233}}</ref> Kaneda gives examples of the word {{transliteration|sa|pashu-Ahimsa}} in these Upanishads.<ref name=kaneda2008>{{cite book | last=Kaneda|first=T.|chapter=Shanti, the peacefulness of mind| editor-last=Eppert | editor-first=Claudia | editor-last2=Wang | editor-first2=Hongyu | title=Cross-cultural Studies in Curriculum: Eastern thought, educational insights | publisher=Routledge | date=2008 | isbn=978-0-8058-5673-6 | pages=171–192}}</ref> Other scholars<ref name="arapura"/><ref name=Izawa /> suggest {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} as an ethical concept started evolving in the Vedas, becoming an increasingly central concept in Upanishads.

The [[Chāndogya Upaniṣad]], dated to {{BCE|800 to 600}}, one of the oldest [[Upanishads]], has the earliest evidence for the [[Vedas|Vedic era]] use of the word {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} in the sense familiar in Hinduism (a code of conduct). It bars violence against "all creatures" ({{transliteration|sa|sarvabhuta}}), and the practitioner of {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} is said to escape from the cycle of [[Reincarnation|rebirths]] (CU 8.15.1).{{sfn|Tähtinen|1964|pp=2–5}}<ref>English translation: {{harvnb|Schmidt|1968|p=631}}</ref> Some scholars state that this mention may have been an influence of Jainism on Vedic Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book |first1=M.K|last1=Sridhar|first2=Puruṣottama|last2=Bilimoria|editor-last=Bilimoria | editor-first=Purusottama | editor-last2=Prabhu | editor-first2=Joseph | editor-last3=Sharma | editor-first3=Renuka M. | title=Indian Ethics: Classical traditions and contemporary challenges | publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. | date=2007 | isbn=978-0-7546-3301-3|page=315}}</ref> Others scholar state that this relationship is speculative, and though Jainism is an ancient tradition the oldest traceable texts of Jainism tradition are from many centuries after the Vedic era ended.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jeffery D.|last=Long|title=Jainism: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmRlAgAAQBAJ|year=2009|publisher=I. B. Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-625-5|pages=31–33}}</ref>{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=22–24, 73–83}}

Chāndogya Upaniṣad also names {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}}, along with {{transliteration|sa|Satyavacanam}} (truthfulness), {{transliteration|sa|Ārjavam}} (sincerity), {{transliteration|sa|[[Dāna]]m}} (charity), and {{transliteration|sa|[[Tapas (Indian religions)|Tapo]]}} (penance/meditation), as one of five essential virtues (CU 3.17.4).<ref name=arapura/><ref>Ravindra Kumar (2008), Non-violence and Its Philosophy, {{ISBN|978-81-7933-159-0}}, see pages 11–14</ref>

The Sandilya [[Upanishad]] lists ten forbearances: {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}}, {{transliteration|sa|Satya}}, {{transliteration|sa|Asteya}}, {{transliteration|sa|Brahmacharya}}, {{transliteration|sa|Daya}}, {{transliteration|sa|Arjava}}, {{transliteration|sa|Kshama}}, {{transliteration|sa|Dhriti}}, {{transliteration|sa|Mitahara}}, and {{transliteration|sa|Saucha}}.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|last=Swami|first=P.|year=2000|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upaniṣads|volume=3 (S–Z)|publisher=Sarup & Sons|pages= 630–631}}
|2={{cite book|last1=Ballantyne|first1=J.R.|last2=Yogīndra|first2=S.|year=1850|title=A Lecture on the Vedánta: Embracing the Text of the Vedánta-sára|publisher=Presbyterian mission press}}
}}</ref> According to Kaneda,<ref name=kaneda2008/> the term {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}} is an important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It means 'non-injury' and 'non-killing'. It implies the total avoidance of harming any living creature by deeds, words, and thoughts.