By the mid 1st millennium BC, the Aryan religion of the Vedas (early hymns) had been substantially modified, due to interaction with native Indian beliefs and practices and in line with the needs of an urban and agrarian society very different from the horse-riding pastoral nomads of a thousand years before.
A key element in the developing Hindu religion was the belief in a cycle of rebirths from which ultimate release was sought. Various means were employed to gain this release, of which the practice of austerities (asceticism) was becoming particularly popular.
The caste system was gradually crystallizing -it was founded on the notion of degrees of ritual purity reflecting progress in the cycle of rebirths toward ultimate release and unity with the Absolute.
This was the climate in which a number of reforming religious sects emerged. Jainism, formulated by the 6th century saint, Mahavira, taught that every living thing contained a soul whose goal was ultimate unity with the absolute. Non-violence was consequently much stressed, even the accidental killing of insects being abhorred.
Jainism require 'Three Jewels': right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, the latter tending towards asceticism.
Buddhism, taught by Mahavira's younger contemporary, the Buddha, rejected extremes of asceticism or self-indulgent attachment to material pleasures and advocated the Middle Way between them.
By practising virtues such as right thinking and right action, its followers might attain Nirvana (liberation from the bonds of mortality and unification with the Absolute).
A major and significant difference between Buddhism and other religious sects of the time is that the Buddhists formed a community (Church) consisting of both the Sangha (the monastic community) and lay followers, which united its adherents and developed over the centuries into a powerful economic and political force.
