THE OTHER Indian religions like Buddhism and Jainism had some impact among the Malayalee Hindus, with the Aryan migration to the south and the dissemination of their religious ideology.

Buddhism

It is well known that Gautama Buddha or Siddharta, is the founder of this religion. The concept of Buddhism is based on the doctrine that desire is the root cause for all sorrow and suffering.So one should give up desire to relieve oneself from the worldly sufferings.

It also preaches the highest principles of truth, ahimsa and non-injury to other living beings.

The two schools of thought are the Hinayana (the Lesser Vehicle) and the Mahayana (the Great Vehicle). Those belonging to the Mahayana school strictly followed the Buddhapitaka, or the teachings of Buddha.

It contains the Sutras (Discourses) and Vinayas (Rules). A number of alterations and interpretations were made to the original canon, with its dissemination to different places.

Jainism

According to Jain philosophy, all Tirthankaras (one who establishes the four fold order of religion) were born as human beings but they have attained a state of perfection or enlightenment through meditation and self-realisation. They are also known as Jinas or Arihants, the one who conquers greed, anger, passion, ego, etc.

Lord Mahavira was the twenty-fourth Tirthankara of the Jains. He preached that right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct together would help attain perfect knowledge, bliss or liberation.

For right conduct he mentioned the five great vows, non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity and non-possession. Jainism spread to Kerala with the inflow of people from north India for trade and commerce.