Ahimsa (, IAST: ahiṃsā, ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Ahimsa is one of the cardinal virtues of Jainism, where it is the first of the Pancha Mahavrata. It is also the first of the five precepts of Buddhism. Ahimsa is a multidimensional concept, inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy; therefore, to hurt another being is to hurt oneself. Ahimsa is also related to the notion that all acts of violence have karmic consequences. While ancient scholars of Brahmanism already investigated and refined the principles of ahimsa, the concept reached an extraordinary development in the ethical philosophy of Jainism. Perhaps the most popular advocate of the principle of ahimsa in modern times was Mahatma Gandhi. Ahimsa's precept that one living being should 'cause no injury' to another living being includes one's deeds, words, and thoughts. Classical Hindu texts like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as well as modern scholars, disagree about what the principles of Ahimsa dictate when one is faced with war and other situations which require self-defence. In this way, historical Indian literature has contributed to modern theories of just war and self-defence. Etymology The word Ahimsa—sometimes spelled Ahinsa—is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs, meaning to strike; hiṃsā is injury or harm, while a-hiṃsā (prefixed with the alpha privative), its opposite, is non-harming or nonviolence. Origins The idea of reverence for ahiṃsā exist in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist canonical texts. Parshvanatha preached ahimsa as one of the four vows in 9th century BCE. No other Indian religion has developed the non-violence doctrine and its implications on everyday life as has Jainism. Hinduism Ancient Vedic texts Ahimsa as an ethical concept evolved in the Vedic texts. The oldest scriptures indirectly mention Ahimsa, but do not emphasize it. Over time, the Hindu scripts revise ritual practices and the concept of Ahimsa is increasingly refined and emphasized, until Ahimsa becomes the highest virtue by the late Vedic era (about 500 BCE). For example, hymn 10.22.25 in the Rig Veda uses the words Satya (truthfulness) and Ahimsa in a prayer to deity Indra; later, the Yajur Veda dated to be between 1000 BCE and 600 BCE, states, "may all beings look at me with a friendly eye, may I do