82
HISTORY OF INDIA.
[Book 3V.
AD.
Nature of worsliip jf the Jaius.
Their prac- tice as to caste.
Their par- tial respect fortheVedas
by reserving their divine honours for deified saints. In this respect their system is peculiar. These saints, who by practices of self-denial and mortification, acquire a station superior to that of the gods, are called Tirtankeras. Their aggregate number cannot be defined, but they are conceived to rule for a certain period only, and in classes, each of which consists of twenty-four individuals. There are thus twenty-four who presided over the past period or age, twenty- four actually presiding over the present, and twenty-four who are destined to preside over the future. The whole seventy-two are enumerated by name, but those only presiding over the present attract much attention. Even among them, for some reason not well explained, a choice has been made ; and in Hin- doostan, the worship of the Jains is confined almost exclusively to Parswanath, the twenty-third, and Mahavira, the twenty-fourth, on the list of present Tir- tankeras. The statues of all, however, sometimes of colossal size, and usually of white or black marble, are placed in the temples, and receive such adoration as the Jains are disposed to bestow. This is very meagre ; for while the Yatis or devotees dispense with outward acts of worship at pleasure, the lay votaries are only bound daily to visit a temple in which Tirtankeras are placed, walk round it three times, accompany an obeisance to the images with some trifling offering, and repeat some short form of prayer or salutation.
In regard to caste, the Jains act inconsistently. They have no hereditary priesthood, and leave it accessible to men of every class; but their members have distinctions among themselves, which, though they have not the name, are castes in efi*ect, since the members of these difl*erent divisions avoid intermar- riages and other intercourse with each other. Moreover, in the south and west of India, the distinction of caste is in full operation among them, in the same manner as among other Hindoos ; and even in the north-east, it is not so much abolished as in abeyance. This is proved by the fact, that a Jain becoming a convert to Tlindooism takes his place in one of the castes, as if he had always belonged to it. This necessarily implies that he must all along have retained proofs of his descent.
The point which must have brought both Buddhists and Jains into most direct collision with the Brahmins, is their rejection of the authority of the Vedas, and of their fundamental doctrines in regard to worship. The rejection of the Bud- dhists is absolute, admitting of no compromise; but the Jains, according to their usual mode of proceeding, have taken an intermediate course. In so far as their tenets are countenanced by the Vedas, they readily avail themselves of their support, and appeal to them as if they were of infiillible authority ; but the moment a competition arises between the doctrines of the Vedas and their own practices, and either the one or the other must be abandoned, they have no dif- ficulty in making their choice. For instance, the oblations by fire, which form so important a portion of the regular Hindoo ritual, are regarded by the Jains as an abomination, both because they are often the prelude to bloody sacrifices,
II
