DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0509
THE JINAS. 487
books, by which it is guided in establishing its precepts and rules."
" In their observances and religious exercises they follow almost
entirely the rule of the Sramanas" (Buddhists). "The statue of.
their divine master, by a sort of usurpation, resembles that of
Buddha, it only differs in costume; its marks of beauty are exactly
the same."1
All this holds perfectly true of the Jains, whose leading doctrines
are:—the denial of the authority of the Vedas, reverence for the
Jinas, who by their austerities acquired a position superior even to
that of the Hindu gods, to whom the sect pays a qualified reverence;
and the most extreme tenderness of animal life, which they do not
distinguish from " soul," and believe to be one in gods, men, brutes,
and demons, only in different stages according to its merits acquired
in previous states of existence. Through the annihilation of virtue
and vice it attains nirvana. The moral obligations of the Jains are
summed up in five great commands almost identical with the pdncha
®k of the Buddhists, care not to injure life, truth, honesty, chastity,
and the suppression of worldly desires. They enumerate four merits
or dhwrmas, liberality, gentleness, piety, and penance; and three
forms of restraint, government of the mind, the tongue, and the
person. Their minor obligations are in many cases frivolous,
such as not to deal in soap, natron, indigo, and iron ; not to eat in
the open air after it begins to rain, nor in the dark, lest an insect
should be swallowed; not to leave a liquid uncovered, lest one should
be drowned; to keep out of the way of the wind, lest it should blow
an insect into the mouth; water to be thrice strained for the same
Purpose before it is drunk, and the like.2
The proper objects of worship are the Jinas or Tirthahkaras, but,
«ke the Buddhists, they allow the existence of the Hindu gods, and
"ave admitted into their worship such of them as they have connected
^rith the tales of their saints, such as Indra or Sakra, Graruda, Isana,
,jllkra, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and even Bhavani, Hanuman, Bhairava,
aiia Gafiesa, besides which they have a pantheon of Bhuvanapatis,
suras, Nagas, Rakshasas, Gandharvas, &c. inhabiting celestial and
1 ernal regions, mountains, forests, and lower air.
ach Tirthahkara is recognisable by a cognizance or cMriha,
1 Mem., t. i. pp. 163, 164 ; conf. 2nd. Ant., vol. ii. p. 16.
2 See 2nd. Ant., vol. ii. p. 17; Kalpa Sutra, and Nava Tattva.
books, by which it is guided in establishing its precepts and rules."
" In their observances and religious exercises they follow almost
entirely the rule of the Sramanas" (Buddhists). "The statue of.
their divine master, by a sort of usurpation, resembles that of
Buddha, it only differs in costume; its marks of beauty are exactly
the same."1
All this holds perfectly true of the Jains, whose leading doctrines
are:—the denial of the authority of the Vedas, reverence for the
Jinas, who by their austerities acquired a position superior even to
that of the Hindu gods, to whom the sect pays a qualified reverence;
and the most extreme tenderness of animal life, which they do not
distinguish from " soul," and believe to be one in gods, men, brutes,
and demons, only in different stages according to its merits acquired
in previous states of existence. Through the annihilation of virtue
and vice it attains nirvana. The moral obligations of the Jains are
summed up in five great commands almost identical with the pdncha
®k of the Buddhists, care not to injure life, truth, honesty, chastity,
and the suppression of worldly desires. They enumerate four merits
or dhwrmas, liberality, gentleness, piety, and penance; and three
forms of restraint, government of the mind, the tongue, and the
person. Their minor obligations are in many cases frivolous,
such as not to deal in soap, natron, indigo, and iron ; not to eat in
the open air after it begins to rain, nor in the dark, lest an insect
should be swallowed; not to leave a liquid uncovered, lest one should
be drowned; to keep out of the way of the wind, lest it should blow
an insect into the mouth; water to be thrice strained for the same
Purpose before it is drunk, and the like.2
The proper objects of worship are the Jinas or Tirthahkaras, but,
«ke the Buddhists, they allow the existence of the Hindu gods, and
"ave admitted into their worship such of them as they have connected
^rith the tales of their saints, such as Indra or Sakra, Graruda, Isana,
,jllkra, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and even Bhavani, Hanuman, Bhairava,
aiia Gafiesa, besides which they have a pantheon of Bhuvanapatis,
suras, Nagas, Rakshasas, Gandharvas, &c. inhabiting celestial and
1 ernal regions, mountains, forests, and lower air.
ach Tirthahkara is recognisable by a cognizance or cMriha,
1 Mem., t. i. pp. 163, 164 ; conf. 2nd. Ant., vol. ii. p. 16.
2 See 2nd. Ant., vol. ii. p. 17; Kalpa Sutra, and Nava Tattva.