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XIX. On the Jainas of Gujerat and Máŕwáŕ.—Part I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
Extract
The following extract from a Persian work, entitled the Mirát i Ahmadí, part of which is devoted to a description of the religion and customs of the Jainas, appearing to me a compendious (although in some points a rather inaccurate) account of that people, I have taken the liberty to prefix it, by way of introduction, to my own paper.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , July 1833 , pp. 335 - 371
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1833
References
* It is more probable that his ancestors were Rájpúts, as he himself was a Vanya.
* Omnia mutantur nihil interit, errat et illinc hue venit hinc illuc, &c.
† These will be more fully explained hereafter by an extract from a Jaina work treating of the Śaríras, senses and properties of the different orders of beings, and their transmigrations.
* 1. Jńyanavarańíya carma.
2. Móhaníya do.
3. Darśanavarańíya do.
4. Antaráya do.
5. Védaníya carma.
6. A'yu do.
7. Náma do.
8. Gótra do.
* Husbandry, commerce, and war.
* Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 287.Google Scholar
* I have frequently beard the following legend of this event in Gujerat. While Cumára Pála, who was a Jaina, was Rájá of Pattan, Sancara A'chárya arrived at that city, and a dispute arose between the Jainas and his followers, respecting the first and last day of the month—the Jainas maintaining it was the first, and the Bráhmans that it was the last day. The former being in the wrong, by the assistance of some mantra, or incantatìon, addressed to the Déva Cálka, produced a false moon that night. Sancara A'chárya, however (say the Bráhmans), detected the imposition, and to punish their disingenuousness, a few days afterwards, on visiting Cumára Pála, he told him he came to warn him that the sea would that day break through its bounds and destroy the city, but that when it should rise as high as the battlements of his palace, a boat would arrive, and that those who got into it would be saved, but the rest of the population would be drowned. The Rájá, alarmed at this prediction, assembled all his játis and priests, and they seated themselves with him on the roof of his palace, in expectation of the sea and the boat. At the appointed time a storm arose, and the sea appeared gradually to approach, and at length arrived, rolling-its waves furiously over the city. The boat, as foretold, now came in sight, and on its arrival at the palace the Jaina priests, eager to save themselves, immediately jumped into it, as they thought; but the whole being a mere delusion, they were all dashed to pieces at the foot of the palace-wall.
* The reason of this is stated to be, that the memories of the priests in that degenerate age became gradually impaired, and they were apprehensive lest the principles of their religion should be forgotten and lost.
† Similar to the customs of the Druids.
* The sanctity of Samdtsie'hor, as well as Girnar and Pali-t'hanna, &c. arises from their having been the mountains on which the deification of their Tírt'hancaras, Adnát'ha, Nímnát'ha, &c. occurred.
* The word Jaina is a regular derivative from Jina; in the same manner as Baudd'ha is from Budd'ha—G. C. H.
† It is singular that the large figure of Rishab'hadévá, at Satrunjaya or Páli-t'hanna, is called by the Śrávacas A'di-Budd'ha, or the first Budd'ha.
‡ The Sád'hwí and Śrávacá are the females of those classes.
* It is worthy of remark, that the Jainas of this part of the country universally acknowledge their derivation from the Hindús; and as a further proof of their origin, it is to be observed that their marriage ceremonies are to this day performed by a Bráhman, styled the Nát Guru, or priest of the tribe.
* Tradition records that the dominion of this tribe extended from Sinde to Málwa previous to the Musalmán invasion. Chandravatí, a city in ruins near the Abú mountain, appears to have been their capital on this side of India.
* I have not been able to discover the reason of this change of tribe.
* The Cáladéví of this tribe is said, consistently enough, to be Maha' Lacshmí.
‡ This, however, seems doubtful, from the statement given in the Mírát i Ahmadi.
* From what I can learn, there is no prohibition in the sacred books of the Jainas to the contraction of second marriages by their females, indeed the contrary seems most probable, as their first god A'dinát'ha Or Rishab'hadéva married a widow.
The women of inferior tribes among the Jainas, almost universally, on the demise of their first husbands, marry a second time; the Vanya women do not (there are, however, exceptions) merely, I believe, because such engagements are considered degrading by the higher classes in this country; it is remarkable that in this opinion they are followed by many of the Mubammedans. The custom of forbidding second marriages to women is said by the Jainas to have taken its rise among them in the time of Vicrama'ditya.
* Mahávíra had eleven Gand'hurs or disciples; of these eight formed Guchch'has or sects, the remaining three united in one.
* See the History of Mahávíra, in the Asiatic Researches.
† SeeMrColebrooke's, paper on the Jainas, Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 300.Google Scholar
* This is called the end of the Chowmása, and is common to all Jainas.
* This prince, originally the Thácur of Dát'hally, a village near Pattan, built the Jaina temple at Tárangá, as appears from the inscription on it.
† The separation of this sect took place in the time of Bhadra Báhú, the eighth Áchárya from Mahávíra; at that period it is related twelve successive years of famine occurred, and the Jainas were in consequence dispersed; those who migrated eastward became Digambaras, and those westward Śwétámbaras.
* It will be evident that the designations of these guchch'has, as well as those of the náts or tribes, being quite popular, are not capable of being restored o Sanscrit forms.—G.C.H.