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XXIII. On the Sráwacs or Jains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2009

James Delamaine
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From what I can collect regarding the Sráwacs, or laity of the Jains, they appear to be the only considerable remnant in India of the earlier Jains, or Arhatas. They follow principally the trade of Banyas, dealing in grain; and as Sráwac Banyas, necessarily adhere to the Jain laws: but as their particular calling seems to have required rules for their guidance, much of the twelve vratas refers to their commercial transactions, as connected with moral duties. I do not think these vratas formed a part of the older Jain institutes at all; nor could such a code be brought to apply to any except the subordinate tribes, it being quite unsuitable to any purpose of government.

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Papers Read Before the Society
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Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland , Volume 1 , January 1827 , pp. 413 - 438
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1827

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References

page 413 note * Major D. writes the word Brits. I have corrected the orthography here, as throughout the present communication, to adapt it to the system followed in the orthography of Indian words in the Asiatic Researches, and in the Transactions of this Society. The term is Vrata, a vow. It is an obligation superadded to a religious or moral one. See further on.—H. T. C.

page 413 note † That the Sráwacs, or the more early Jains, had princes and sway, there is abundant proof.

page 414 note * Probably the same with the C'handéwáls. As. Res. ix, 291.—H. T. C.Google Scholar

page 414 note † Noticed, too, in Sir John Malcolm's report.

page 414 note ‡ Belligola, according to Major Mackenzie.

page 414 note ‖ He seems to be a noted person in the Sráwac annals. His name appears again in other traditions as living in Samvat 749: one, or perhaps both, wrong.—J. D.

He is named in the list of Gurus of Belligola. As. Res. ix, 265.—H. T. C.Google Scholar

page 415 note * The Swétámbar Jains appear now to be the prevalent sect; and although both the sitting and standing figures were represented by them, the former seems now to have obtained general usage.

page 417 note * I conceive this to be a legend relating to the drought mentioned (vol. ix. p. 128, As. Res.) as having occurred in Málwa, in the reign of Vicramáditya, when there had been no rain for twelve years.

page 417 note † This numerous body may probably have formed some of the excavations which still exist.

page 418 note * Vídéhí-cshétra, same with Vidéha-varsha, As. Res. v. ix, p. 320—H. T. C.Google Scholar

page 418 note † No such Tírt'hancara is among the twenty-four Jinas. They appear to have been changed frequently: the sect of Ra'ma-sén even made new Tírt'hancaras. However, in this narrative a different name is requisite, as there are three distinct sets of Jinas, consisting of twenty-four each, in three different cshétra or abodes of the deity.

page 418 note ‡ I imagine there is in this some allusion to Muhammed, and perhaps to Mekka or Medina. Muhammed, (As. Res. v. ix, p. 118 and 143) is called Mahábhat, and made an antagonist of Vicram. See also in p. 123 what relates to the Mahábhatádicas, &c. and p. 38, where Muhabidés khetr is again mentioned. And there seems some affinity between Subáhu (p. 123) a companion of Muhammed, and Suvarnabáhu, a form of Párswanáth as Marabhúti. Muhammed, in the same page, is called a grandson of a King of India.Google Scholar

page 419 note * The Buddha vilása, however, is written by a Digambar Yatí.

page 419 note † Mr. Ward says there are five sects of Jains. This limited number can, however, only apply to a confined circle.

page 420 note * It is odd that this should be prohibited in the vratas, when the figures of their saints are almost invariably represented with long drops or rings to the ears, appearing frequently like an elongation of the ear. But I have observed several in which the ear has been represented perfect, and the ring distinct.

page 424 note * Several fabulous trees are mentioned by Wilford, (As. Res., vol. xi, p. 149, &c.), which “sprang up at the birth of Jina or Buddha.” Vishnu resided among them; hence the sacred trees of the east, and perhaps of the Druids, &c. in the west.Google Scholar

page 425 note * I know not where this mountain is, but it seems to be the same which was mentioned before as the abode of the dévís, and sacred to them.

page 425 note † So called in the Islamabad inscription.

page 425 note ‡ CAPILA, too, the Sànc'hya writer, is considered a different person from the Capila mediately descended from Menu. AS every celebrated person, however, was enrolled in the list of avatáras, which are innumerable, the discrimination may not be easy or decisive.

page 426 note * Arhat, and Arhanta, derivatives from arh, to worship, are synonymous in the sense of venerable.— H. T. C.

page 426 note † That supposition rests upon the surmise, that the history of Rĭshabha and the other deified saints anterior to Párswanát'ha, is mere fable. It is vain to look for any foundation in truth for the monstrous absurdities related of them, their more than gigantic stature, prodigious duration of life, &c. There is a nearer approach to sober history and credible chronology, amid much which is silly, in the account of Párswanát'ha. He lived to the age of one hundred years; his predecessor to one thousand. He flourished 1230 years before the date of the work which gives an account of him and of his successor; his predecessor more than eighty thousand years earlier.—H. T. C.

page 426 note ‡ Whoever in the tíntalá may be the large central idols in the second and third stories, now called Ráma and Lacshmana, similar emblems are placed at the feet of images in the northern caves. They appear to be some animal triumphing over a prostrate man, evincing connection between what is sometimes distinguished as Buddhist and Jain.

The circular hollows before several images in the tíntalá and elsewhere, I was given to understand, were receptacles for collecting the offerings of grain which the Jains sprinkle in the form of Swastica, the emblem of SUPÁRSWA, , As. Res. ix, 306. I take the figures at the pedestals above-mentioned to be representations of the chief events in the history of the images, in the same manner that we see them inscribed in the mythological pieces in Kenera before alluded to. By these the particular form of the god will be known.Google Scholar

page 427 note * Some say there were two Párswanát'has, but I have learned no particulars to confirm this assertion; this may be the second.

page 427 note † Under these circumstances of change, we need not be surprised at finding difficulty in recognizing the gods of Ellora, &c.

page 427 note ‡ Párswanát'ha passed through ten mortal forms before he was finally translated to heaven, and under each metamorphosis he found a foe. So Vishnu had his ten incarnations and his enemies. Buddha (but which Buddha we are left to imagine) had, according to Mr. Ward, the same number, and is sometimes surrounded by a hydra.

MajorWilford, (As. Res., vol. xi, p. 59) says Buddha is Vishnu. The same writer quotes also from a Jain work, that Sáliváhan is a form of Jina.Google Scholar

page 428 note * The detail does not exactly agree with the above ten forms, which accounts, perhaps, for its not corresponding in every respect with the Salsette figures before noticed.

page 428 note † I suppose this is the same Bhadra-bahu who led the Yatís to the Dakhin and died there, and who interpreted the dreams of Chandragupta.

page 428 note ‡ These marriages do not savour of Jain celibacy; but all the allusions are brahminical, excepting in the last form.

page 428 note § I was struck on looking over Mr. Salt's representations of figures at the Kenera caves, (in Bomb. Trans, vol. I.) with the resemblance between these metamorphoses and the groupes represented there. I allude to the figure, p. 49, with the small mythological pieces on each side. In these the position of Camita casting the rock on his brother's head is very exactly represented; and I think the forms of the Sinha, snake, or dragon, and the Raksha and Gaja attacking the Sádhus, may be as distinctly traced. The third figure that constantly hovers near I can make nothing of, but a guardian angel. Time and circumstance will account for some little variations; but I can only conclude, that those representations and this narrative refer to the same persons and events. Mr. Salt calls the figure Vishnu.

page 429 note * Perhaps a compound of Girgit, a lizard, and mar, a snake. Persian words are also used in treating of the carmas.

page 429 note † Major Wilford speaks of Guzo Busaty, the Japanese Buddha, as derived from Gaja Vasishta, or he who resides in the body of an elephant: And Gaja Vasishta is mentioned in As. Res. (vol. x, p. 96)Google Scholar as the last of the ten incarnations of Buddha A Jain tract, too, (As. Res. vol. ix, p. 143) mentions that Jina in his last incarnation as Gautama, appeared in the shape of a white elephant. We see the same tradition throughout, somewhat diversified.Google Scholar

page 429 note ‡ As Surábhiman, I conclude, the fifth form.

page 429 note ‖ The country before noticed.

page 430 note * Suranábhi succeeds Vajranábhi in the list: perhaps the saint he personified bore that name.

page 430 note † This corresponds with the eighth form, as Chacravarti. The title appears, however, more applicable to the next.

page 430 note ‡ This is a very convenient mode of adopting any great man as one's own: it is easy to put a soul into him.

page 430 note ‖ This seems to be the favourite situation of saints of yore, and probably their abode suggested the idea of perpetuating the same by sculptured excavations. Thus, when their size admits of it, they are represented generally in caves, or as under some sacred tree.

page 430 note § The Téme Játa, a Burman history of one of the incarnations of Buddha, says a Bódhisatwa was incarnate in the womb of CHandra dévá, queen of a Rájá of Benares. (Ward.)

page 430 note ¶ This reminds me of the curious Saxon female idol, described in the Universal History as found among seven others at Montmarillon in Poitou. She has two shakes entwined round her legs and loins, exactly in the same manner that Párswanát'ha is represented with Dharanidhara and Pádmavatí twisted about him. Of this Saxon idol nothing seems to be known, so they set her down as the moon; and the name of Chandra, above, is very ápropos for them. The twigs already mentioned as represented in the same way at Ellora, Belligola, &c. are, I imagine, emblematical of the Asóca tree, stated to be peculiar to Arhant. Gómat rájá was worshipped as Arhanta or Jinéswara.

page 431 note * Much in the same manner was the birth of Gautama occasioned, and in ten months also (As. Res. vol. x, p. 254)Google Scholar; and Sácya, according to the Islamabad inscription, required a gestation of ten months and ten days. Sácya is there identified with BuddhaAvatára, as being a form of him. The mother of Sáliváhan also became pregnant, by the great serpent's gliding over her (As. Res. vol. x, p. 40). Some make twelve years the period of pregnancy.Google Scholar

All accounts concur in the supernatural conception, by the side, of Buddha the son of Suddhódena, or GautamaSácya; and, ad libitum, of all those whom it maybe an object to identify with him.

page 431 note † This, applied to Páaswanát'ha, under his present form, appears to be figurative, as he did not aspire to dominion. Vishnu, however, was a Chacravartí, and the title seems to relate to the combined dominion of priest and king, as with the ancient Persian monarchs, who held the same emblem, the Chacra. All these saints are made out to be Rájás or kings. The last, however, Mahávira, according to Mr. Colebrooke, is acknowledged to have been the offspring of an indigent Brahman, though the transfer to a prince's family has been considered necessary for effect; and Bhadra-báhu (before mentioned) predicted wisely, in the interpretation of the dream of the broken celestial tree (calpa vricsha), “that saints would no longer be kings.”

page 432 note * Sáliváhan too, at five years of age, defeated his teachers in discussion, and used to play with snakes. (Wilford.)

page 432 note † The Jains, I am informed, do not hold rivers sacred, nor have they tírt'has (places of pilgrimage) upon them.

page 432 note ‡ Captain Mahoney, from Singhalese authority, says Gautama, son of SÙDDHÓDANA, married Yasódra, and kept forty thousand concubines. The Islamabad inscription says, Sácya married Vasutará. These appear to be the same with Vasudrá, the wife of Párswanat'ha in his first form. Dr. Buchanan informs us that the traditions of Godama (Gautama) are so various in the Burma dominions, that none can be considered matter for historical conclusion: they are all, however, evidently a jumble from the same source. (Ward, &c.)

page 432 note ‖ I am told that the hill of Giranár, at Junagarh in Katiawar, is still in great repute, and undergoing considerable improvement; that there is, among other figures to be seen there, a gigantic one of Párswanát'ha, though from what has been mentioned of Cunda CundAchárya's visit, I should conjecture It rather to be Nemí-nát'ha; and in Mr. Colebrooke's list of tírt'hancarás, némi is stated to have died at Ujjinta, which is supposed to be the same with Giranár.

This hill is equally sacred to Hindus as to Jains; and I am informed, that, among the various temples there, one of Mahadéva's bears the strongest marks of antiquity. Would both have thus remained had animosity reached the extent we are led to suppose? Some particular cases of excesses in this respect may have occurred, but in the temples I have had an opportunity of visiting (and both kinds are generally found at the same place) no appearance of premature decay or dilapidation is perceptible, but time seems to have dealt with both with an even hand: one party may have occasionally appropriated the temple of a rival sect.

page 433 note * Jonesia Asoca. Roxb.

page 433 note † The gods took and shared the clothes of Buddha also on his leaving Gópa for the wilderness.

page 434 note * We can only wonder how such tales gained belief and currency. They shew, at least, what ideas the Jains themselves entertain of transmigration, of its nature and causes, and may enable us to guess at the motives of the various representations we see of the brute creation in concert with, or attendant on, their saints. I do not doubt that the elephants, as at Asu and elsewhere, have reference to tales connected with the Gaja incarnation. Of the veneration in which elephants and their relics are held we have frequent instances.

page 434 note † f I am told that it is a common custom with Jains to make a tinkling with a bell, or other noise, while eating, lest the crowing of a cock be heard, in which case they would reject their food. Whether the custom is connected with this tale I know not. The barking of a dog, too, is equally disliked.

page 434 note ‡ Cloud's son.

page 435 note * This describes pretty exactly the form of the snake as we see it represented over the head of Párswanát'ha. The symbol is, however, of much earlier date, and I believe applicable to Vishnu, which implies “o'er-shadowing.” He lay sideways on it in the waters.

page 435 note † All this favours the idea of the institution of a modern sect diverging from a closer affinity to Hinduism, through the medium of enthusiastic ascetics. We here see them gaining numerous proselytes, and discountenancing the mummery of the panch-ágni, &c.

page 436 note * Conjunction of the moon with the sixteenth asterism.

page 436 note † MrColebrooke's, note, As. Res. v. ix, p. 310, alludes to this place. He says,“ Samet-sikhara, “called in Major Rennell's map Parsonat'h, is situated among the hills between Behar and “ Bengal. Its holiness is great in the estimation of the Jains, and it is said to be visited by “pilgrims from the remotest provinces of India.”Google Scholar

page 436 note ‡ Chironjia Sapida. Roxb.

page 436 note ‖ As the last form coincides with the short notice of Párswanát'ha given by MrColebrooke, (As. Res. vol. ix, p. 309.) I conclude some dependence may be placed on its correctness.Google Scholar

page 436 note § These have also each a separate name, and are again subdivided, so that it would be tedious to enumerate them.

page 437 note * Thus the account rather presents a list or vocabulary than information.

page 437 note † This carma contains more on the subject of transmigration, but unintelligible to me.

page 438 note * The eight Carmas of the Jainas will be explained in an essay on the opinions of the Jainas, Bauddhas, and other sectaries, which, will shortly be laid before the Society. As the two accounts are derived from quite different sources of information, it has not been thought proper to alter or modify any thing here said on the subject. H.T.C.