Dr. Buchanan Hamilton on the Srdwacs or Jains. 539 



stances connected with the reforms of the Pauranic chronology, given by 

 Major Wilford and Mr. Bentley, will serve in some measure to show what 

 reductions will be necessary of the extravagance of Jaiii chronology. The 

 Yati of Bihar says, that the best account of their Avatars and kings is to be 

 found in a book called the Bhagawat si/tra, consisting of 45,000 couplets 

 (sloka) ; and that the best account of their places of pilgrimage is called the 

 Tdra Tanibid. Much historical matter is said also to be contained in their 

 Purdnas, which are totally different from the books of the orthodox Hindus 

 that are called by that name (although both have probably been derived from 

 some common original, now lost). I was assured by Govinda, that the 

 Srdwacs here frequently study the same Purdnas with the orthodox Hindus. 

 The Swetdmbaras also acknowledge the laws (smriti) of the twenty munis of 

 the orthodox, and place these sages in the same order of succession. The 

 Swetdmbaras have no less than forty-five, or as some allege, eighty-four Sid- 

 dhdntas or Agdms for the direction of their worship ; but they seem to contain 

 much extraneous matter. Among these are the Thanangi sutra, the Gydnanti 

 sutra, the Sugora7igi sutra, the Upasalcadesa, the Mahdpandan7ia, the Na?idi 

 sutra, the Pandanna, the Rayapsmi, the Jirdbhigam, the Jambudxdpa-pamiatti, 

 the Sura-pannatti, the Chandrasagar-panijatti, the Kalpasiitra, the Kdtantra- 

 vibhrama-sutra, the Shaht'hi-sutra, and the Sangrahani-sutra. 



The temples of the Srdwacs are here called Deuhara. In many of them 

 Bhairava is an object of worship. The Srdwacs look on him as a minister of 

 the gods, and he is represented by a mass of clay usually placed under a 

 shed. The Srdwacs worship no less than forty-eight female deities, among 

 whom are Padmavati, Chakres'waki, Chandrakant'ha, Sri malina, &c. ; 

 but I have learned nothing of their history, nor did I see any of their images. 

 The Srdwacs also worship Kshetrapal, the god of cities, in the same way as 

 the Grdma-devatds are worshipped by the vulgar Hindus. In this district the 

 Srdwacs do not usually worship any of the gods (Devatds) adored by ordi- 

 nary Hindus, such as Rama, Crishna, Siva, Kali, &c., but when afraid of any 

 great impending evil, and they think that they have failed in procuring relief 

 from their own gods, they sometimes, like the Moslems, have recourse to 

 whatever idol may be fashionable, and employ a Brdhman to perform the 

 ceremonies. They admit the sun and heavenly bodies to be deities, but do 

 not consider them to be proper objects of worship. 



Tlie Srdwacs do not themselves perform Huma: tliat is, they do not make 

 burnt offerings ; for they abhor animal sacrifices, and put themselves to the 



4 A 3 



