Lieut. -Colonel Tod on the Religious Establishments ofMexmr. 283 



has 11,000 clerical disciples scattered over India; that a single community, 

 the Ossi or Osual,* numbers 100,000 families; and that more than half of 

 the mercantile wealth of India passes through the hands of the Jain laity, 

 Rajast'han and Saurashtra are the cradles of the Buddhist or Jain faith, and 

 three out of their five sacred mounts, namely, Abu, Palit'hana,t and 

 Girnar, are in these countries. The officers of the state and revenue are 

 chiefly of the Jain laity, as are the majority of the bankers from Lahore to 

 the ocean. The Nvggur-Set'h and Chotias, or chief magistrate and assessors 

 of justice, in Udyapur and most of the towns of Rajast'han, are of this 

 sect ; and as their voluntary duties are confined to civil cases, they are as 

 competent in these as they are the reverse in criminal cases, from their 



celebrated Hemachandba Acharya was head of the Kharira-gatcha ; and his spiritual 

 descendant honoured Udyapur with his presence in his visit to his dioceses in the desert in 1821. 

 My own Yaii tutor was a disciple of Hemachandra, and his patravali or pedigree registered 

 his descent by spiritual successions from him. 



This pontiff was a man of extensive learning, and of estimable character. He was versed in 

 all the ancient inscriptions to which no key now exists, and decyphered one for me which had 

 been long unintelligible. His travelling library was of considerable extent, though chiefly com- 

 posed of works relating to the ceremonies of his religion : it was in the charge of two of his 

 disciples, remarkable for talent, and who, like himself, were perfectly acquainted with all these 

 ancient characters. The pontiff kindly permitted my Yati to bring for my inspection some of 

 the letters of invitation written by his flocks in the desert. These were rolls, some of them 

 several feet in length, containing pictured delineations of their wishes. One from Bikaner 

 represented that city, in one division of which was the school or college of the Jains, where tlie 

 Yatis were all pourtrayed at their various studies. In another part a procession of them was 

 quitting the southern gate of the city, the head of which was in the act of delivering a scroll to 

 a messenger, while the pontiff was seen with his cortege advancing in the distance. To shew 

 the respect in which these high priests of the Jairis are held, the princes of Rajputana invaria- 

 bly advance outside the walls of their capital to receive and conduct them to it — a mark of 

 respect paid only to princes. On the occasion of the high priest of the Khartras passing 

 through Udyapur, as above alluded to, the Rana received him with every distinction. 



* So called from the town of Ossa, in Marwar. 



f Pali-t'hana or " the abode of the Pali," is the name of the town at the foot of the sacred mount 

 Satrunjya (signifying ' victorious over the Jbe'^, on which the Jain temples are sacred to Buddh- 

 iswara, or the ' Lord of the Buddhists' I have little doubt that the name of Palit'hana is 

 derived from the pastoral (pali) Scythic invaders bringing the Buddhist faith in their train — 

 a faith which appears to me not indigenous to India. Palestine, which with the whole of 

 SjTia and Egypt, was ruled by tlie Yksos or shepherd-kings, who for a season expelled the old 

 Coptic race, may have had a similar import to the Pali-t'hana foimded by the Indo-Scythic Pali. 

 The author visited all these sacred mounts. 



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