S!84 Lieut. -Colonel Tod 071 the Religions Establisliments ofMewar. 



tenets forbidding the shedding of blood. To tliis leading feature in their 

 religion they owe their political debasement: for Komarpal, the last king of 

 Anhulwara of the Jain faith, would not marcii his armies in the rains, from 

 the unavoidable sacrifice of animal life which must have ensued. The 

 strict Jain does not even maintain a lamp during that season, lest it should 

 attract moths to tiieir destiuction. 



The period of sectarian intolerance is past ; and as far as my observation 

 goes, the ministers of Vishnu, Siva, and Buddha, view each other without 

 malignity, which feeling never appears to have influenced the laity of either 

 sect, who are indiscriminately respectful to the ministers of all religions, what- 

 ever be their tenets. It is sufficient that their office is one of sanctity and that 

 they are ministers of the Divinity, who, they say, excludes the homage of none, 

 in whatever tongue, or whatever manner he is sought ; and with this spirit 

 of entire toleration, the devout missionary or Miilla would in no country 

 meet more security or hospitable courtesy than among the Rajputs. Tiiey 

 must, however, adoj)t the toleration they would find practised towards 

 themselves, and not exclude, as some of them do, the races of Stiri/a and 

 Chandra from divine mercy, who, with less arrogance and more reliance 

 on the compassionate nature of the Creator, say he has established a variety 

 of paths by which the good may attain beatitude. 



Mewar has, from tlie most remote period, afforded a refuge to the 

 follovveis of the Jain faith, wiiich was the religion of Balabhi, the first 

 capital of the Rana's ancestors, the Baliiara sovereigns of Saurashtra, and 

 many monuments attest the support this family has granted to its professors 

 in all the vicissitudes of their fortunes. One of the best preserved monu- 

 mental remains in India is a column most elaborately sculptured, full 

 seventy feet in height, dedicated to Parswa-nat'h, in Chitore. The 

 noblest remains of sacred architecture, not in Mewar only, but throughout 

 Western India, are Buddhist or Jain : and the many ancient cities where this 

 religion was fostered have inscriptions which evince their prosperity in these 

 countries with whose history their own is interwoven. In fine, the necro- 

 logical records of the Jains bear witness to their having occupied a distin- 

 guished place in Rajput society ; and the privileges they yet enjoy prove 

 that they are not even now overlooked. 



It is not my intention to say more on the past or present history of these 

 sectarians than may be necessary to shew the footing on which their esta- 

 blishments aie placed : to which end little is required beyond copies of a 



