A HUN THROUGH KATHIAWAR. 305 



abstract thought, dreamy contemplation, and serene 

 perfection which the Jain ascribes to his Tirthankara. 

 But there is no variety in these statues ; they are all 

 in the same position, with the same countenances, and 

 are on the same model, with the exception of some 

 little emblematical differences which do not touch tin- 

 general effect. The conception and first production 

 of these figures must have been a triumph of plastic 

 genius, but the constant repetition of them is only a 

 work of servile imitative art. 



A discussion of the life of even Mahavira, the last 

 of the Tirthankara, who alone among them has the 

 least pretensions to a place in axithentic history, would 

 require an article to itself ; so I shall only say that 

 we know very little indeed about him, and that he 

 is claimed to have lived, in his last appearance on 

 earth, in the fifth and sixth centuries before the 

 Christian era. His name signifies "the hero," not 

 in war, but in the conflict with the passions. Parash- 

 vanatha, his immediate predecessor, appeared about 

 250 years previously, and is probably the most fav- 

 ourite object of Jain worship. It is difficult for the 

 European mind to obtain any very distinct idea of 

 these saints. Parishnath appears to have been of 

 royal birth, and so Avas Xeminatha, who is said to 

 have died on Gi'rnar, after having lived 300 years as 

 an erring mortal and 700 as an ascetic, after which, 

 he obtained emancipation 85,000 years ago. This 

 is the sort of stuff we get into in studying the 



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