THE JAINS. 279 



PARTICULARS OF THE JAINS. 



EXTRACTED FROM A. JOURNAI, 



BY DOCTOR r. BUCHANAN, 

 During Tratels in Canara. 



Having invited Pandita 'Acha'rya SwA'Mi, 

 the Guru of the Jains, to visjt me, he came, attended 

 by his most inteUigent disciples, and gave me the 

 following account of his sect. 



The proper name of the sect is Arhata ; and they 

 acknowledge that they are one of the twenty-one 

 sects, considered as heretical by Sancara*Acha'rya, 

 Like other Hindus, they are divided into BrdhmeUy 

 Cshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra. These casts cannot 

 intermarry together ; but a man of high cast is not 

 disgraced by having connection with a woman of a 

 lower one, provided she be of pure descent. A similar 

 indulgence is not gTantcd to the women of the higher 

 casts. The men are allowed a plurality of wives, 

 which they must marry before the age of puberty. 

 The man and woman must not be of the same family 

 in the male line. Widows ought not to burn them- 

 selves Avith the bodies of their husbands ; but those 

 of the 'Sudra only are permitted to take a second 

 husband. The Brdhmens and Vaisyas in Tulava, and 

 every cast above the Ghats, consider their own chil- 

 dren as their heirs ; but the Rajas and Siidras of 

 Tulava^ being possessors of land, follow the custom 

 of the countrv; and their lieirs are their sister's 

 children. Isfot even the Siidras are permitted to eat 

 animal food, or to drink spirituous liquors : nor is it 

 lawful for any one to kill an animal, except for the 

 Cshatriya when engaged in war. They all burn the 

 dead. 



T 4 



