THE JAINS. 301 



III sliort, the 'Bruhmanes are distinctly mentioned by 

 Greek authors, as the first of the tribes or casts, into 

 which the Indian nation was then, as now, divided. 

 They are expressly discriminated from the sect of 

 Budd'ha by one ancient author, and from the Sar- 

 manes, ov SamatK^ans, (ascetics of various tribes,) by 

 others. They are described by more than one autho- 

 rity, as worshipping the sun, as performing sacrifices, 

 and as denying the eternity of the world, and main- 

 taining other tenets incompatible with the supposi- 

 tion, that the sects of Budd'ha or Jina, could be 

 meant. Their manners and doctrine, as described 

 by these authors, are quite conformable with the no- 

 tions and practice of the orthodox Hindus. It may 

 therefore be confidently inferred, that the followers 

 of the Vedas flourished in India, when it was visited 

 by the Greeks under Alexander : and continued to 

 flourish from the time of Megasthenes, who de- 

 scribed them in the fourth century before Christ, to 

 that of PoRPHYRius, who speaks of them, on later 

 authority, in the third century after Christ. 



I have thus stated, as briefly as the nature of the 

 subject permitted, a few of the facts and reasons 

 by which the opinion, that the religion and institu- 

 tions of the orthodox Hindus are more modern than 

 the doctrines of Jina and of Budd'ha, may, as I 

 think, be successfully resisted. I have not under- 

 taken a formal refutation of it, and have, therefore, 

 passed, unnoticed, objections which are founded on 

 misapprehension. 



It is only necessary to remark, that the past pre- 

 valence of either of those sects in particular places, 

 with its subsequent persecution there by the wor- 

 shippers of Siva, or of Vishnu, is no proof of its 

 general priority. Hindustan \)YO])er was the early seat 

 of the Hindu religion ; and the acknowledged cradle 

 of both the sects in question. They were foreigners 

 in the Peninsula of India ; and admitting, as a, fact, 



