302 OBSERVATIONS OX 



(what need not, however, be conceded,) that the or-» 

 thodox Hindus had not been previously settled in the 

 Carnataca and other districts, in which the Jainaa 

 or the Bauddlias have flourished, it cannot be thence 

 concluded, that the followers of the Vedas did not 

 precede them in other provinces. 



It may be proper to add, that the establishment of 

 parti clar sects, amonj^ the Hindus who acknowledge 

 the Vedas, does not affect the general question of re- 

 lative antiquity. The special doctrines introduced by 

 *San'caiia-A'charya, by Ra'ma'nuja, and by Ma'd- 

 hava'cha'rya, and of course the origin of the sects 

 which receive those doctrines, may be referred, with 

 precision, to the periods when their authors lived : 

 but the religion, in which they are sectaries, has un- 

 doubtedly a much earlier origin. 



To revert to the immediate object of these observa* 

 tions; which is that of explaining and supporting the 

 information communicated by Major Mackenzie : 

 I shall, for that purpose, state the substance of a few 

 passages from a work of great authority, among the 

 Jainas, entitled Calpa-Sutra, and from a vocabulary 

 of the Sajiscrit language by an author of the Jaina 

 sect. 



The Abhid'hana Chintame7ii, a vocabulary of syno- 

 nymous terms, by He'machandra a'cha'rya, is di- 

 vided into six chapters (Candas,) the contents of 

 which are thus stated in the author's preface. * The 

 superior deities (Devad'hidcvas) are noticed in the 

 first chapter ; the gods (Devas) in the second ; men 

 in the third ; beings furnished with one or more 

 senses in the fourth; the infernal regions in the fifth; 

 and terms of general use in the sixth. ' The earth,' 

 observes this author, * water, fire, air, and trees, have 

 a single organ or sense (indriya) ; wornjs, ants, spi- 

 ders, and the like, have two, three, or four senses; 

 elephants, peacocks, fish, and other beings moving. 



