SIS OBSERVATIOXS ON" 



The commentators * agree that the Jainas are here 

 meant : and one of them remarks, that they are de- 

 scribed as * naked sectaries, &c.' Because the chiss, 

 of Digainbaras is a principal one among tliese people. 



It is true that the Jainas do entertain the prepos- 

 terous notion here attributed to them : and it is also 

 true, that the Digamharas, among- the Jainas^ are 

 distinguished from the SiicldmbaraS, not merely by 

 the white dress of the one, and the nakedness (or 

 else the tawny apparel) of the other; but also by 

 some particular tenets and diversity of doctrine. — 

 However, both concur in the same ideas regarding 

 the earth and planets, which shall be forthwith 

 stated, from the authority of Jaina hooks ; after re- 

 marking, by the way, that ascetics of the orthodox 

 sect, in the last stage of exaltation, when they be-^ 

 come Paramahansa, also disuse clothing. 



The world, which according to the Jainas, is eter- 

 nal, is figured by them as a spindle resting on half 

 of another; or, as they describe it, three cups, of 

 Y/hich the lowest is inverted ; and the uppermost 

 meets at its circumference the middle one. They also 

 represent the world by comparison to a woman with 

 her arms akimbo f. Her waist, or according to the 

 description first mentioned, the meeting of the lower 

 cups, is the earth. The spindle above, answering to 

 the superior portion of the woman's person, is the 

 abode of the gods ; and the inferior part of the figure 

 comprehends the infernal regions. The earth, which 

 they suppose to be a flat surface, is bounded by a 

 circle, of which the diameter is one rajuX. The 



* Lacshmi'da'sa, MuNi's'WARA, and the V&aandbhdshya. 

 t The Sangrahan'i ralna and Locandb sictra, both in Prdcrit, 

 Are the authorities liere used. 



I This is c-x|>laiiicd to be a measure of space* through which the 



