RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS. 247 



There are fourteen of them treating of the chief tenets of the sect, appa- 

 rently sometimes controversially, as the Astipravdda, the doctrine of exist- 

 ence and non-existence. Jnydnapravdda, the doctrine of holy knowledge 

 — Satyapravdda, discussion of truth — Atmapravdda, investigation of spirit — < 

 Prdndvdya, nature of corporeal life — Kriydvisdla, consequences of acts, and 

 others.* They are held to be the works of Mahaviras Ganas, or of that 

 Tirthaledra and his predecessors, or to have emanated from them originally, 

 although committed to writing by other hands. Some of them still exist, 

 it appears, \ although in general their places have been assumed by a list 

 of more recent compositions. 



From this brief statement it will be evident that there is no want 

 of original authorities with regard to the belief, the practices, or the 

 legends of the Jaina sect. There is indeed more than a sufficiency, and 

 the vast extent of the materials is rather prejudicial to the enquiry, it 

 being impossible to consult any extensive proportion of what has been 

 written, and it being equally impossible without so doing to know that 

 the best guides have been selected. For such accounts as are here 

 given, the Vocabulary of Hemachandra, with his own Commentary, the 

 3Iahdvira Cherilra of the same author, the Kalpa Sutra, the Avasyaka- 

 vrihad Vritta, the Bhagavatyanga Vritta, Nava Tatwabodha, and Jiva 

 Vichdra have chiefly been consulted. 



The leading tenets of the Jains, and those which chiefly distinguish 

 them from the rest of the Hindus, are well known — they are, first, the 



* A similar enumeration of these Works occurs in the Mahavira Cheritra. 



f Thus the Thdndngisutra and Upasakadesa, of Hamilton, are no doubt the Sthandnga 

 and Upasakadasa, of Hemachandra s text, and the Bhagavatyanga is in the Sanscrit College 

 Library. 



