248 SKETCH OF THE 



denial of the divine origin and infallible authority of the Vedas; secondly, 

 the reverence of certain holy mortals who acquired, by practices of self- 

 denial and mortification, a station superior to that of the gods ; and 

 thirdly, extreme and even ludicrous tenderness for animal life. 



The disregard of the authority of the Vedas is common to the Jains 

 and the Bauddhas, and involves a neglect of the rites which they prescribe : 

 in fact, it is in a great degree from those rites that an inference unfavour- 

 able to the sanctity of the Vedas is drawn, and not to speak of the 

 sacrifices of animals which the Vedas occasionally enjoin ; the Homa, or 

 burnt offering, which forms a part of every ceremonial in those works, 

 is an abomination ; as insects crawling amongst the fuel, bred by the 

 fermented butter, or falling into the flame, cannot fail to be destroyed 

 by every oblation. As far however as the doctrines they teach are conform- 

 able to Jain tenets, the Vedas are admitted and quoted as authority. 



The veneration and worship of mortals is also common to the 

 Jains and Bauddhas, but the former have expanded and methodised 

 the notions of the latter. The Bauddhas, although they admit an 

 endless number of earthly Buddhas to have existed, and specify more 

 than a century of names,* confine their reverence to a comparatively 

 small number — to seven. The Jainas extend this number to twenty- 

 four for a given period, and enumerate, by name, the twenty-four of 

 their past age, or Avasarpini, the twenty-four of the present, and the 

 twenty-four of the age to come. The statues of these, either all or in 

 part, are assembled in their temples, sometimes of colossal dimensions, 

 and usually of black or white marble. The objects held in highest esteem 

 in Hindustan are Parswanath and Mahavira, the twenty-third and 



* Asiatic Researches, vol. XVI. pages 446 to 449. 



