294 SKETCH OF THE 



again appear to comprehend a variety of subdivisions : some of the 

 Gachchas comprehend a portion of Sri Vaishnavas, between which sect and 

 the Jains in Upper India, a singular alliance seems sometimes to prevail. 



The condition of Jaina worship may be inferred from the above 

 notices of its temples. Its professors are to be found in every province 

 of Hindustan, collected chiefly in towns, where, as merchants and bank- 

 ers, they usually form a very opulent portion of the community. In 

 Calcutta there are said to be five hundred families ; but they are much 

 more numerous at Murshedabad. In Behar they have been estimated 

 at between three and four hundred families. They are in some numbers 

 in Benares, but become more numerous ascending the Doab. It is, 

 however, to the westward that they abound : the provinces of Meivar and 

 Mdrivar being apparently the cradle of the sect.* They are also nu- 

 merous in Guzerat, in the upper part of the Malabar coast, and are 

 scattered throughout the Peninsula. They form, in fact, a very large, 

 and from their wealth and influence, a most important division of the 

 population of India. 



BABA LALIS. 



The followers of Baba Lal are sometimes included amongst the 

 Vaishnava sects, and the classification is warranted by the outward seem- 

 ing of these sectaries, who streak the forehead with Gopichandana, and 

 profess a veneration for Rama : in reality, however, they adore but one 

 God, dispensing with all forms of worship, and directing their devotion 

 by rules and objects derived from a medly of Veddnta and Suji tenets. 



* According to Major Tod, the Pontiff of the Khartra Gachcha has eleven thousand clerical 

 disciples scattered over India, and the single community of Osioal numbers one hundred thousand 

 families. In the West of India, the officers of the state and revenue, the bankers, the civil magis- 

 rates, and the heads of corporations, are mostly Jains. — Trans. R. As. Soc. vol. II. p. 1 263. 



