5b 



ON MIRACLES. 



to examine the genuineness of the qualifying words which 

 only occur in the beginning of the Sutta. Miracles are 

 intended, as Kevatta himself says, to infuse feelings of 

 greater attachment into the minds of the people generally 

 —not of the converted, but of the non-converted to Bud- 

 dhism. House-holders too must have formed, and they 

 did form, a far numerous body than Ascetics ; and the 

 Dhama was not, like the Vedas, designed for a privileged 

 class. It was the property of all without distinction. The 

 most earnest desire of its teacher was to add the greatest 

 number to his ranks. 



As regards the prohibition to ■ the laity clad in 

 white' — we gather from the very Vinaya, that ' All the 

 Ascetics of the age, were not clad in raiment other than 

 white-' Svetambaras formed a very numerous class who 

 wore white. The Digambaras Wore neither white not colour- 

 ed clothes. W e have no information as regards the dress 

 of the Fire-worshippers of IFruvel&ya ; and, although they 

 were all of that faith, it does by no means follow that they 

 were Ascetics, or — except their chief, whom we may admit to 

 be their priest — that they were not in the strict sense of the 

 word 1 laics' or i householders.' 



Again, kings, princes, and nobles Wore rich garments 

 of various colours, Why should miracles be worked to ac- 

 celerate the conversion of such alone, to the exclusion of 

 the £ laity clad in white'? But it may be said that Buddha 

 meant that miracles should be confined to all Ascetics, to 

 the exclusion of the laity. Of course there is some warrant 

 for this in the Pingola Bharadvaja Sutta, where the pro- 

 hibition against the performance of miracles is confined to 

 the laity. Here too the words « dressed in white' do not 



