Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | страница 728

VARIOUS JAIN SECTS
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appears that they lasted a long time and only came to
Not more than four
in comparatively recent times.
or five centuries ago the Jains exercised sovereign power in
Nowadays the Brah-
several provinces of the Peninsula.
mins are the masters everywhere the Jains, on the other
hand, are absolutely powerless, and it would be impossible
They
to find one occupying a position of any importance.
have become merged in the lower middle classes. They
devote themselves to agriculture, and even more to trade,
which is the special profession of the Vaisyas, among which
caste the greater number of these sectarians are now to be
found. Their principal trade is in kitchen and household
utensils of copper and other metals.
There are very few of the Brahmin caste who hold the
opinions of the Jains. There is a village, however, called
Maleyur, in South Mysore, which contains between fifty and
sixty families of them. They have a famous temple there,
In the other more
of which the guru is a Brahmin Jain.
important temples of the Jains, such as those at Belgola,
Madighery, and others, the gurus or priests are recruited
from the Vaisyas, or merchants. The Vaisya Jains are
regarded by the Brahmins of the same sect as patitas, or
heretics, because they have thus usurped the priestly office,
and also because they have altered the religion of the true
Jains by introducing some of the innovations of their Brah-
min adversaries 1 This divergence of opinion, however, has
not led to any serious differences between them.
The Jains are divided into several sects or schools, which
differ on the subject of perfect happiness, and on the means
of attaining it.
One of these sects, known by the name of
Kashtachenda Swetambara 2 teaches that there is no other
moksha, that is to say, no other supreme blessedness, than
that which is to be obtained from sensual pleasures, par-
ticularly that which is derived from sexual intercourse with
women. This sect is, it is true, not numerous.
The school of the Jaina-bassaru is the most numerous, and
Its tenets differ very
it is subdivided into several others.
It
little from those of the Vedanta school of Brahminism.
recognizes the different stages of meditation as taught by
bul
it
an end
;
.
,
1 Patitas literally
- Swetambara
means the fallen.' Ed.
means clad in white.'
literally
'
'
— En.