Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 739

JAIN TEMPLES
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into Europe, is to wipe most carefully anything that is to be
used for food, so as to exclude as tenderly as possible any of
t he tiny living creatures which might be found in or on it.
The mouth of the vessel in which water for household
purposes is drawn is always covered with a piece of linen,
through which the water filters. This prevents the animal-
culae, which float or swim on the surface of the well, from
getting into the vessel and being afterwards swallowed.
When a Jain traveller wishes to quench his thirst at a tank
or stream, he covers his mouth with a cloth, stoops down,
and thus drinks by suction. This cleanly custom is highly
to be recommended everywhere, apart from the superstition
which prompts the Jains to practise it.
The Jains form a perfectly distinct class. Brahmins
never attend any of their religious or civil ceremonies, while
they, on their part, never attend those of the Brahmins.
They have their own temples, and the priestly office is filled
by men professing the same tenets as themselves.
Amongst these temples there are some which are richly
endowed and very famous. The Jains make pilgrimages
There is a very
to them, sometimes from great distances.
remarkable one in Mysore, at Sravana Belgola, a village near
Seringapatam. It is between three mountains, on one of
which is an enormous statue, about seventy feet high,
sculptured out of one solid piece of rock. It must have
been a tremendous piece of work for to execute it, it was
necessary to level the ground from the top of the mountain
to below the base of the statue, and there form a sort of
terrace, leaving in the centre this mass of rock which was
to be carved into the shape of the idol.
It is a very fine
piece of Hindu sculpture.
Many Europeans who have seen
it have greatly admired the correctness of its proportions.
It represents a celebrated Nirvani called Gumatta, a son of
Adiswara The figure is absolutely nude, as are most of the
idols to which the Jains offer adoration, and which are
always likenesses of ancient penitents belonging to this
sect.
In those days it would have shocked them to repre-
sent these penitents as wearing garments, since they made
it a point of duty to go absolutely naked.
Childless women
may often be seen praying to these indecent idols, in order
;
that the}'
may become
mothers.