198
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
lest they should kill an insect.”
In Sur at
a richly endowed hospital exists in which sick and disabled animals are nursed with the same
care as if they were men.t Fourthly, the Jainas, following the example of the Bauddhas, have invented monstrous pe riods, and have in this respect even excelled their predecessors. Their larger periods are called Avasarpini and Utsarpini; each contains 2,000,000,000,000 years. Another period has obtained the name stigara or sea, and consists of 1,000,000,000,000,000 years. Each of the two periods is divided into six small er periods; in the first the happiness, dura tion of life, stature, &c. of men continually decreases until they descend to the lowest de gree of misery, and during the period called wfsarpiai gradually again reach the highest de gree of perfection. These periods the Jainas have partly filled out with the stories of the ancient epic dynasties of the Pāndavas, of Krishna, and of Prasenajit, a king of Sravasti famed in the oldest Buddhist history, where in they have sometimes indulged in unimportant alterations of the usual accounts. Ş In a similar manner the Buddhists have re
modelled the history of the ancient St rya va in sa or solar race; they place King Mahā sam mata at the head of the first large period of the world, and allow after him 28 dynasties to reign in various parts of Upper India down to Ikshvaku; these periods are called Asamkyeya, i. e. numberless, and from those dynasties the later ones are derived; from Ma h a s a m m at a to I k s h w a ku 252,539 or
perhaps 140,300 successors are counted.] These agreements between the Jainas and the Bauddhas will suffice to establish the point that the former have branched off from the lat
ter. Their deviations from their predecessors are chiefly in the domains of philosophy and
- Accordingly an English physician did a very unwel
come service to a Pati by convincing him by means of a mi croscope that he was, in spite of this precaution, killing invisible animalculae.
of cosmography, with which their system of gods is most closely connected. But before considering these differences between the Jainas and the Bauddhas, I consider it proper to insert a brief report on the literature of the former, because from this it will appear that in this respect the Jainas have attached themselves to the Brahmans."
The Jainas possess a number of Purúnas, which chiefly contain legends of the Tirthai karas, and present only exceptionally such as occur in Brahmanic writings of the same name. The most important work is attributed to the J in a Sūri A châry a, whose age cannot be determined quite accurately; the statement
that he was a contemporary of King Vikramā ditya is worthless, because the origin of the Jaina doctrine cannot be pushed so far back. The tradition said to be current in Southern
India makes the author with greater proprity to have been the spiritual preceptor of Prince A m o g h a war sha, who resided at Kánchi during the sixth century. As this kind of works does not exist among Buddhists, the Jainas have borrowed the title and one of the subjects of these writings from the Brahmans.” The books called
Siddhanta
and
Agama
partly take the place of the Vedas of the Brah mans, which the Jainas as well as the Baud
dhas despise. The first title, as is well known, designates a book of instruction, wherein a scientific system, especially an astronomical one, is demonstrated by arguments.t The title Agama means also, among Brahmans, doctrines or instructions which have come down by tradi tion; among Buddhists four collections of writ ings, which, according to the correct conception, relate to the Sūtras, and treat of discipline and cognate subjects, are also called by this name.: The three significations attributed to this title coincide in the general traditional doctrine or seqq. From the mention by Hem a chan dra, III. v. 625
seqq. p. 127 seqq., of Daša ratha, of his son Räm a and his foe, of the giant-king Rāvana, of the other enemies
of Vishnu, as well as of several kings of the old Sūrya
+ There are similar institutions in Bombay, Bharoch, and elsewhere.—ED.
[JULY, 1873.
-
-
-
- Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, II. p. 276 seqq. These data
are taken from the Abhidh inach intámawi of Hemachan
dra, and occur in the edition of O. Boehtlingk and Rieu, II. v. 162 seqq. p. 15. A vasarpimí, “down-stepping,” and Utsarpiº, “up-stepping; ” these expressions refer pro bably to the decrease and increase of happiness during these periods. [See also above, p. 135.]
§ This appears, from extracts of the satruñjayama hºtmya by A. Weber, passim, p. 26, p. 31 seqq. and p. 35
valinéa or solar race, the conclusion may be drawn that
in other writings also of the Jainas, the history of this dynasty is narrated. | See the references to this, Ind. Alt. I. p. 478, note 1.
- T Of the literature of the Jainas, Wilson has treated
most in detail, As. Res. XVII. p. 240 seqq.
- A similar kind of writings are the Charitaras, in
which legends and miraculous histories of the Tirthan karas are narrated.
+ I
See on this, Ind. Alt. II. p. 1130 seqq. See Ind. Alt. IV. p. 643 and note 1.