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XXIV
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
(Sans. Pratikramaña), by which term the duty is technically expressed; but abundant oral and written explanations, as well as the context of several passages where the word occurs, have removed every doubt. The Gujarathi word that expresses the priestly absolution, is Álavan. Although the rite of confession does not, as far as I can learn, exist among the Buddhists, it most likely had its origin in India in an early age, and along with other opinions and practices, travelled westward in the early centuries of Christianity, and obtained incorporation with a purer faith.
For an account of the Jain uranography and geography, I must refer the reader to the Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. Their system seems to have been formed before that of the Brahmans, as they have but three terrestrial continents and two seas. It contains, however, numberless absurdities, and has not the slightest title to the name of science. An arc of a circle, whose diameter is a hundred thousand yojanas, is made to represent the coast of India from the Ganges to the Indus, shewing an utter ignorance of the existence even of the Peninsula. No wonder Ptolemy erred, when natives
