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BHARATA
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tinction. This is the reason why Hindus have been eternally finding fault with the Jainas and accusing them of " caste-lessness," that is, of being the destroyer of the caste system. The author of the Adi Purāņa, who was alive to the need of propitiating Brāhmaṇa opinion in times of persecution, probably laid stress on the importance of the Brāhmaṇa caste to pacify them a bit, and is for that reason forced to have recourse to a language which is ambiguous to say the least of it. Bharata's preference for the Warrior class is obvious from the terms in which he speaks of them in the forty-second parva (part) of the Adi Purāņa; but he distinctly says even with regard to them that merit, and not birth, is the principle of excellence. " Whosoever is admitted into the Jaina Dharma," he makes Bharata say, "and takes to the observance of vows becomes a Kshatriya !" The conferment of special privileges in regard to criminal responsibility on Brāhmanas might thus be the work of the Brāhmaṇas themselves, when they got into power later on ; but it might as well be due to an impulse on the part of Bharata himself. If we remember that Bharata's Brāhmaṇas were all saintly householders, who would be eager to confess their crimes and to make ample amends for the deed, we can readily imagine justice tak
