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OF THE HINDUS.
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chiefly distinguish them from the rest of the Hindus, are well known-they are, first, the denial of the divine origin and infallible authority of the Vedas; secondly, the reverence of certain holy mortals who acquired, by practices of self-denial and mortification, a station superior to that of the gods; and thirdly, extreme and even ludicrous tenderness of animal life.
The disregard of the authority of the Vedas is common to the Jains and the Bauddhas, and involves a neglect of the rites which they prescribe: in fact, it is in a great degree from those rites that an inference unfavourable to the sanctity of the Vedas is drawn; and not to speak of the sacrifices of animals which the Vedas occasionally enjoin, the Homa, or burnt offering, which forms a part of every ceremonial in those works, is an abomination, as insects crawling amongst the fuel, bred by the fermented butter, or falling into the flame, cannot fail to be destroyed by every oblation. As far however as the doctrines they teach are conformable to Jain tenets, the Vedas are admitted and quoted as authority.
The veneration and worship of mortals is also common to the Jains and Bauddhas, but the former have expanded and methodised the notions of the latter. The Bauddhas, although they admit an endless number of earthly Buddhas to have existed, and specify more than a century of names', confine their reverence to a comparatively small number-to seven. The Jainas
Asiat. Researches, Vol. XVI, pages 446 to 449.
