________________
NIGRANTHA SYSTEM.
49
of worship. Traces of the Tree and Serpent Worship so eminently characteristic of the Turanian race are also to be seen in Jainism that was introduced in the Tamil country. Buddhism had no such charm # this period' as the worship of the Buddha had not yet been introduced. The worship of a pair of feet is too abstract for a people already accustomed to worship idols of some of the Aryan and nonAryan deities. To these reasons may be added the comparative simplicity of Jain worship and the exclusive character of Brahminical rites. These tended to make the Nigrantha system more popular than either Brahmanism or Buddhism. The fact that the Jain community had a perfect organisation behind it shows that it was not only popular but that it had taken deep root in the soil. The whole community, we learn from the epics, was divided into two sections, the Srāvakās or laymen and the Munis or ascetics. The privilege of entering the monastery was not denied to women and both men and women took vows of celibacy.
We shall close this part of the subject with a quotation from Manimēkalai, which illustrates the Nigrantha system as was preached to the Tamils. Manimēkalai, being a Buddhistic work, one may not expect an ideal representation of the Jain system at the hands of its author
Throughout the epic Manimekalai, no reference is made to any statue of the Buddha. A pair of feet re
4
presenting the Buddha was the only object of worship by the Buddhists.
