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the religion followed by many Asiatic nations out of India, its original home, it was naturally looked upon as the parent of similar creeds, and one of them seemed to be Jainism.
A MONASTIC RELIGION Like Budhism it is originally and principally a, monastic religion, a religion, intended for an order of monks and nuns, and the laymen were of secondary consideration. Therefore in their outward habit of life the monks of the Jains and those of the Budhists seemed to have much in common. And besides there was no other particularity which lent strength to the opinion that both sects came from the same stock. The idols of Budha and those of the Jain have a great family likeness; both are presented in the position of meditation and at an early time it was rather difficult for the inquirer to tell which was a Budha and which are Tirthankars. All the circumstances led to the conclusion that Jainism was a sect of Budhism, which in early times had branched off from it., For what was known about the tenets of the Jains seemed to indicate a more radical difference of their creed from the original Budhists than.exists between even the most distant
Budhist Sects. On the base of this " prima facie " Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat www.umaragyanbhandar.com
