________________
( ૪ )
to say that our critic does not seem to have read three passages between the lines.
(i). Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson begins her own survey of Jainism with the story of Mahavira. She herself does not seem convinced of the mere traditional account of the origin of Jainism and consequently does not lend any positive support to the tradition of Parsavanath as a historical personage. She says, as quoted by our critic above and verified by us.:-
"Parsavanath.
personage."
may have been a historical
And again "very probably, he did something... Again "if so, he was the real founder..... 19
99
The other European authority quoted by our critic is the writer in the Encyclopædia Britanica on Jainism. See (b) above.
(ii). But it appears that the very first sentence of the paragraph from which the above quotation (b) is taken, has escaped the notice of our critic. It runs:
"Jainism purports to be the system of belief promulgated by Vaddhamans, better known by his epithet Mahavira." Further down in the same