________________
392
GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS
who appear in each cycle. Their wbite raiment is indicative of individualised being as distinguished from the pure abstractness of Life as a property common to all living beings. As such They are pure Embodiments of the purified Effulgence of Life, the white of their raiment being an emblem of the absence of all kinds of impurities that are ultimately material in nature. In plain English, they are only robed in their own Effulgence, while the crowns of gold, which, it will be seen, are not worn by any one else in that scene, are emblems of the supreme status of Divinity.
I am sure you will agree with me that there is no room here for weeks or fortnights anywhere in this drama. As already observed, Mr. Pryse knew nothing about Jainism, which is by no means his fault. The present lecturer, too, was quite in the dark as to the tenets of Jainism till the year 1913, though a Jaina by birth: The reason is that the Jaina Literature has only come to be published in Hindi and English in recent times, so that those who only knew these languages could not gain access to Jaina Books which were not even pub. lished in any language 20 years ago. For this the Jainas are to be blamed unreservedly. As the Tirthamkaras are just barely alluded to elsewhere and as the full accounts of Their Lives are only preserved in Jainism, there is nothing surprising if a seeker after the truth in the distant continent of America has been misled by our reticence. We all are quite as liable to commit similar mistakes. After all mythology is not a science
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
