________________
OF THE HINDUS.
335
orthodox Pantheon, in the deference paid to the Vedas, and to the rites derivable from them, to the institution of castes, and to the employment of Brahmans as ministrant priests. They appear also to have adapted themselves to the prevailing form of Hinduism in different places: thus at Abú several Jain inscriptions commence with invocations of Siva', and in the Dekhan an edict promulgated by Bukka Rára, of Vijayanagar', declares there is no real difference between the Jains and Vaishnavas?. In some places the same temples are resorted to by Jains and Rómánujiya Vaishnavas, and, as observed by Mr. COLEBROOKE, a Jain on renouncing the heretical doctrines of his sect takes his place amongst the orthodox Hindus as a Kshatriya or Vaisya, which would not be the case with a convert, who has not already caste as a Hindu'. In the South of India, indeed, the Jains preserve the distinction of castes: in Upper India they profess to be of one caste, or Vaisyas. It is very clear, however, that admission to the Jain communion was originally independent of caste', and the partial adoption of it
Major DeLaMAINE notices that the mountain Girnár is equally sacred to lindus as to Jains, and that an ancient temple of MansDEVA is erected there.
2 Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX, p. 270 [Lassen, Ind. Alt., IV, 174]. 3 Transactions Royal Asiatic Society, 1, 549.
+ Matávira himself was the son of a king, and should therefore be a k'shatriya. His chief disciples, INDRABIIÚTI, and the rest, were Brahmans. His especial attendant, Gośála, was an outcast, and his followers, of both sexes, were of every caste,
