________________
112
FUNDAMENTALS OF JAINISM intrinsic evidence, and proceeds on the basis of the Vedas having an esoteric, that is to say, an allegorical interpretation; and the third is the only remaining alternative which will hold good if the allegorical theory is to be rejected for any adequate reason. When the scholars will approach the question from the standpoint of the allegorical interpretation of the Vedas the true view will come to prevail easily then.
I shall now conclude this article by quoting the following weighty observations of Sir Kumaraswami Sastri, the officiating Chief Justice of the Madras High Court and a learned Hindu Scholar (see in re B. Gentappa v. B. Eramma, Indian Law Reports, Madras series, Vol. 50, pp, 229-230) :
"Were the matter res integra I would be inclined to hold that modern research has shown that Jains are not Hindu dissenters but that Jainism has an origin and history long anterior to the Smritis and Commentaries which are recognized authorities on Hindu Law and usage. In fact, Maha Veera, the last of the Jain Teerthamakars, was a contemporary of Buddha and died about 527 B.C. The Jain religion refers to a number of previous Teerthamakars and there can be little doubt that Jainismı as a distinct religion was flourishing several centruries before Christ. In fact Jainism rejects the authority of the Vedas which form the bed-rock of Hinduism and denies the efficacy of the various ceremonies which Hindus consider essential.
“There is a great force in the observations of Holloway, I in Rithucurn Lalla v. Soojan Mull Lalla (9 Madras Jurist 21) that Hindu Law cannot be applied to them. So far as Jain Law is concerned it has its own law books of which Bhadrabahu Samhita is an important one. Vardhamana Niti and Arhana Niti by the great Jain teacher Hemachandra deal also with Jain Law. No doubt by long association with Hindus who form the bulk of the population Jainism has assimilated serveral of the customs and ceremonial practices of the Hindus, but this is no ground for applying Hindu Law as developed by Vignaneswara and other commentators, serveral centuries after Jainism was a distinct and separate religion with its own religion ceremonial and legal systems, en bloc to Jains and throwing on them the
