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જૈનહિતેચ્છુ.
reservation that heirship is not dependent on the performance of funeral rites; are more than Hindu in the strictness of their caste exclusiveness; permit connubium with Hindus, visit Hindu places of pilgrimage. Their main differencfrom Hindus consists in their heretical' views regarding the sanctity of the Vedas, their omission of Hindu funeral rites and their regard for special sacred places an:l rites psculiar to the order. But there are Hindu sects which diffr as widely from orthodox tenets without being excluded from Hinduism. The chief seats of Jain influence are the cities
.. and trading marts of Western Sects and distribution of Jains.
4. India and the order is largely
recruited from the merchants of Gujarat and Marwar and cultivators in the Carnatic District of Belgaum. Their sudden disappearance from the population in the direction of Sind is somewhat remarkable, and so is the fact that there are no Jains among the indigenous inhabitants of Bengal, which includes Bihar whero the religion had its origin and Oressa where the caves of Undayagiri and Khanandgiri bear witness to its popularity in the early centuries of our era. The faith of nothern India commends itself to the mercantile class 33, because trade is the only vocation in which the rule against taking animal life can be fully observed. Even the soil cannot be ploughed without the risk of killing a worm.
In western India three sects are recognized at the present day—the Digambaras, who worship
